Laurie Spiegel

The expansion of the Universe deduced by Hubble remains one of the cornerstones of modern science. With his law, the American astrophysicist also confirmed the consistency of Einstein's theory, thereby corroborating the vision of a homogeneous, isotropic and expanding space-time. Distant galaxies, considered up to that point to be nebulae, became the building blocks of a new field of research. The possible overcoming of every horizon. A boundary that nonetheless remains uncrossed today, with various conflicting hypotheses attempting to provide a further explanation for what looks like an almost physiological drifting apart of star clusters, destined to scatter into the infinite dark.

Well, if the invention of the telescope led humankind toward the most remote corners of the universe, that of the computer gave a similar jolt to sonic composition in its broadest sense. It's therefore worth gathering the experiences of the pioneers of that strange coupling between music and machines. From the early intuitions found in the Darmstadt summer courses, through Pauline Oliveros, Wendy Carlos and Delia Derbyshire, up to the early '70s with the mystical progressions of the still under-recognized duo Beaver and Krause, the evolution of electronic music passed through several crucial phases. And in that delicate process of enriching its individual components, actively shaped by geniuses such as Don Buchla and Robert Moog, fundamental contributions to the cause followed one another over time, including that of Laurie Spiegel, a composer at the forefront of experimental research in that period thick with exploration.

Born in Chicago in 1945, Laurie Spiegel learned to play guitar, banjo and mandolin from a young age, before brilliantly earning a degree in Social Sciences. Returning to the world of music almost instantly, the young Spiegel soon shifted her focus to composition proper, studying for some time in London with John W. Duarte, before specializing in baroque and Renaissance lute at the Juilliard School in New York. In the early years of her career, Spiegel had the privilege of working with Jacob Druckman — Pulitzer Prize winner for the orchestral work "Windows" — as his assistant, and benefited from the guidance of enlightened figures such as Michael Czajkowski, Hall Overton, Max Mathews and Emmanuel Ghent.

1969 was the turning point. The American musician became fascinated by analog synthesizers and decided to further redirect her attention toward the unknown world of digital computers. Hers were concrete fascinations, sublimated through the writing of an interactive composition software that took six long years — from 1973 to 1979 — at Bell Labs and at the founding of New York University's Computer Music Studio. Laurie Spiegel is also well known in rock music circles for a number of PC music programs, chief among them the MusicMouse, considered one of the most important in history.

Composed between 1974 and 1976 using a computer capable of generating melodies through analog synthesis equipment via the hybrid Groove system — Generating Realtime Operations On Voltage-controlled Equipment — developed by Max Mathews and F.R. Moore at the aforementioned Bell Labs, "The Expanding Universe" is an absolutely unique work in the electronic firmament. The names of John Fahey and Johann Sebastian Bach — cited as the main influences in the original liner notes — are enough on their own to convey the breadth of its vision. Interaction with the computer via keyboard, graphics tablet, buttons and knobs is underpinned by complex algorithms written in Fortran, one of the earliest programming languages.

Four special movements thus mark what remains one of the most singular and fascinating experiences in music.

If the brilliant Suzanne Ciani intuited the possible harmony between opposing canons, elegantly blending classical composition and modular synthesis, Laurie Spiegel raised the bar even further, focusing on the possible union between imagination and circuitry, thus contributing to the gradual expansion of a new sonic universe. The opening track "Patchwork", with the unattainable Steve Reich in its sights, follows in the footsteps of Hans Elder and Cluster, in barely ten minutes of synthetic flourishes designed to generate a paradoxically conciliatory climax.

Spiegel embraces coding processes like a swallow in perpetual migration; she flies high, free and happy, lost as she is within her own palette of seemingly endless elements that, at the time, were still largely unexplored. In short, if today we can listen to the flickering textures of artists like Daniel Lopatin, it's also thanks to the inventiveness of hidden giants like Laurie Spiegel.

The following "Old Wave" alternates proto-drones and cosmic trails, pushing the listener into uncharted territory, with atmospheres befitting sci-fi films with their usual surreal twists. Vaguely exotic rhythms take over in the glow of "Pentachrome", almost as if trying to recreate, synthesis after synthesis, the simmering of the primordial soup. The twenty-one minutes of the title track obviously deserve a chapter of their own: with it, the American pioneer builds a bridge between new age and cosmic music. And the sidereal stillness of "Jenseits" – the majestic suite by Ash Ra Tempel – is the only possible reference point for carrying out an otherwise impossible feat. In its gentle composure, Laurie Spiegel conjures anaesthetic flows of unfathomable beauty.

Massively expanded in 2012 by Unseen Worlds, in an edition featuring no fewer than fifteen extra tracks (almost all unreleased and dating from the same period, among which the majestic "Appalachian Grove", split into three parts, stands out), "The Expanding Universe" is a genuine cult classic in the world of experimental electronic music.

The track "Kepler's Harmony Of The Worlds", included in the 2012 edition, was magically included on the Golden Record placed aboard Voyager 1, the space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977 with the aim of exploring the outer solar system.

Perhaps one day even aliens will discover the music of Laurie Spiegel. An eternal gift, belonging to all of humanity.

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31/03/2019