EMS Synthi & The Composer (1971). Rare Demo LP, clean (

$

400

Synthi And The Composer: Extracts Of Music Realized With EMS Synthi Equipment

Demonstration Record released (undated but 1971) by Electronic Music Studios (London) Limited, 49 Deodar Road, London, SW15. 

A very hard-to-find and much sought after demo record with extracts of performances by the inventors of the EMS Synthi and prominent composers who worked with the equipment at the time (see detailed listing below). Several of them were members of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and provided music and sound effects for the original Dr. Who series, extracts of which included here. 

For a general history of EMS, visit: http://www.ems-synthi.demon.co.uk/emsstory.html. There was also a recent (2007) documentary called "What the Future Sounded Like" about EMS, with interviews with Peter Zinovieff, Tristram Cary and David Cockerell, and featuring music by Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, and Hawkwind (among others): http://www.whatthefuturesoundedlike.com/. (It can be seen in three parts on YouTube.)

The following are the music extracts as they are heard on the record. Each piece is introduced by the unnamed announcer (Tristram Cary, I believe), who also provides a brief promotional opening and closing to the record. (Note: the actual tracks do not exactly match the listing on the sleeve, and Malcolm Clarke's first name is misspelled on the sleeve as "Malcom.")

Side A: Concert Music

1. Harrison Birtwistle: Medusa

2. Peter Zinovieff: January Tensions

3. Tristram Cary: Leviathan '99

4. Tristram Cary: Continuum

5. Delia Derbyshire: Music of the Spheres (interpretation of Kepler's "Harmony of the Spheres" for the "Dr. Who" series)

6. George Whitman: Czech Poem for Voice, Violin and VCS3

Side B: Television, Radio and Computer Music

1. Dudley Simpson: Dover Castle (for the "Dr. Who" series)

2. Dudley Simpson: The Axons Approach (for the "Dr. Who" series)

3. Delia Derbyshire: Dance from "Noah"

4. Malcolm Clarke: Waltz for Displaced Saints

5. David Vorhaus: Canon

6. David Vorhaus: Thing For Two VCS3s

7. Peter Zinovieff: A Lollipop for Papa (in its entirety, in real time direct to tape in the studio)

8. Brian Hodgson: Seascape 

9. Malcolm Clarke: War of the Worlds (sound effects)

Everett Hafner - Electronic Music in Action

Private pressing, Prentice Hall Media, 1977. Very few copies pressed. Near mint condition, in plain white album sleeve signed by Hafner. Beautifully executed classical interpretations together with music composed by Hafner, performed primarily on EMS synthesizers. Everett was the founder and owner of Electronic Studios of America (EMSA), distributor of the EMS Synthi line in America. Photos of the Everett and EMSA studio equipment (including a Synthi 100) can be found at: http://www.everetthafner.com/WebEH/emsaPhotos.aspx.

Side A:

Matthew Young - Recurring Dreams

Full Moon Records, 1981. Vinyl near mint condition; sleeve near mint/very good. Signed on the back panel. This is a record of my own music performed largely on an EMS Synthi purchased from Everett Hafner (from whom I also acquired the other two LPs in this listing). Greg Sandow cited this record in the Village Voice as one of his favorite releases of 1981. It has recently been re-released as a digital download by Yoga Records / Other Music.

Side A: 

1. Mistral

2. First Blood

3. No Reason

4. Recurring Dream

5. Version, Inversion

6. Late Poets

SideB.

1. The Forest of Lilacs

2. Night Music

As part of my musical past, these are tough to part with, but I no longer own the Synthi, and the time has come to part with them (times being what they are).