Ernst Thoma
Reels 1977-1986

Cinedelic Srl
News and curiosities

(text by Soundohm)

The endlessly engaging Italian imprints, Soave and Orbeatize, deliver what is unquestionably one of the most important and ambitious archival releases of 2024: “Reels 1977-1986”, an astounding X14 CD box set dedicated to the neglected, visionary Swiss electroacousitic composer Ernst Thoma. Presenting a radically singular approach to experimental electronic music - highly rhythical, ranging from poetically elegant and minimal to frenetic and mind-bending - across its astoundingly expansive duration, comprising 80 pieces in total, unfolds some of the most engaging music of late 20th century that we can call to mind.

Since its launch in 2017, the Milan based imprint, Soave, has become a widely celebrated vehicle for visionary, historical gestures of music that pursue radical new paths of creativity. Over it’s years of activity, Soave has largely focused on the work of Italian artists like Giusto Pio, Riccardo Sinigaglia, Arturo Stalteri, Roberto Musci, Giovanni Venosta, and numerous others, but every so often they cast their gaze further afield to artist who lived and worked in diverse number of geographies, notable in cases of their releases by Wolf Vostell, After Dinner, Steve Birchall and their latest, “Reels 1977-1986”, a towering X14 CD box set dedicated to the neglected, and visionary Swiss electroacousitic composer Ernst Thoma. Co-produced with Orbeatize and by far the most expansive collection - issued in a stunning wooden box with an expansive booklet - ever dedicated to Thoma’s truly remarkable output, it’s an absolute revelation - overflowing with the composer’s incredibly unique approach to musical minimalism via electronic process - that unveils a singular mind who produced some of the most engaging music of late 20th century that we can call to mind.

Ernst Thoma (1953-2020) was a fascinating, albeit relatively obscure, figure in the history of Swiss electronic and electroacoustic music. Initially trained as a printer, early in life Thoma began building and working with oscillators, filters and other electronic devices. Following further studies in art and design, he began his formal music studies at the Basel Music Academy, working in the electronic music studio under the composer David Johnson. Following the completion of these studies, he embarked upon the beginnings of the vast body of compositions that occupy much of his energies for the next four decades of his life, as well working within the group UnknownmiX, with Magda Vogel and Knut Remond, and collaborating with artists like Peter Trachsel, Stephan Wittwer, and Gabi Delgado.

Soave and Orbeatize’s astounding X14 CD collection, “Reels 1977-1986”, attends to roughly the first decade of Thoma’s output a composer, comprising an incredible 80 pieces created between the late 1970s and mid 1980s. Working roughly chronologically, “Reels 1977-1986” begins, rather fascinatingly, with a series of “Binary Code Music”, recorded in various studios between 1977 and 1978. Heavily rooted in a rhythmic sensibility, while embracing a restrained tonal pallet, each is stunning, elegant, and entirely hyping rethinking of minimalism on entirely electronic terms. While minimal sensibilities of Thoma’s binary music takes up the majority of the collection’s first two discs, and first two years of his represented output, each disc slightly upends a clean understanding of his working methodology or ideas during this period, first with a bristling, tonally and texturally dense improvisation recorded in Wädenswil during 1979, and then with a particularly striking duo performance with Peter Trachsel in Paris during October of 1980, which combines synthesiser with a vast spectrum of (seemingly) acoustic and tape sound sources.

The third and fourth discs of “Reels 1977-1986” take fairly significant leaps toward revealing Thoma’s inner sensibility and working methodology. Comprising two series - “Struktur” and “Klang”, created in 190 and 1981 respectively - while reasonably different in their aesthetic presentation, both work within a fairly constrained set of terms and are heavily rooted in the composer’s clear engagement with the notion of rhythm: effectively becoming miniatures that activate and expanded exploration of a set of themes: “Struktur” being elegantly single and restrained and “Klang” being dense and explosive. Both also encounter Thoma moving heavily toward the use of sythesis, “Struktur” having been created on TMS and Serge Modular synths, while “Klang” was created on a system of his creation, the Thoma Polyphon, and Serge. In the case of both instances, each passage is engrossing and presents an entirely unique voice within electronic music that feels entirely timeless while completely of its moment.

Following three stunning improvisations on Serge Modular created in 1981, the sixth and sevenths discs are predominately offered over to beautiful minimal pieces recorded between 1980 and 1982, notably the four parts of the "Winterspiel” suite - a pulsing and constrained set of gestures created on the Thoma Polyphon Composer, and Serge and TMS Synthesizers, and four parts of the "Winterspiel” suite, performed with Peter Trachsel across 1981 and 1982, which encounters the pair entering very different territory from where we left them the year prior, this time flirting with elements free electric improvisation and moments that feel almost like a new vision of Kosmische.

From here we move through a stunning set of further minimal efforts that cover a remarkable amount of ground while managing to feel fairly cohesive within their diversity, moving across proto-techno, flirtations with no-wave (in purely electronic form), and starling allusions to math-rock, an idiom that wouldn’t arrive for more than another decade - each imbued with an umistable sense of humour, play, and lightness within their forms, before arriving at the monumental piece “Westblock”, recorded live in 1982 in Zürich. Sprawling to nearly 46 minutes in length, this astounding hybrid o f free jazz and electronic music features Thoma on live electronics, Andreas Bosshard on tape machines, Alfred Zimmerlin on cello, Jaques Widmer and Knut Remond on drums, Stephan Wittwer on guitar, Markus Eichenberger on sax and clarinet, Felix Bopp on piano, and Michael B. Arthassat on vocals. A truly towering piece of free music, driven by hard fire, it’s as fierce ands they come and entirely upends every perception, rendered thus far, of Thoma’s activities during this time, placing him even deeper into the most radical reaches of the avant-garde.

While certainly not as extreme, the avant-gardism that presented itself within “Westblock” certainly become more explicit across the remaining length of “Reels 1977-1986”, especially within a series of wondrous synthesiser improvisations that define the eleventh and twelfth discs, each churning with stunning densities of structures, textures, and tones, before concluding with a bunch of completely off-kilter, pop infused experiments that leave you wondering where the hell Thoma went next.

A truly incredible, expansive and exploratory journey into the mind and work of visionary Swiss electroacousitic composer Ernst Thoma, Soave and Orbeatize’s astounding X14 CD collection, “Reels 1977-1986”, is unquestionably one of most important and ambitious archival releases of 2024, reminding us that the history of experimental electronic music seems to always have mind-blowing revelations lying in wait. Issued in a stunning wooden box with an expansive booklet, not only is it a beautiful object, but it’s an absolutely engross joy in listening that leaves you on the edge of your seat every step of its many hours of sounds. Ten out of ten and as highly recommended as they come.
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Ernst Thoma

Reels 1977-1986
News and curiosities
(text by Soundohm)

The endlessly engaging Italian imprints, Soave and Orbeatize, deliver what is unquestionably one of the most important and ambitious archival releases of 2024: “Reels 1977-1986”, an astounding X14 CD box set... ➔

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The history of music is a fascinating journey that spans centuries and cultures around the world. From prehistoric times to the present day, music has had a profound impact on human life, serving as a means of expression, communication... ➔