Pär Lindgren (1952), Swedish composer, studied composition with Gunnar Bucht and Lars-Gunnar Bodin at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where he himself has been a member of the teaching staff since 1980. He's one of Sweden's leading composers of electroacoustic music. He presents here three of his works. 'Houdinism' (1984), 'Rummet' (The room) (1980), 'Den förstenade' (The petrified one) (1982).
By all accounts this 1986 album was a break-through album both for Lindgren and for the Swedish electronic music community as a whole.
These are compositions; they have form and a coherent movement. Not surprising as he's a Music teacher at the State College of Music in Sweden. Lindgren's use of electronics is controlled and appears to leave nothing to chance. Formal compositions. I wonder how much of it actually resulted from a chance operation during initial composition process? Nothing? Whatever is the case, the resultant album is precise and, most enjoyable of all, is the spatial element to all 3 tracks here.
The first track 'Houdinism' sets the tone immediately. Multi-layered electronic workings where fractal like whirring, chug and tumble, rapidly evolving and locking back into their cycles.
On 'Rummet' ('The Room') Lindgren's use of 'acoustic' in 'electro acoustic' is more noticeable. Still electronically manipulated, there a more human feel to it. A sort of bio-mechanics fusion.
The side-long 'Den Förstenade' ('The Petrified One') is the corker here. Still using the methods employed in the previous two tracks, he's applied them to voice and tape. Sharp intakes of breath move from one place to another as the interference of flick-flack style electronics rock the boat of complacency, causing the voice to....silence.
Awareness of lack of sound. A tone eventually emerges, building into complex level of sounds that constantly move. It's an epic and thrilling track.
