Where: The National Library, Solli Plass, Oslo (Henrik Ibsens gate 110)
When: Friday October 18th 2013, 12:00-17:00
The German record company ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is frequently referred to as one of the most important labels for contemporary, classical, and jazz music. As of today their discography counts close to 1400 titles, several hundreds of which have been recorded in Norway. Over the last decades producer Manfred Eicher has been travelling to Oslo to make records with mainly improvising musicians in the studios of recording engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug. From the very start in 1970 this work set a standard in studio production, and many of the releases have become seminal in the history of recorded jazz.
In 2013 ECM deposited their archive of master and production tapes from Rainbow studio with the National Library of Norway for preservation and research purposes. With this as a backdrop, the National Library, in collaboration with the Department of Musicology at the University of Oslo (with the NFR Kulver Contemporary Soundspaces project), invite to a research seminar.
The seminar will revolve around the ECM recordings of jazz made in Norway, and will from different perspectives discuss the production and reception of these records. The emphasis will be on the music, the sound, the records, but in this context, equally important, on the different roles of the producer, the contribution of the engineer, and the very process of capturing editions of contemporary music in the recording studio.
We are proud to announce that director and main producer of ECM Manfred Eicher will contribute with his insights at the seminar, as will recording engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug and musician Arild Andersen, in dialogue with professor Hans Weisethaunet and research librarian Ivar Håkon Eikje. In addition two of the leading researchers in jazz studies and recorded music, professor Krin Gabbard and lecturer Peter Elsdon, will share their thoughts on the topic presented: ECM recordings as artistic expression and cultural practice.
„Die Siebziger Jahre waren ein Füllhorn, eine Wundertüte, ein „power spot“, und Manfred Eicher war damals ein „halber Norweger“, der in Oslo Meilensteine am laufenden Band produzierte, von Sart bis Open, to Love, von Whenever I Seem To Be Far Away bis Northern Song, von Solstice bis Belonging, von Facing You bis Piano Improvisations, Vol. 1 and 2, von The Following Morning bis Dansere etc etc. Und ich glaube mich zu erinnern, wie er mir im Interview erzählte von tagelangen Zugfahrten und den Masterbändern im Gepäck. Was für Reisefrachten, und da stand nicht mal „Be careful! Fragile!“ drauf.“ (M.E. In den Klanghorizonten, Oktober 1993)