Of all the composers associated with the legendary Parisian electroacoustic studio Groupe De Recherches Musicales, Bernard Parmegiani has come to command the greatest respect and adoration. Though often overlooked until his later years, long resting in the shadow of his more famous peers - Pierre Schaeffer, Luc Ferrari, and Iannis Xenakis, his legacy now towers over the rest - the great master of his field. Parmegiani’s work offers a crucial insight into the 20th avant-garde. Gifted with a deep belief in access and humour, he organised sound with the intention of it occupying a place in everyday life - often composing for film and television. With fans increasingly devoted to his work, every LP in his catalog is sought after and hard to find, but the rarest is unquestionably Chants Magnétiques - released by PSI, the small French library label, in 1974. Across its two sides - within nine discrete works, incredible structures of sonority unfold - the heights that the origins of electronic music foretold. Spanning the rhythmic, textural, and drone, it’s a work of brilliant intellectual optimism, at once challenging, rigorous, accessible, and a display of astounding sonic beauty - this is electroacoustic music at its absolute best.
