Mikhail Chekalin - Concerto Grosso No. 1 (2000 compi, rec. 1989-92)

Another instalment (see links below) in the 12-LP series from the early 90s that gave Russian symphonic-synthesist Mikhail Chekalin his breakthrough, Concerto Grosso No. 1 was recorded in 1989.  The album opens with the 14 minutes of Meditation (Russian Mystery), finding Chekalin in dark ambient mode with plenty of odd industrial sounds, wordless vocals and eerie piano over the top of the droning base.

The haunted circus atmosphere of Fascination and synth-strings of Chamber Music show Chekalin continuing to show promise in the soundtrack field that he'd move into, with his hardware updated to include Yamaha, Kurzweil and Roland keyboards.  On the second half of the orignal LP, To Appreciate The March offers some of his weirdest vocal experiments, and the 11-minute Symphony Of Lamentations is possibly the album's highlight - it's just plain odd, with more wild vocalisations and strange sound effects wafting through the ether.  Of the three early 90s bonus tracks, the 20-minute Dissonata is the definite pick, working through a similar sustained, warped atmosphere as the two long tracks on the album.

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pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
Meditative Music For A Prepared Organ, Vol. 1 & 2
The Symphony-Phonogram
Between Spring And Autumn By Stealth

Mikhail Chekalin - Between Spring And Autumn By Stealth (2004 compi, rec. 1986-93)

Some more Mikhail Chekalin to add to the previous posts of his Symphony-Phonogram and Prepared Organ albums.  Between Spring And Autumn By Stealth is a 1986 work, which like the others was first released in the M'ars Gallery series in the early 90s.  Like Symphony-Phonogram, it's a great mix of Chekalin's symphonic ambitions/classical influences, and his talent for vast atmospheres of dark, disquieting ambience, especially when his wordless vocal is added.

The latter aspects are still my favourite thing about Chekalin's music so far, especially on tracks like Mini Requiem.  I've mentioned this before, but it really is like ambient 80s Vangelis with a lot less gloss, the restricted production values well suited to Chekalin's music.  I'll be exploring him further in due course - there's a couple more of the M'ars Gallery reissues I still need to pick up, before giving his 90s-onwards music a try.  Speaking of which, there's a taster added to the end of this CD, in a 28-minute live performance from 1993.  Titled Concerto For Piano, Synthesiser and Voice, it's an immersive piece with long abstract, exploratory stretches and some gorgeous piano passages - well worth inclusion here.

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Mikhail Chekalin - The Symphony-Phonogram (2004 compi, rec 1980-89)

Some more Chekalin as promised - this one, from the circa 2004 CD reissue series, based on his 1988 work The Symphony-Phonogram.  As previously noted, the first substantial release of Chekalin's music was a series of 12 LPs in the early 90s, and Symphony-Phonogram was one of them.  As on the Prepared Organ albums, we are given the assurance that "all music is performed live, in real time... without recourse to sequencer technologies and without computer editing".

After a dramatic opening section of dark and brooding keyboard riffs and shrieks of eerie synth over the top, The Symphony-Phonogram settles down in its second and third parts to more understated dark ambience and occasional martial rhythm tracks.  Vangelis is still an obvious reference point, particularly in Part 2, but the relative absence of studio gloss definitely works in Chekalin's favour, making the minor key melodies and percussion all the more unsettling and effective.  By Part 4, Chekalin has started to add his trademark wordless vocals to the mix, with the brief Part 5 being particularly ominous and ritualistic.  All in all, The Symphony-Phonogram is a really solid electronic work, one that a lot of post-industrial listeners in the West would've lapped up in the 80s if they'd had access to it then.

The additional tracks on this reissue start with 1984's Night Ritual For Choir And Drums, which occupies similar territory but with a stronger rhythmic element as per the title.  If someone had told me this was an outtake of early Coil jamming around, it would've at least been plausible.  Next up is Psychodelic Fresco, apparently a 1980 live recording direct to cassette "at an underground session", displaying Chekalin's atmospheric talents well on their way to maturity.  After a short fragment from the mid-80s, the CD ends with Democracy Of Noise from 1989.  It's not as strong as what's preceded it, but I've left it in anyway as it shows the variety in Chekalin's sound.

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Mikhail Chekalin - Meditative Music For A Prepared Organ, Vol. 1 & 2 (rec. 1979-1983)

Been absolutely fascinated by this guy for a while now, so time to start posting his music.  Mikhail Chekalin was born in Moscow in 1959, and since the late 70s has worked out of his basement studio carving out a prolific niche in symphonic electronica, with detours into shorter-form work, film music and even solo piano.  Chekalin had difficulty getting much music released in the Soviet 80s, even getting unwelcome KGB attention for having such sophisticated tech squirreled away.  His big break came in 1990/1 when a group of Moscow artists known as 'The Twenty' started featuring his music at their M'Ars Gallery, leading to a series of 12 LPs of his early work being released on the Melodiya label with the artists' paintings as their covers.

Three of these albums were Meditative Music For Prepared Electricorgan, Vols. 1-3, reissued in 2003 as the two 77-minute CDs in today's post.  Described as "electric organ with effects, solo vocal... all music was produced in one take, at a concert session, without recourse to multitrack technologies... no synthesisers [except for one track]", these releases felt like an ideal starting point for me.

The two 25+ minute tracks from LP 1 sit together on CD 1, with Meditation With Rhythm-Beating up first.  After about 10 minutes of just spacey organ fades out, Chekalin adds in his haunting wordless vocal, and the slow rhythm track only makes a brief appearance around the 20 minute mark.  Sounds Of Colour starts off more sparkly and melodic, but then things get much darker and more abstract for the rest of the epic journey.  A definite comparison could be pre-synth Klaus Schulze, and the vocal parts at their most austere and ritualistic even made me think of Jarman-soundtracking TG.

LP 2 started out with the two versions of Symphonietta Of The Air, which round out CD 1 here.  On CD 2, the seven tracks offer more variety, kicking off with the brief atmospheric Adagio (LP 2) and the almost Roedelius-esque chirpy classicism of Bucolic Tunes (LP 3).  By contrast, the more rhythmic Physiological Toccata and Ostinato-Asthenia (both LP 3) have a harshness closer to Asmus Tietchens, but the remaining tracks from LP 2 are back in the 'Meditative' zone.  The longest of these is the 19-minute Meditation With Little Bells, which is nice and spaced, almost Vangelis-like, as is the only synth appearance on the abstract Impromptu With Bells.

For all the comparisons I've noted, they're only really surface similarities, and Chekalin's sound world is very much his own, with these two collections for electric organ serving as an ideal introduction to his early work.  Will definitely be exploring further, and posting more albums here in the months to come.

Disc 1
Disc 2