Finally reissued, with new artwork; this has been the most in-demand electroacoustic CD for the past few years. Bernard Parmegiani is one the electroacoustic superstars of the INA GRM universe, and along with various Francois Bayle titles this is a great place to start with the label. This amazing double CD is broken up into 2 parts: the first disc consists of old-style tape-splicing electroacoustic material, dating from 1963 to 1976 ("Violostries," "Pour en Finir avec le Pourvoir d'Orphee" & "Dedans-Dehors"). The 2nd disc represents post-computer acousmatic music, with works from 1986 to 1991 ("Rouge-Mort:" "Thanatos," "Exercisme 3" & "Le Present Compose").

All are thoroughly soaked with the intuitive power of brain-scanning sonic properties, tones fade and explode with stunning neuronic intensity. "Exercisme 3" features "a sort of interface enabling natural sounds or analogical synthetic sounds to release digitally synthesized sounds. Such and such a series of impulsions releases virtually aleatoric, and sometimes very varied, repetitions of digital sounds. These repetitions are often very 'dense' and take us to the limits of continual sound phenomena, thus making these 'factory sounds' lose their instrumental 'soul.'

Thus, we suddenly swing from one domain to another, from the instrumental to the electroacoustic, from a language we understand, to an 'unknown language.'"