"Floats in a distant dreamworld of its own": vari/ations: Ode To Oram reviewed - The Wire

"How exciting for women to be present at its birth pangs, ready to help it evolve to maturity in the world of the arts. To evolve as a true and practical instrument for conveying women's inner thoughts, just as the novel did nearly two centuries ago..."

"When Oram died aged 77 in 2003, she was remembered chiefly for co-founding and directing the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in 1958, then leaving it the following year, frustrated with shoestring budgets and its low status within the organisation compared with such crucibles of musique concrète as the RTF studios in Paris or Warsaw's Polish Radio Experimental Studio."

"The 2007 compilation Oramics and 2011's The Oram Tapes put her music back into circulation, from compositions such as 1965's Pulse Persephone, to sound design that enhanced films ( The Innocents, Dr No) and advertised everything from Lego toy bricks to washing machines. Her unperformed work Still Point, which combined an orchestra, turntables and electronic manipulation back in 1949, was finally (fully) realised at the 2018 Proms in London."

Daphne Oram pioneered electronic sound through her Oramics optical synthesizer and taught herself to code in the 1980s to adapt Oramics for home computers such as the Acorn Archimedes. She envisioned computers as instruments that could express women's inner thoughts and urged female participation in emerging digital arts. She co-founded the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in 1958 but left in 1959 over funding and institutional status. Her work ranged from experimental pieces like Pulse Persephone (1965) to film sound design and commercials. Posthumous compilations and the 2018 realization of Still Point have increased appreciation of her influence.

Read at The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music