Snowflakes Are Dancing

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Snowflakes Are Dancing
RCA Red Seal
ProducerPlasma Music
Isao Tomita chronology
Switched On Rock
(1972) 		Snowflakes Are Dancing
(1974) 		Pictures at an Exhibition
(1975)

Snowflakes Are Dancing is the second

NARM's best-selling classical album of the year.[2][3] In Canada, it reached number 57 in the RPM Magazine Top Albums chart.[4]

Overview

The use of the term

bitonality, and to a certain extent atonality, in order to achieve a greater degree of musical expression not allowed by strict adherence to a single key
. Thus, the term tone painting is quite appropriate, in that Debussy's compositions often experimented with a much broader palette of tones, allowing each to behave similar to a colour within an illustration.

The album is considered an early example of proto-

polyphonic synthesizers (which were not yet commercially released).[7] Tomita created the album's polyphonic sounds by recording selections one part at a time, taking 14 months to produce the album.[8] The modular human whistle sounds used would also be copied in the presets of later electronic instruments.[9]

The track "

Arabesque No. 1" was used from 1976 to 2011 as the theme music for the PBS astronomy-based program Jack Horkheimer: Star Hustler (later Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer);[10] however, its use as the theme was discontinued when the show was revamped as Star Gazers. In Japan during the late 1970s, parts of the track "Reverie" were used for the opening and closing of Fuji Television's transmissions. The track "Clair de lune" was used during the lighting of the caldron by torch at the opening ceremony and at the end of the 2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in Tokyo.[11]
for the extinguishing of the caldron.

Track listing

Side A

  1. "Snowflakes Are Dancing" – 2:10
  2. "Reverie" – 4:44
  3. "Gardens in the Rain" – 3:41
  4. "Clair de lune" – 5:48
  5. "Arabesque No. 1" – 3:57

Side B

  1. "The Engulfed Cathedral" – 6:18
  2. "Passepied" – 3:17
  3. "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" – 3:25
  4. "Golliwog's Cakewalk" – 2:50
  5. "Footprints in the Snow" – 4:30

Bonus track (2000 CD release)

11. "
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
" – 10:18 (from the 1975 album Firebird)

Bonus tracks (2012 SACD release)

2. "Whistle and Chime - The Art of Sound Creation"
8. "Deux Arabesques No. 2"
13. "Nuages - Nocturnes"

At least two of these titles are slightly wrong; the title track appears to be a mistranslation back into English of an other-language (probably Japanese) version of Debussy's original title (The Snow Is Dancing), whereas "Golliwog's Cakewalk" contains the common misspelling of the name

Amazon
has the correct spelling of the latter.)

Recording

The album sleeve names the musical instruments and recording hardware used by Tomita to create the work.[12]

  • Moog synthesizer
    • One 914 extended range fixed filter bank
    • Two 904-A voltage-controlled low-pass filters
    • One 904-B voltage-controlled high-pass filter
    • One 904-C filter coupler
    • One 901 Voltage-controlled oscillator
    • Three 901-A oscillator controllers
    • Nine 901-B oscillators
    • Four 911 envelope generators
    • One 911-A dual-trigger delay
    • Five 902 voltage-controlled amplifiers
    • One 912 envelope follower
    • One 984 four-channel mixer
    • One 960 sequential controller
    • Two 961 interfaces
    • One 962 sequential switch
    • Two 950 keyboard controllers
    • One 6401 Bode ring modulator
  • Tape recorders
    • One Ampex MM-1100 16-track
    • One Ampex AG-440 4-track
    • One Sony TC-9040 4-track
    • One Teac A-3340S 4-track
    • One Teac 7030GSL 2-track
  • Mixers
    • Two Sony MX-16 8-channel mixers
    • Two Sony MX-12 6-channel mixers
  • Accessories
    • One
      AKG
      BX20E Echo unit
    • One Eventide Clockworks "Instant Phaser"
    • Two
      Binson
      Echorec "2" units
    • One
      Fender
      "Dimension IV"
    • One Mellotron

References

  1. ^ "Simon Reynolds tracks the history of electronica's Seventies pioneers". The Guardian. 21 April 2007. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  2. ^ a b Billboard, August 16, 1975, p. 41
  3. ^ "Isao Tomita". Billboard. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
  4. ^ "RPM Top 100 Albums (51-100)" (PDF). Collectionscanada.gc.ca. December 14, 1974. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  5. ^ "Snowflakes Are Dancing". Billboard. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
  6. ISBN 978-0-240-52072-8
    , retrieved 2011-05-27
  7. ^ "Isao Tomita". Namm.org. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  8. ^ Musician, player and listener, Issue 8, Amordian Press, 1977, p. 40, retrieved 2011-05-28
  9. ISBN 978-0-240-52072-8
    , retrieved 2011-05-27
  10. ^ "Jack Horkheimer Star Gazer FAQ". Jack Horkheimer Star Gazer official site. Miami, Florida: WPBT. October 2007. Archived from the original on February 25, 2008. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
  11. ^ Tirebuck, Ben (August 11, 2021). "World Sport: Tokyo 2020 Olympics emerges as a winner". The Phuket News Com. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  12. ^ Component equipment used by Tomita for this album (Liner notes). Isao Tomita. RCA Red Seal Records. 1976. p. 1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)

External links

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