The idea of the Traces series is to unearth from the GRM Archives short, forgotten or ignored pieces of music. This second volume, which gathers works prior to 1976, features the ‘early’ works of four composers who each went on to leave a unique trail in music. In addition to reflecting the extraordinary vitality of the musical experimentation of bygone times, Traces aims to reactivate the audibility to such pieces, some of which have never been released before. (Christian Zanési & François Bonnet)

1.1. Dominique Guiot: L’oiseau de paradis (1974,13:20)
1.2. Pierre Boeswillwald: Nuisances (1971, 7:15)
2.1. Rodolfo Caesar: Les deux saisons (1975-1976, 6:46)
2.2. Denis Smalley: Pentes (1974, 12:50)

1.1  The composition of this piece was inspired by the rules of cinematic screenwriting. Indeed, the possibilities of an electroacoustic music studio are very similar to those found in the audiovisual field (particularly editing). Based on this similarity, I thought it would be interesting to compose a series of scenes, dramatic atmospheres and suddenly interrupted soundscapes. (D.G.)
1.2  Starting from microphone recordings of numerous sounds, the author chose not to systematically use the best ones’. Therefore this construction always tried to refine itself whilst constantly being polluted by interferences which are nuisances. As in nature, man seeks to refine his environment but destroys it through his mistakes.
2.1  Rodolfo Caesar ‘Les deux saisons’ (1975-1976). This piece results from instrumental improvisations: the first one with the Baschet brothers’ glass organ, the second one with a frequency modulation device assembled by Bernard Dürr, who co-created the Trièdre Fertile (Fertile Triad) with Pierre Schaeffer. These were two input channels for a kind of ‘anecdotism’ I was interested in. (R. C.)
2.2  The main features of the piece evoke vast landscapes, with their ascents and descents, hence the title, ‘Pentes’ (both French and Latin, meaning slopes, inclines, ascents). Most of the music was created by transforming instrumental sounds, but there are also synthesized sounds. However, the only recognizable sound source is the Northumbrian Pipes, whose drone is responsible for the slowly evolving harmonies out of which its haunting traditional melody appears. (D.S.)