Berk, Ernest – "Electronic Music For Two Ballets" – [Trunk Records]

aarbor   3/17/2021   12-inch, A Library

Ernest Berk was born in Cologne, Germany. He was known as a pioneering ballet dancer, teacher and electronic music artist. He went to England and started a dance company there. This album is consists of the scores for 2 of his ballets: Initiation and Gemini. Initiation is about “modern youth’ and its ritualistic behavior, being “initiated” in order to belong. Gemini is about a young man falling in love with identical twin sisters. Forget that these are ballets. This music can be used for many other purposes and will appeal to a broad audience. Berk created an electronic sound suited to his experimental dance style – it is abstract and great listening. Towards the end of his life Berk gifted his entire collection of work to the Historical Archive of the City of Cologne – most of which was destroyed during the construction of an underground railway. These 2 recordings come from an original which the family had. AArbor