The Electronic Century with Gabriel Prokofiev

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The Electronic Century with Gabriel Prokofiev: For the Record

For the Record

BBC Radio 3 - The Electronic Century with Gabriel Prokofiev, For the Record

Gabriel Prokofiev celebrates the art of the sample and ways of composing with recordings.

Gabriel Prokofiev explores how the manipulation of recorded sound opened up new opportunities for composition, from sampling to musique concrete and electroacoustic music.

One hundred years since the earliest electronic instruments began to appear, composer Gabriel Prokofiev explores how the advent of electronically generated sound has influenced how we make and listen to music. Over three episodes, Gabriel charts a personal journey through the key works that influenced his own composing style, and the impact electronics have had on contemporary classical music. 

The arrival of magnetic tape allowed composers to work with sounds from the real world for the first time. In this episode, we hear some of the earliest examples of ‘musique concrète’, a form of composition developed in the early 1940s by Pierre Schaeffer, which used recorded sounds as raw material and ushered in a way of composing through listening.  Gabriel shares his fascination with the early work of Luc Ferrari and Hugh Le Caine, showing how it later developed into sample culture, with the likes of Matthew Herbert and Steve Reich using samples to make political statements. 

Musique concrète developed into electroacoustic music, where acoustic recordings are processed and manipulated into unrecognisable forms.  Gabriel connects the dots between the great French electroacoustic composer Francis Dhomont and the inventive use of sampling in early rave tracks. Plus we hear work from Kate Carr, one of the current crop of ‘field wave’ artists, who focuses on field recording as a form of composition in its own right.

Produced by Alannah Chance
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3


Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Music: Classical: Experimental & New

Gabriel Prokofiev celebrates the connections between classical and electronic music.

Gabriel Prokofiev celebrates the connections between classical and electronic music over the last century.

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