Ragnar Grippe - Symphonic Songs 2xLP

Label: Dais

Recorded between the release of Sand and Lost Secrets, Symphonic Songs is a formerly unreleased work that chronicles the dynamic shift and development in experimental Swedish composer Ragnar Grippe's canon. Following his seminal release Sand in 1977, Swedish experimental composer Ragnar Grippe worked on various art and performance commissions, often returning to Stockholm during the summer months to focus his efforts on his compositional practice. It was there at the famed EMS Studios where he began employing the Buchla synthesizer and the facilities multi-tracking capabilities as new instruments to map his mining of sound and movement. He emerged with a new commission for Susan Buirge later formally titled Symphonic Songs and used in her avant-garde theater piece "Ci-Déla" which debuted in Paris in 1981. Symphonic Songs showcased Grippe's sound au courant, pushing dense against sparse, calm into cacophonous, using each track as its own intersecting plane. Using the machinations of studio and structure to drive Symphonic Songs' voice, Grippe culled a haunting, often cinematic electronic work that dots and darts into unexpected corners with curious aplomb.