

Brian Eno, "Serious" Music and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop: Some Thoughts

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Brian Eno's a smart guy; remember when he got paid something like $35,000 for the six-second Windows 95 startup theme? (Watch the clip above if you forgot.) It's a pleasant enough theme, but come on...

Anyway, the Guardian had a good interview with the inventor of ambient music and one half the driving force behind Bowie's Berlin trilogy. It's good all around - Eno talks about his early dual fascination with the avant garde guys like John Cage and with pop music; belonging to a gospel choir despite his atheism; the synthesizer as an "unfinished instrument"; and how nice it is to hear "human frailty" on recordings in the era of pro-tools-induced perfection.

But what I really was interested in was his take on how classical music continues to reject recording technology, even among innovative composers. He uses as an example Steve Reich's Drumming, which he says was badly recorded and used stiff-sounding orchestral drums:


I've thought about this before; it seems the more "serious" the music, the more resistant its creators are to exploiting technology. Liner notes on jazz recordings will often take pains to point out that there were no overdub; classical performances are recorded in one take. On one hand, I understand it. Some part of my listening brain probably appreciates a Bad Plus tune more because I can picture these three guys all in one room, playing at once - or knowing that Toby Twining's incredible microtonal choir is really singing all those unearthly sounds.

On the other hand, it might be time for "serious" musicians to open themselves up to the idea of recording technology as a means of creating music and not just documenting it. Think of how the possibilities of pop music opened up once bands like the Beatles and the Beach Boys started treating the studio as an instrument in itself.

Perhaps the more important the musicians consider their work, the greater the burden to uphold certain traditions. Maybe that's why, for instance, the musicians in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop felt so free to create and use new sounds. Starting in the late 1950s, they did the soundtracks for BBC programs, mostly sci-fi and children's shows. They were such an afterthought to the BBC, that they weren't even credited as musicians or composers - that's why Delia Derbyshire still doesn't get an official credit for her work on the "Doctor Who" theme.

Today, though, they're considered among the most important pioneers of electronic music. Had their work been taken more seriously, and had the BBC allowed them the budget for "proper" instruments, who knows if they would have achieved as much?

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