Pierre Henry. “Prismes”. Phillips 1973.

This criminally unreissued Pierre Henry record from 1973 is Henry at his peak.  It incorporates percussion, Musique Concrete techniques and analogue synthesizer tweak outs into a seamless mix quite unlike anything else I’ve heard by him. Elements from the 1971 electronic album Mise En Musique Du Corticalart de Roger Lafosse and the 1972 percussion focused Mouvement-Rythme-Etude are synthesized into this monumental piece for dance, “Spectacle Spatio-Lumino-Dynamique et Cybernetique de Nicolas Schoffer”.  Footage of the performance can be glimpsed in this video clip (26:50-30:00)

Henry started out as a percussionist before cutting his teeth at the GRMC under the tutelage of Musique Concrete theorist Pierre Schaeffer. By the early 70’s Henry had acquired an EMS Synthi and released Mise En Musique Du Corticalart de Roger Lafosse, a record of a performance in which brainwaves were transcribed into electronic signals. By the time of the release of Prismes he had all of these skills under his belt as well as having already composed several pieces for dance. Cearly now a master of all these facets, Henry skills are undeniably sharp here, Which is why it confounds me that this semi-lost masterpiece has not been fully issued on CD or involved in the current vinyl reissue campaign.

Procuring this record became an obsession after hearing the title track from the CD Pierre Henry 04.2 Fragments Pour Artaud. I was able to track one down a few years ago from a collector in Belgium. Ironically since then I have seen it pop up on eBay occasionally.

Picture of Schoffer’s Prisme taken from here.

A video of Schoffer’s Prisme (lighting effects/sculptures)  with music by Pierre Henry (1963) can be seen here.

Henry in his home studio in 2008. In the background is his EMS Synthi, wall mounted no less!