This Italian group from the 1960s was an improvising ensemble made up of some of the most notable composers of
avant-garde
music in Italy, namely one
Ennio Morricone
, who would go on to become famous as a
soundtrack
composer. Other members,
Franco Evangelisti
and
Mario Bertoncini
, would stay working on the cutting edge of
classical
music for their ensuing careers. This CD reissue comprises material from 1967 through to 1975 that the group recorded for
labels in Italy. As a laboratory for experimental musical ideas, the title translates as "The Improvisational group for New Consonance" and the group's ambition was to uncover new methods in
instrumental
performance. Three decades later, this material makes one think these documents were swept under the carpet to allow
rock & roll
to happen and
punk
to seem as though it was revolutionary. This is entirely unorthodox considering it was made in an academic music environment. There is much anarchy and deconstruction here, and
GINC
were held in high regard in
electro-acoustic
improvisational
circles in the '90s, when groups such as
Voice Crack
Polwechsels
began to reflect upon the ideas thought up in Rome way back then. Exploring prepared instruments and extended techniques, the ensemble holds a similar place in history to the British
improvising
group
Amm
and fellow Rome-based
Musica Electronica Viva
.
Morricone
fans will find no trace of his soundtracking aesthetic here, though, this is purely in keeping with the work of
John Cage
, whose many prepared piano techniques and experimental compositions inspired them. On this CD, their work to defying known formulas is apparent throughout, and abrasive noise and sparse explorations of sonority dominate this CD collection. Later the group would work with
again, far less rigorously though as their job was to add noise and incidental abstractions to his funky soundtracks. Another chapter in the secret history of the
-- and its reissue seems intent to uncover another vital key in finding the roots to some of the more
experimental
music created in the following years, from
jazz
improvised
music (
Borbetomagus
John Zorn
) through to "new complexity"
music, such as composer
Helmut Lachenmann
Editions RZ
is a label that specializes in LPs and CDs of such diversions, and they design, package, and remaster to a very high standard. ~ Sylvie Harrison