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National Film and Sound Archive
National Film and Sound Archive
National Film and Sound Archive

Journey #1 by Jack Ellitt

1954

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Journey #1 by Jack Ellitt

1954

  • NFSA IDATM36TA5
  • TypeMusic and Sound Recordings
  • MediumAudio
  • FormMusic
  • GenresExperimental, Classical music, Popular music
  • Year1954

This excerpt captures a groundbreaking work of experimental music by the Australian composer, pianist and pioneer of electronic music, Jack Ellitt (1902–2001). Journey #1 was an early sound construction by Ellitt, originally recorded on film stock circa 1935 and later pressed by the BBC on a two-sided acetate disc in 1954.

Field recordings, editing cut-offs and monophonic oscillator-like signals can be heard, resembling the movement musique concrète despite predating it by a decade. Reflecting Ellitt's innovative taste, this clip pushes against the boundaries of musical composition.

Born Avrom Yitzhak Elitski to an orthodox Jewish Lithuanian family in Manchester in 1902, Ellitt moved to Sydney soon after and studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He later moved to London with artist Len Lye, with whom he began working on experimental film projects. An excerpt of Journey #1 (the B-side of the acetate disc) first appeared on the Artefacts of Australian Experimental Music: 1930-1973 compilation CD released in 2007.

This excerpt captures a groundbreaking work of experimental music by the Australian composer, pianist and pioneer of electronic music, Jack Ellitt (1902–2001). Journey #1 was an early sound construction by Ellitt, originally recorded on film stock circa 1935 and later pressed by the BBC on a two-sided acetate disc in 1954.

Field recordings, editing cut-offs and monophonic oscillator-like signals can be heard, resembling the movement musique concrète despite predating it by a decade. Reflecting Ellitt's innovative taste, this clip pushes against the boundaries of musical composition.

Born Avrom Yitzhak Elitski to an orthodox Jewish Lithuanian family in Manchester in 1902, Ellitt moved to Sydney soon after and studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He later moved to London with artist Len Lye, with whom he began working on experimental film projects. An excerpt of Journey #1 (the B-side of the acetate disc) first appeared on the Artefacts of Australian Experimental Music: 1930-1973 compilation CD released in 2007.

  • Composer
    Jack Ellitt
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