Reviewed by:

• Electronic Inspirations: Technologies of the Cold War Musical Avant-Garde by Jennifer Iverson
• Paul Schreiber, Sandi-Jo Malmon, and Colin Coleman

Jennifer Iverson's Electronic Inspirationsfocuses on one decade, the early 1950s through the early 1960s, centered around Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), also known as the West German Radio studio in Cologne. Iverson traces three main themes. 'First, the WDR studio was absolutely central to the evolving Cold War musical ecosystem. Second, the WDR studio engendered a heterogeneous, laboratory-like working culture. Third, the WDR studio contributed to a cultural process of reclamation, which served to mitigate the Cold War's despairing, threatening shadows' (p. 2). Iverson goes on to argue that electronic studios were a place 'where wartime ideas were appropriated and technologies were repurposed' (p. 3).

Herbert Eimert, a composer and musicologist, was the director of the WDR electronic studio. Eimert collaborated with Werner Meyer-Eppler and Robert Beyer in founding WDR. As a scientist, Meyer-Eppler had expertise in acoustics, psychoacoustics, and experimental physics. Beyer, a composer and recording engineer, was also active in the development of electronic instruments. The electronic studio was funded in 1951 and ready for use in early 1953. Among the aims of the studio was to create a timbrel utopia, a place where 'composers could control every aspect of the sound' (p. 27). The founders were eager to reestablish Germany's reputation as a leader in music 'by being the first to advance technological and artistic progress by means of electronic music' (p. 8). However, they first needed to catch up with the French composer Pierre Schaeffer, who had an electronic music studio in Paris, Radiodiffusion Française (RDF) since the mid-1940s. The scope of this book is more than just WDR; as it covers a host of studios and composers from Europe and the U.S. who play various roles in avant-garde and electronic music.

As composers began to work with the studio equipment, they found it cumbersome and limiting. Many composers lacked the training to understand how to use the equipment. Beyer understood this problem and helped to create a host of technical collaborators who helped composers understand and learn to use these new machines and realise their compositions. Throughout the book, Iverson, in part, focusses on these invisible collaborators 'who make the creative work of the composer possible' (p. 29). In addition, Iverson presents various conversations and discourse among the multiple impresarios, composers, and technicians as they strive to solve problems related to compositional ideas, musical form, science, and the new technologies in the studio. There are various graphs, charts, and tables scattered throughout the book which, at times, can be cumbersome and difficult to read. The book consists of six chapters, an introduction, an epilogue, and a handy 'Glossary of Actors' (p. 241) to help you keep track of various individuals referenced in the book.

Chapter 1, Origins Creating a Laboratory. 'In 1948, Eimert began producing his famed Musikalisches Nichtprogramm, a bimonthly broadcast aimed at educating listeners on the concepts of the "new" music that had been suppressed or unknown during the war' (pp. 23–24). Through this radio broadcast, Eimert influenced what the German public learned about new music. A laboratory-like collaboration between composers, technicians, and the machines was what Eimert perceived as the best working environment. Harold Bode's Melochord, a dual-manual keyboard, was used in all the early experiments in 1952. Because of the sound produced for [End Page 370] radio plays (Hörespiel), Iverson argues that radio plays are the direct precursors of electronic music and that there is a substantial overlap between radio-play sound effects and high-art electronic music. Iverson makes a case that technician Heinz Schütz created the first composition (Morgenröte) at WDR that was cannibalised by Eimert and Beyer in their compositions.

Chapter 2, Kinship Cage, Tudor, and the New Timbral Utopia. John 'Cage and the Europeans repelled each other like oil and water because Cage's...

审核人：

• 电子灵感：詹妮弗·艾弗森（Jennifer Iverson）的冷战音乐前卫技术
• 保罗·施雷伯（Paul Schreiber），桑迪·乔·马尔蒙（Sandi-Jo Malmon）和科林·科尔曼（Colin Coleman）

詹妮弗·艾弗森（Jennifer Iverson）的《电子灵感》聚焦于1950年代初至1960年代初的十年，围绕着以科隆为名的西德广播电台（Westdeutscher Rundfunk）（WDR）为中心。艾弗森追溯了三个主要主题。“首先，WDR工作室绝对是不断发展的冷战音乐生态系统的核心。其次，WDR工作室产生了一种异类的，类似于实验室的工作文化。第三，WDR工作室为开垦的文化进程做出了贡献，这有助于缓解冷战的绝望，威胁阴影”（第2页）。艾弗森继续指出，电子工作室是“战时思想得到适当应用并且技术被重新利用的地方”（第3页）。

作曲家兼音乐学家赫伯特·艾默特（Herbert Eimert）是WDR电子工作室的导演。Eimert与Werner Meyer-Eppler和Robert Beyer合作创建了WDR。作为科学家，迈耶·埃普勒（Meyer-Eppler）在声学，心理声学和实验物理学方面拥有专业知识。作曲家兼录音工程师Beyer也积极从事电子乐器的开发。电子工作室成立于1951年，并于1953年初投入使用。该工作室的目标之一是创建乌托邦音色，在这里，“作曲家可以控制声音的各个方面”（第27页）。创始人渴望通过“率先通过电子音乐推动技术和艺术进步”来重新树立德国作为音乐领导者的声誉（第8页）。然而，他们首先需要赶上法国作曲家皮埃尔·舍弗（Pierre Schaeffer），他自1940年代中期以来就在巴黎的无线电音乐工作室（RadiodiffusionFrançaise，RDF）拥有电子音乐工作室。本书的范围不仅限于WDR。它涵盖了许多来自欧美的工作室和作曲家，他们在前卫音乐和电子音乐中扮演着不同的角色。

当作曲家开始使用工作室设备时，他们发现它既繁琐又局限。许多作曲家都缺乏训练以了解如何使用设备。Beyer理解了这个问题，并帮助创建了许多技术合作者，帮助作曲家理解和学习如何使用这些新机器并实现其构图。在整本书中，艾弗森部分地侧重于这些“使作曲家的创造性工作成为可能”的隐形合作者（第29页）。此外，艾弗森在努力解决工作室中与作曲理念，音乐形式，科学和新技术有关的问题的过程中，在多种主持人，作曲家和技术人员之间进行了各种对话和演讲。整本书中散布着各种图形，图表和表格，有时，可能很麻烦且难以阅读。该书包括六章，简介，结语和方便的“演员词汇表”（第241页），以帮助您跟踪书中提到的各个人物。

第1章，创建实验室的起源 。“ 1948年，埃米尔（Eimert）开始制作他着名的Musikalisches Nichtprogramm，每两个月播出一次，目的是向听众介绍战争期间被压抑或未知的“新”音乐的概念”（第23-24页）。通过这次广播，艾默特（Eimert）影响了德国公众对新音乐的了解。Eimert认为作曲家，技术人员和机器之间像实验室一样的协作是最佳的工作环境。Harold Bode的双手键盘Melochord在1952年的所有早期实验中均得到使用。由于[End Page 370]产生的声音艾弗森（Iverson）认为，广播剧是电子音乐的直接前身，并且广播剧的音效和先进的电子音乐之间存在实质性的重叠。艾弗森举例说明，技术人员海因茨·舒茨（HeinzSchütz）在WDR上创作了第一张作品（Morgenröte），该作品被艾默特（Eimert）和贝耶（Beyer）蚕食。

第2章，亲属 笼，都铎王朝和新廷布拉乌托邦。约翰·凯奇（John'Cage）和欧洲人像油和水一样互相排斥，因为凯奇（Cage）的...