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by Alan Freeman . AUDION magazine #58, 2013 LP releases mentioned in this article... Vocalise In Rapide (84-85) Melodia c60 27165
Post-Pop - Non-Pop (84,87,88) Melodia c60 28737
Meditativ Music For The Decomposed Electro-Organ 1 (81-82) Melodia c90 31373
Meditative Music For Prepared «Electricorgan» II (82) Melodia c90 31671
Meditative Music For Prepared «Electricorgan» III (81-83) Melodia c90 31673
Practical Music Making I (82-85) Melodia c90 31679
Between Spring And Autumn By Stealth (86) Melodia c90 31675
Practical Music Making II (84-87) Melodia c90 31677
The Green Symphony (84+88) Melodia c90 31375
Boarder State (88) Melodia c90 31377
Symphony-Phonogram (89) Melodia c90 30665
Introduction Into Intuition (1989) Melodia c90 31681
Concerto Grosso 1 (89) Melodia c90 30667
Concerto Grosso 2 (89) Melodia c90 30669 CD's mentioned in this article...
Russian Mystery (89) Melodia SUCD-60 00295
Night Pulsation (84-89) Erdenklang 30632
Album With A Symphony (82-92) Solyd SLR 0040
Porcelain God (96) TAU 00151
Avoiding The Desire For Cutting And Piercing Objects (98) TAU 00157
Saturn. Izdelije No... (99) CDL 885-02
A Pagan Suite (90-91) Nex NG 4046 There are also CD- releases on MirRecords via Eurock in the USA
 Mikhail Chekalin is a multi-instrumental talent from Russia (born in Moscow in 1959) mentioned before a good few times in Audion in the 1990's. In fact, on his own website he includes a quote from my review of NIGHT PULSATION "certainly, is one of the most radical and innovative synthesists around, not only in Russia but globally" (Audion, 6/93, UK) at the top/opening of his biography page. Mikhail apparently started as a "synthesist-keyboardist" in the late 1970's. At that time he was considered too unorthodox and avant-gardist to fit into a rigorously conservative mainstream of Soviet contemporary serious music. The changing politics of Brezshnev’s era and beyond that meant that he gradually moved from the underground and "unwelcome attention by KGB" to being accepted as part of the new drive to promote the Russian arts worldwide, with releases on the strictly state controlled Melodiya record label. His first LP releases were oddball collections of more commercial styles with avant-garde elements woven in. In Audion #18 I extolled the virtues of these in comparison most of the really naff synthi test-card type music I'd encountered, saying "Chekalin however, does throw in a good deal of invention and surprises into his albums that could well appeal to those liking the idea of an instrumental Kraftwerk or Yello. POST-POP, NON-POP has two radically different sides, whereas VOKALISE IN RAPIDE features vocal effects in an uptempo synth music". Such releases never prepared us for what was to come, for that I'll re-edit from Mikhail's own biography... During 1990-91 a 12 LP collection more or less cataloguing all his major works from 1980's was released in cooperation with the Modern Art Gallery "M’Ars". The Gallery exhibitions that took place each Spring at Malaya Gruzinskaya ulitsa in Moscow downtown became a major attraction. The various different exhibition spaces, along with the art displays would also feature M. Chekalin’s "soundscapes". A unique and different concept to the usual silence of a modern art gallery! Ten out of the twelve albums in this series are what I'd class as uniquely innovative classics of synthesizer/multi-instrumental music. The other two are titled PRACTICAL MUSIC MAKING and are more of the upbeat electro-pop type stuff as heard on his earlier LP's. In sharp contrast to those, the "Meditative Music for the Decomposed Electro-Organ" series came as a huge surprise. These are possibly 90% organ performances that, like most of his work, are performed live, obviously with the aid of much trickery, delay lines, echo devices and such-like. These bizarre excursions often hint at the pioneering music of Oskar Sala, the very early Klaus Schulze, and elements as diverse as contemporary classical music or the more atmospheric and of the systemic field of Terry Riley or Peter Michael Hamel. involving organ and other instruments. Talking of contemporary classical - further releases have the words Symphony or Concerto in the title. It was probably a coincidence that around the time these came out that Klaus Schulze also ventured into similar realms on his BEYOND RECALL, yet whereas Klaus was constructing the sample-patch arrays, Mikhail had done much of this 1980's work with far more