2008
Various Composers
Plays Shostakovich, Mendelssohn, Braddock, Siegel, And Kohl
About This Album
"Now for something completely different," as the Monty Python Troupe used to say. The Los Angeles Electric 8 is a classical repertory ensemble consisting of eight electric guitarists, and this is its first, self-produced disc. Some might be surprised to learn that the use of electric guitars in classical music goes back quite some time, at least to the 1950s when French composers such as Jean Barraqué and Marius Constant began to score electric guitar parts into mixed chamber ensembles; think the theme to The Twilight Zone, composed by Constant. All-guitar orchestras have been an established mode of instrumentation in the New York "Downtown" scene since at least around 1980, when Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, and Elliott Sharp began experimenting with such textures, ultimately leading to ensembles based on that formula. However, just because a composer develops a specific kind of ensemble to perform a given work doesn't mean that it's going to catch on; both Haydn and Louis Andriessen have been rather lucky in this regard.

It appears that Los Angeles Electric 8 has taken it on its own initiative to create such a group, and it doesn't sound like Glenn Branca; a fair amount of the repertoire thus far consists of transcriptions of traditional Balinese gamelan works.
Track List

Nathaniel Braddock Tempered Lancaran
1.
Dmitri Shostackovich Octet, Op. 11
2.
3.
Felix Mendelssohn Organ Sonata No. 1 In F Minor/f Major, Op. 65/1
5.
Wayne Siegel Domino Figures
6.