(November 6) – Rich Aucoin releases new album Classical Tonto. Following up his twice Juno-nominated quadruple album Synthetic, Aucoin returned to Calgary and its National Music Centre where he recorded more than 160 synthesizers for that effort, which he debuted at Montreal’s Mutek Conference and which was covered in Exclaim!’s Staff Picks, Bandcamp Daily, Juno Daily, Electroclashed, Brooklyn Vegan, Michael Barclay, Globe & Mail’s Arts Cover Story, Toronto Star Arts Cover Story and SPIN Magazine.
This time, Aucoin recorded an album of famous classical selections on the synthesizers in this rare, large archive. Pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Satie, Liszt, Debussy, Albinoni, Mozart and Part make up this album, recorded on these rare half-a-century-old synthesizers, which were all assembled into the famous TONTO’s room at the museum. (TONTO is an acronym for “The Original New Timbral Orchestra”, the first, and still the largest, multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer in the world and used on albums by Stevie Wonder, Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, Quincy Jones as well as in the film Phantom Of The Paradise by Brian De Palma). Malcolm Cecil designed and built it over several years in the 1970s.
In addition to TONTO and its Moog Modular Model III, ARP 2600, Oberheim SEM, the record includes the Roland Juno 106, Yamaha DX7 II FD, Oberheim OB-8, ARP Rhodes Chroma Expander and Moog’s Memorymoog to create all of its vintage sounds. The record was recorded in a series of passes run through TONTO and its added components. Aucoin, a classically trained Toronto conservatory pianist, had intimate knowledge of these famous compositions, having performed most of them at recitals during his education.
Produced by Aucoin and Leaving Laurel’s Gordon Huntley, the album continues their exploration of rare vintage synthesizers while diverting from the clubs and festival circuit found with Synthetic and returning to the concert hall.
“Hearing these favourite famous classical pieces played on this historic, rare synthesizer in that museum was such a privilege; I hope that I was able to capture the magic in that room in the recordings and their arrangements.”
Aucoin invites you to sit back, play these loudly through your hi-fi, and hear the crackle and raw power of TONTO performing some of the greatest pieces ever written.