The BBC Radiophonic Workshop Thread

[Antony Cox]

Ooh - exciting!

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

The idea of them doing another concert, similar to the one they did at the Roundhouse, hasn't been abandoned; they are still looking to do something in the future. I gather work is still being done on this - don't know if that is what Mark Ayres is referring to or not; he might be talking about something entirely different.

[Stuart Wallis]

Daphne shows off her Oramics at the Science Museum!

Anyone interested?

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

Daphne shows off her Oramics at the Science Museum!

Anyone interested?

I can't promise that I'd managed to find any freetime to fit this in, but I'm certainly interested and would be up for popping along to see this if I can.

[Perry Vale]

Not sure if it's been posted elswhere on PS, but this week sees the re-release of the Workshop's 1969 LP release of 'The Seasons' as part of the Drama Workshop (for schools, iirc), with music by David Cain and poems from Ronald Duncan.

Out on Trunk Records, available on cd and lovely vinyl, too. Or you can still buy the original on Discogs at the moment for £220.

http://www.trunkrecords.com/turntable/seasons.shtml

[SiHart]

I'm going for the original vinyl... or maybe not!

Peter Howell has mentioned a project called Radiophonic 2012 on his blog... I'm wondering what it could be. At the moment I'm guessing an album of some kind, but it could well be more live shows which have been rumoured since the Roundhouse gig in 2009.

[SiHart]

The New Radiophonic Workshop!!

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...r-7704331.html

The haunting sounds conjured by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop evoked the ambience of alien worlds and influenced contemporary artists from Orbital to Radiohead.

Now the unit, hailed as a pioneer of experimental electronic music, is to be reborn under a new digital partnership between the BBC and the Arts Council. Established in 1958, the workshop produced sound effects and incidental music for radio and television series including Blake's 7 and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

Its most famous creation remains the swooping Doctor Who theme music, produced in 1963 by Delia Derbyshire, who painstakingly cut and pasted sections of analogue tape containing oscillator test tones. The workshop also generated the whooshing sound of the Tardis materialising.

While electronic groups such as Kraftwerk built on the workshop's early use of synthesisers, the unit itself was closed in 1998. Derbyshire died in 2001. Yet their work has been re-released and sampled by generations of musicians and the surviving members performed a one-off concert in 2009 in response to demand from fans.

Yesterday it was announced the renamed New Radiophonic Workshop will compose fresh work as one of the highlights of The Space, a new freely-available digital arts service. Part of the London 2012 Festival, The Space will offer a platform for contemporary artists as well as historically important archive film, accessed on mobile and tablet devices and Freeview.

The New Radiophonic Workshop (NRW) will be led by Matthew Herbert, the electronic composer who has collaborated with Björk and been nominated for an Ivor Novello award for his soundtrack work. "What the [original] workshop achieved was the pinnacle of electronic music in this country, and it is all the more extraordinary given that it was conceived in the 50s," Herbert told The Independent yesterday.

He is already working on his first NRW commission. "The first thing is to define the sound of 'The Space'. There is a black hole in the internet and that is 'sound'," he said. "I'm interested in bringing together musicians and software technicians. You can tell stories in sound that you can't do with images."

He would like original members of the workshop to contribute. "We are interested in bringing them with us but we are also keen to find new, young people working in technology," he said.

[Rob McCow]

I hope they maintain the experimental ethos of the ORW!

[Anthony Williams]

Interesting! If it's even half as good as the original Radiophonic Workshop, then it'll be quite something

[Stuart Wallis]

And about time too!

[Perry Vale]

Managed to pick this little beauty up yesterday....



Nice!

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

Wow; what's it like?

[Perry Vale]

Would you believe it's a bit weird?!

Some of it is very 'Clangers' like, I thought. I'll try and upload some of it to Soundcloud or something similar at some point as I plan to digitize it. It's a bit crackly but quite playable.

It's from 1962....

http://www.discogs.com/Daphne-Oram-E...release/929220

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

Thanks for that; I'll check out the link when I get home (our work PCs don't do media or links or........... anything really)!!!

[SiHart]

oh my, this looks unmissable... http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00g15x3

Duration: 3 hours

Richard Coles tells the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop's extraordinary story.

In 1958 an extraordinary musical laboratory opened at the BBC. It was called the Radiophonic Workshop and provided music and sound for a wealth of BBC programmes, from The Goons to Dr Who.

With contributions from Coldcut, Dick Mills and Mark Ayres, Richard Coles explores the achievements of the unit and presents a carefully chosen selection of programmes showcasing the department's work:

The Dreams (05/01/1964)
The Goons (02/02/1959)
Inferno Revisited (17/04/1983)
Relativity (1974)
Electric Tunesmiths (30/12/1971)
Bath Time (1976).

[Dave Tudor]

oh my, this looks unmissable...

Absolutely! It seems it's a couple of years old, but I've never heard of this programme before - definitely one to be recorded.

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

I'll try and remember to listen to this, but knowing my memory and that hopeless chance of me getting 3 hours to myself at any point soon, I may be asking you guys for a copy of it!!!

Looks interesting though; I'm looking forward to hearing it at some point!

[Nyder]

I should be free on Saturday night. Me, a glass or two of cheeky vino, and the Radiophonic Workshop. Perfect!

[Perry Vale]

I was in M&VE last week and was delighted to see the Volume 3 CD (Leisure Hive) in their cabinet at £16. Quite a reasonable price as it's been out of print for so long.

Imagine my annoyance when the guy in the queue in front of me bought it before I could!

[Stuart Wallis]

I'll send the Lads round.

[SiHart]

Anyone fancy joining me for this? http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visi...3-A53FFA3BE5C9

[Nyder]

Arrgghh! Damn shame - can't make it. Would really have liked to have gone to that too!

[SiHart]

ahh well, not to worry.

[SiHart]

Some classic scores are on the way- a full release for Androzani and most excitingly, a full Troughton era score (Seeds of Death perhaps) and a Seventh Doctor one too. Plus an album highlighting 50 years of Doctor Who music (and maybe beyond!)

Yay!

[Antony Cox]

Ooh, that sounds exciting!