In Moscow in the 1930s, the composer and music theorist Arseny Avraamov, best known for his 1922 Symphony Of Sirens, proposed vocalizing the writings of Lenin by synthesizing the voice of the Bolshevik leader, who had died in 1924, using graphical sound and other pioneering methods of audio synthesis. Later, in 1943, Avraamov argued against the new National Anthem of the Soviet Union, which replaced "The Internationale" the following year, contending that the anthem of a revolutionary republic should be based on new approaches to harmony. Moreover, Avraamov proposed that the anthem should be performed by the Futurist writer and actor Vladimir Mayakovsky, who had died 13 years earlier. Avraamov proposed synthesizing Mayakovsky's voice in what he referred to as his Poetical Laboratory.

Were these ideas little more than science fiction, or was Avraamov on the verge of developing the technology necessary to realise them?

In 1932, Avraamov’s pupil and assistant Boris Yankovsky had established his own sound laboratory in Moscow and begun work on new techniques for spectral analysis and synthesizing sound, including speech. The methods devised by Yankovsky, as well as the construction of the Vibroexponator, an optical sound tool, were based on pure audio computing techniques, which distinguished his work from contemporary developments in analogue synthesis.

Yankovsky's work seemed to confirm Avraamov’s theories of vocal synthesis. However, before these experiments could be completed, the work of both Avraamov and Yankovsky was curtailed and condemned to oblivion when the Soviet Union's cultural and intellectual elites were purged by Stalin.

In this talk, Andrey Smirnov, the Director of the Theremin Centre at the Moscow State Conservatory, will relate the extraordinary story of Avraamov’s and Yankovsky’s experiments in audio synthesis and graphical sound. The talk will be illustrated with examples and reconstructions of their pioneering techniques, and will draw on material included in Smirnov’s forthcoming book, Sound In Z: Experiments In Sound And Electronic Music In Early 20th Century Russia, which will be published in April by Walter König in association with Sound and Music. Signed copies of the book, which includes an introduction by the UK artist Jeremy Deller, will be on sale on the night.



This edition of The Wire Salon is presented in association with Sound and Music.

Sound and Music
Sound In Z exhibition

The Wire Salon is a monthly series of events, hosted by The Wire magazine, dedicated to the fine art and practice of thinking and talking about music. The events consist of talks, panel discussions, film screenings and DJ sets.

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