Pierre Henry: Noise and Corticalart

Prospective 21e siècle releases generally stand out in record bins thanks to the series’ distinctive (and reflective) metallic cover designs. But the music pressed onto these vinyl records is also deserving of attention.

“Prospective” albums served as a vehicle for the dissemination of experimental electronic music. Pierre Schaeffer, Iannis Xenakis, Luc Ferrari, Edgard Varèse, John Cage and many others contributed material to the series (most of it performed by Les Percussions de Strasbourg). Yet only one composer – Pierre Henry – features prominently in the Prospective 21e siècle catalog.

A number of ground-breaking electroacoustic works by Henry were released on vinyl as parts of the series. This includes Variations pour une porte et un soupir, Le Voyage, Apocalypse de Jean and Mise en musique du corticalart. The latter is a particularly original and perplexing piece of electronic music.

Mise en musique du corticalart documents Pierre Henry’s exploration of the sonic possibilities contained within the cerebral cortex. On this album, the composer becomes the source material of a very peculiar improvisational exercise.

The sound masses heard on this LP were recorded live at the Musée d’Art moderne de Paris between February 15 and February 21, 1971. This corticalart music was made possible by the use of electrodes designed and positioned to detect signals/waves originating from the outermost layer of the composer’s brain. Seven electronic generators were put at Henry’s disposal during the performances. He used the equipment to  amplify and process the sounds thus made audible.

Needless to say, this “art du cortex” occupies a very narrow zone between intuitive art and cerebral music.

“électro-genèse”

Unfortunately, Mise en musique du corticalart has never been officially reissued (Creel Pone did release a limited CDr back in 2005).

More Pierre Henry here: Réminiscence apocryphe