Harry Bertoia
Harry Bertoia, 1915-78, American sculptor and furniture designer, b. Italy. Bertoia emigrated to the United States in 1933 and joined Knoll International (1950). There he designed chairs that brought him wide acclaim. Important examples of his sculptural works are a structural screen for the Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company, New York City, and a bronze panel at Dulles International Airport, Washington, D.C.
Harry Bertoia, 1915-78, American sculptor and furniture designer, b. Italy. Bertoia emigrated to the United States in 1933 and joined Knoll International (1950). There he designed chairs that brought him wide acclaim. Important examples of his sculptural works are a structural screen for the Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company, New York City, and a bronze panel at Dulles International Airport, Washington, D.C.
Mechanization I & II
On this new LP Harry Bertoia shows why he may have been the first industrial musician. Bertoia often referred to his sound sculptures as a "collaboration with industry" and on this new LP Bertoia is intentionally creating heavy, rhythmic music he described as "mechanized," "mechanical" and "factory like." This first edition is packaged in a full color sleeve with metallic inks. Mastered by Tom Eaton at Sounds & Substance.
Recorded in 1971, percussion and repetition emulate the pounding rhythms …
The Sounds of Sound Sculpture
Tip! In 1973, the Sound Sculpture Show took place at the Vancouver Art Gallery. An LP audio catalogue (with a booklet) of the exhibition, entitled “The Sounds of Sound Sculpture”, was released in 1975 under the supervision of the Canadian sound sculptor John Grayson and US composer David Rosenboom. Grayson had edited an important early book on the field, “Sound Sculpture”. The LP included rare takes of Rosenboom and Grayson, amongst others, playing famous pieces by pioneering sound sculptors inc…
No Date Tapes 2
*100 copies limited edition* No Date Tapes 2 is the second official cassette release from Harry Bertoia's tape archive and, like the first cassette, these recordings were chosen from a small collection of tapes in Bertoia's archive missing recording dates. This cassette is packaged in a metallic shell and produced on super-ferro tape for incredible analog sound.
Hints of Things to Come
In 1970 Harry Bertoia had been developing his sonic sculptures for over ten years. He had only been composing/recording for two years and the four long pieces chosen for this CD find him starting to arrive at the sonic forms he had been searching for. Hints Of Things To Come is one of the most unique and melodic pieces discovered so far in the Bertoia tape archive. In this piece we hear him slowly create and articulate a musical riff. Bertoia builds this phrase patiently until the composition r…
Sonambient : Recordings of Harry Bertoia
* Deluxe metallic cardstock box, tip-on LP jackets, 11xLP standard weight LPs, 80-page book * Harry Bertoia’s Complete Sonambient LP Collection, featuring all 11 of Bertoia’s original records newly restored from their master tapes and housed in replica jackets. A deluxe box, printed with metallic inks and tip-on style print assembly, holds the 11 discs as well as a 80 page book containing a lengthy historic essay, Smithsonian interview with Harry Bertoia, exclusive Sonambient era material from t…
Glowing Sounds
Harry Bertoia's Glowing Sounds LP contains three versions of the same composition, each transferred at different tape speeds in accordance with the artist's instructions. This is the third LP to be released from Bertoia's extensive tape archive and it's the first, of many, to be released using instructions left behind by the artist himself.
Bertoia wrote the concept for this Glowing Sounds LP on a note in 1975 and slipped it into the master tape case where it sat unread for 45 years. The idea wa…
Experimental I / Mechanical I
When Harry Bertoia's Sonambient label was resurrected, Important Records' intention was to tell the story of Bertoia's groundbreaking Sonambient work as revealed through his extensive collection of notes and recordings. When the first new LP was released in 2016, Important were only in possession of 1/20th of the archive. Now, in 2019, the label is excited to release the first LP of new material from the full archive and they present it to increase understanding of what Bertoia was doing in his …
Clear Sounds/Perfetta
LP version. After nearly 40 years of silence, Harry Bertoia's Sonambient label has been resurrected in order to release the best of Bertoia's unheard recordings from his recently preserved archive of 1/4" tapes. "Clear Sounds" b/w "Perfetta" was cut straight from the original reels and is a true analog pressing. These two pieces were selected for their minimal, meditative and lush harmonic qualities; lacking in the abundance of dynamics and contrasts found on the original Sonambient records, the…
Sonambients: The Sound Sculpture Of Harry Bertoia
Home Age Sonambients: The Sound Sculpture Of Harry Bertoia is a deluxe CD/DVD package containing historic recordings made in Harry Bertoia's Sonambient barn. The DVD, a film titled Sonambients: The Sound Sculpture of Harry Bertoia, by Jeffrey and Miriam Eger, was shot in 1971 and follows Harry Bertoia in performance and interview throughout his Sonambient barn deep in the Pennsylvania woods. This film offers a rare opportunity to follow the artist in practice, listening carefully as he moves con…
Unfolding
No Obi. Awesome CD release documenting the 'magic' world of Harry Bertoia sound scuptures. This reissues two of this American genius's many self-released LPs as a great public service. His "sounding sculptures" consist of "ranks of tall slender rods, placed either upright or at special slants in rectangular formations. These metallic faces are not rigid, but 'give' when stroked -- at the same time releasing lingering musical chords of a weirdly haunting nature."