Under the title International Electronic Music Catalog/Répertoire International des Musiques Electroacoustiques the Groupe de Recherches Musicales of the French Radio has prepared a new version of the Répertoire International des Musiques Expérimentales (1962). This new version has taken a slightly different form from that of the original Répertoire in that it is intended as a complete survey of all electronic music ever produced.
It is hoped that the catalog will achieve a high level of completeness: with an expected total of over 5,000 entries, the present rate of expansion of this medium will preclude the possibility of such a project's ever being undertaken. The survey, which covers the first twenty years of the existence of electronic music, is intended as a source of information for everyone connected with new music: composers, performers, conductors, teachers, programmers of public and broadcast concerts, electronic music studios, engineers, libraries, students, and critics.
In addition to including compositions produced in private studios (even those with an improvised assortment of equipment), which account for a considerable portion of the entries, certain other features not in the original Répertoire are included: the discography is much more exhaustive, and information on published scores and tapes that can be hired from music publishers is added. Other appendixes include information on predecessors of tape music (use of disc recordings, music drawn on film sound tracks), use of computers and synthesizers in connection with the composition and production of electronic music, tape compositions by poets, and electronic sound equipment used by sculptors: also added is a studio address list, and the catalog concludes with an index of composers, with nationality and year of birth.
The main body of documentation defines the status of the studios and the function of each work as precisely as possible; it also shows the very early development of tape music throughout the world in much clearer detail than has ever been done before, and it includes much information previously unknown. “Electronic instrumental” music – using live electronic transformation of performed music – is also included.
