August 2023 – Concentration Camp

This mixtape pays homage to a group of pioneers in the field of electronic music, all of whom happened (or happen, in the case of Alice Shields, Eliane Radigue and Christina Kubisch) to be women. Women were around from the start of electronic music’s heydays in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. It starts with what many consider the first important composition in the realm of electronica, Johanna Beyer’s “Music of the Spheres” from 1938 (one of two duplicates from the radio show I posted last week, which was more… pop, I suppose…) It includes pieces by the two legendary women from the BBC radiophonic lab in the ’60s, Delia Derbyshire and Daphne Oram, one from Pauline Oliversos (“Bye Bye Butterfly is a piece I have come to love, so it is the other duplicate…) as well as two from the fascinating Danish supergenius Else Marie Pade, who came to compose electronica after a stint in a Gestapo prison at the tail-end of WWII left her unable to play the piano. Also included are pieces by two of the big name grand dames of contemporary classical, Sofia Gubaidulina and Kaija Saariaho. Ideally, you’ll want to be in Colorado, Oregon, Washington or California while listening (to any of the mixtapes, really…) Like everything good, it’s headphone music. This is late-night listening: please do not try to play between sunrise and sunset!

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Johanna Beyer: Music of the Spheres (1938)