The Phonology Studio in Florence – S 2F M

Abstract

In those years electro-acoustic music was still the interest of a small elite only. Professional or even semi-professional equipment was quite costly and not easily obtainable; therefore, only universities and radio stations were in a position to set up an electro-acoustic music studio. Access to these privileged places (apart from brief visits) was not easy for those who did not belong to one of these important ‘Churches’ of contemporary music of the time. This state of things motivated a number of composers – who were not members of these elites – to set up a small personal studio. In order to do, they had to combine their limited financial resources with a knack for finding good second-hand instruments and the collaboration of adventurous technicians, themselves fascinated by this new world of sound. In addition to these practical aspects, there was also another reason to go freelance. The 20th century is often called the century of ideologies. If this was true for the socio-political sphere, it was also for the artistic sphere. The first decades after World War II witnessed sharp conflicts between artistic beliefs and currents and the newly arrived, electro-acoustic music, certainly could not avoid this climate. In part this was in line with the strong tendency towards ideological theorising that has always characterised the European musical tradition1. While in USA the followers of the so-called ‘tape music’, and especially Vladimir Ussachevsky, adopted a more or less pragmatic approach to these new instruments, in Europe the situation was different. For a number of years each of the principal centres followed one specific aesthetic line. Take, for instance, the contrast between ‘concrete music’, based on the elaboration of sounds registered anywhere, posited and practised by the Groupe de Recherche