Oraison - Olivier Messiaen (1937)

From the liner notes to Ohm: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music 1948-1980: "Oraison was not the first all electric work for the concert stage. It did, however, represent the first time a composer of this stature had devoted the whole piece to electrically produced sounds." The ondes martenot, an early primitive synthesizer that was a cross between an organ and a theremin, is the instrument in use here . . . and while, as noted, Messiaen was not the first to feature it, he was probably the first to use it as a centerpiece instead of part of an ensemble, and he was certainly the highest profile composer to do so.