primitive equipment. All these other Mars series releases are quite extraordinary really, with a special accolade going to the weirdest of the lot CONCERTO GROSSO 1 & 2. The first Soviet CD release RUSSIAN MYSTERY was pretty much a compilation of choice album tracks. After this Erdenklang presented Mikhail Chekalin to the world, first with three tracks on a CD in their "Looking East: Electronic East" series, and then the album NIGHT PULSATION which featured some more tracks from his LP's along with unreleased material, showcasing all his styles. Apart from some reissues, I lost touch with what Mikhail was up to after that. Of course, with such a major body of work behind him, 10 LP's of exceptional high quality, it was going to be a difficult task to come up with something comparably fresh and new. As has often been said "necessity is the mother of invention" and often people "make do" and are more creative with limited resources than having all the technology in the world at one's fingertips. A well-worn mantra as to why so many great innovators of the 1970's ceased to do anything of interest once they'd become well-known and wealthy! So, what of Mikhail Chekalin's later releases? Well, he's proliferated! There are 50 or so different album releases documented on his web discography. Here are a few of them... First of note is ALBUM WITH A SYMPHONY, which collects various recordings from 1982 through to 1992 (released in 1995) and is another guide to all his styles. This opens with the excellent almost 21 minute opus The New Age Symphony which is not new-age at all in the accepted sense, but does offer some new twists on his more abstract neo-classical style. After that we have a variety of shorter different tracks ranging from techno-dance to faux Debussy! Tracks 11 onward are excellent again, and also A Pagan Vocalise is the vocal element (pretty much) of a different already known track. Mikhail seems to have something in his musical psyché about things pagan, so lo-and-behold a CD release called A PAGAN SUITE. This was recorded at around the time the Mars series was released, but was unreleased until 2004, this is pretty much a mish-mash of various ideas heard within that series. Indeed it may well be remixed and/or sampled from it. A big patchwork of all sorts of moods, though largely all experimental, it amounts to one the best non-reissue CD's. Three others from the mid to late 1990's: PORCELAIN GOD came out pretty much hot off the press, documenting works from 1996. It's often very symphonic/orchestral sounding, parts are also the closest to Klaus Schulze of the era. All diverse and creative stuff, if a mite incoherent. AVOIDING THE DESIRE FOR CUTTING AND PIERCING OBJECTS - great title, and oddball album, all sorts of hybrid jazzy and classical concoctions, many upbeat wonky things that remind me of 1980's instrumental stuff by Carlos Peron, Bill Nelson and the likes, along with Schulze like stuff with samplers, and too many operatic vocals in parts. SATURN.IZDELIJE NO... from 1999 is pretty much more of the same, but this time it feels more soundtrack like. Plenty here then for the curious collector! ____________________________________________________________________________________ LP releases... Vocalise In Rapide (84-85) Melodia c60 27165 Post-Pop - Non-Pop (84,87,88) Melodia c60 28737 Meditativ Music For The Decomposed Electro-Organ 1 (81-82) Melodia c90 31373 Meditative Music For Prepared «Electricorgan» II (82) Melodia c90 31671 Meditative Music For Prepared «Electricorgan» III (81-83) Melodia c90 31673 Practical Music Making I (82-85) Melodia c90 31679 Between Spring And Autumn By Stealth (86) Melodia c90 31675 Practical Music Making II (84-87) Melodia c90 31677 The Green Symphony (84+88) Melodia c90 31375 Boarder State (88) Melodia c90 31377 Symphony-Phonogram (89) Melodia c90 30665 Introduction Into Intuition (1989) Melodia c90 31681 Concerto Grosso 1 (89) Melodia c90 30667 Concerto Grosso 2 (89) Melodia c90 30669 CD's mentioned in this article... Russian Mystery (89) Melodia SUCD-60 00295 Night Pulsation (84-89) Erdenklang 30632 Album With A Symphony (82-92) Solyd SLR 0040 Porcelain God (96) TAU 00151 Avoiding The Desire For Cutting And Piercing Objects (98) TAU 00157 Saturn. Izdelije No... (99) CDL 885-02 A Pagan Suite (90-91) Nex NG 4046
CD reissues of most Mars series LP's exist, mostly remastered and with bonus tracks. There are also CD-R releases on MirRecords via Eurock in the USA. Alan Freeman, Audion#58 / 2013. UK |
