podcast the 70's


Ragnar Grippe excerpts from Le Mécanicien Effréné 1984, Musique Douze 1976, Capriccio 1973, Chamber Music 1975, the Emperor 1979, Symphonic Songs 1981, Sand 1977, Orchestra 1980 and Cold Numbers 2011.

Buchla synthesizer used on the Emperor, Symphonic Songs and Orchestra. The 70’s were times with either musique concrète or Buchla synthesizer, in the 80’s we’ll see the Synclavier reign for a decade, the DAW in the 90’s and plug-ins in the 00’s.Please note at the end of program Musique Douze is said to be composed in 2006, the real year is 1976.Sorry for this.

In the 70's I was in Paris, Chamber Music was composed using a cardboard over a speaker as filter and I found new ways to cut and splice the tape. Musique Douze used speakers over the audience when premiered at the Swedish Radio in 1976. Kejsaren (the Emperor)  recorded on a 4 track Studer machine using the Buchla  which had to be retuned all the time. Sand composed in Luc Ferrari's studio inspired by the paintings by Viswanadhan and then released by Shandar Records.

The 70's was also a lot of fine art, I had the honour of being commissioned for the bi-centennial at La Scala 1977, had my modern dance piece Vänthallen commissioned by the Royal Opera in Stockholm choreographed by Oscar Araiz. And the last years of the 70's opened the window to film music. Kejsaren or in english the Emperor was one of them.

Cold Numbers is certainly not the 70's, but why I've included this composition is because it's interesting to compare 2011 with the 70's. The same goes for Orchestra in the 80's and Le Mécanicien Effréné from the 90's.


all rights reserved Grippe©2017 photo by Mathias Edwall©2007

all rights reserved Grippe©2018

the 70's