narrated by Laurie Anderson
I went to see this homage to the pioneers of electronic music on the strength of the name alone and was not disappointed. The debut documentary by Lisa Rovner features Maryanne Amacher (1938—2009), Bebe Barron (1925—2008), Wendy Carlos (b. 1939), Suzanne Ciani (b. 1946), Delia Derbyshire (1937—2001), Pauline Oliveros (1932—2016), Daphne Oram (1925—2003), Éliane Radigue (b. 1932), Clara Rockmore (1911—1998) and Laurie Spiegel (b. 1945).
The only familiar name to me was that of Clara Rockmore. She was a virtuoso theremin performer who also contributed to the development of the instrument. Bebe and Louis Barron composed the first completely electronic film score for Forbidden Planet which was credited, however, as “electronic tonalities” (not “music”). Daphne Oram co-founded the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and invented the amazing Oramics machine which creates music from hand-drawn images. Delia Derbyshire also started her carreer at the Radiophonic Workshop where she arranged and coauthored the original Doctor Who theme music. Here’s a BBC Archive clip part of which was used in the documentary:
The film was screened as a part of Cinezín and I enjoyed it much more than its opening feature. Unfortunately, they have chosen not the best room for the projection; I had a problem to see whole of the screen and so did everybody else apart from those in the front row.
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