COMPOSITIONS 1971-1980

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Lightmotifs (1980)

A collection of motifs and patterns for use in improvisation by any groups or soloists, in Music for Keyboard Instruments and Improvisation Groups.

Frog Peak Music, Hanover, NH

FROG PEAK MUSIC

In the Beginning: Etude II (Keyboards-Plucked Strings) (1980)

The fifth in the In the Beginning series of eight major works for various instrumental ensembles, soloists and electronic media.

In the Beginning: Etude II (Keyboards-Plucked Strings) (1980) is two, four, six, or eight players. Though keyboards and plucked strings are indicated in the title, other instruments capable of very distinct attacks may be used. In this piece, gradual processes with repetitive, cellular structures are used to explore the melodic contour language that emerged in the In the Beginning series, this time in multiple tonalities. The original, hand copied score was first published in Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 25, Nos. 1 & 2, 1987, pp. 564–566. A recent recording with pianos, harps and Mexican plucked instrument sounds has been released by New World Records.

NEW WORLD RECORDS

In the Beginning: Etude III (Keyboard & 2 Oranges) (1980)

The sixth in the In the Beginning series of eight major works for various instrumental ensembles, soloists and electronic media.

In the Beginning: Etude III (Keyboard & Two Oranges) (1980) is a graphic score for piano involving precise gesture shapes and time structures played by rolling round objects on the keyboard. It was written originally for filmmaker-artist-performer George Manupelli. An earlier version of the score was published in Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 25, Nos. 1 & 2, 1987, pp. 567–568. A recent recording has been released by New World Records.

NEW WORLD RECORDS

In the Beginning IV (Electronic) (1980)

The eighth in the In the Beginning series of eight major works for various instrumental ensembles, soloists and electronic media.

In the Beginning IV (Electronic) (1980) is for computer–assisted electronic music system. In this work, many of the elements of the In the Beginning harmonic and rhythmic system, language of proportions and melodic contour methods are made available to the performer by means of an interactive software-hardware performance system. The score specifies a few rules for transitions among materials, but allows the performer to freely realize interacting vines of counterpoint and rhythms while activating the materials in real time with improvisational spirit. The work was originally realized with a Buchla 300 Electric Music Box and the PATCH-IV computer language. The score includes the computer program, guide sheets used by the composer in live performances that show how functions are called up and graphs showing the contours of expressive shapes applied to sound synthesis and musical control functions. A recording of a live performance by the composer that took place at Mills College in 1980 has been released by New World Records.

NEW WORLD RECORDS

Musical Intervention 1979 (1979)

For Eugenio Tellez, electronic process based on the Himno National de Chile, recorded in the composer’s studio, released on Roundup: A Live Electro–acoustic Retrospective (1968–1984), Slowscan Editions, Vol. 7, 's–Hertogenbosch, Holland, 1987, [cassette]; re-released in digital version on Roundup, Selected music with electro-acoustic landscapes (1968-1984), Art Into Life, Japan, 2012, [2-CD set].

ART INTO LIFE

In the Beginning II (Song of Endless Light + Sextet) (1979)

The second in the In the Beginning series of eight major works for various instrumental ensembles, soloists and electronic media.

In the Beginning II (Song of Endless Light + Sextet) (1979) is for four cellos, trombone, and percussion. It explores further the harmonic and rhythmic language that emerges throughout the series and adds a free, unison, melismatic song with shaped ornamentation and employs stochastic evolution techniques. A recent recording has been released by New World Records.

NEW WORLD RECORDS

In the Beginning III (Quintet) (1979)

The third in the In the Beginning series of eight major works for various instrumental ensembles, soloists and electronic media.

In the Beginning III (Quintet) (1979) is for woodwind quintet. It continues exploring the particular harmonic and rhythmic language with stochastic evolution developed in earlier pieces of the series and adds a melodic contour language with tonal and complex chromatic arpeggios. The score was first published in a hand copied version in Soundings, No. 14–15, Soundings Press, Santa Fe, 1986. A recent recording by the Los Angeles woodwind quintet, Midnight Winds, has been released by New World Records.

NEW WORLD RECORDS

Daytime Viewing (1979-1980)

A collaborative work created with Jacqueline Humbert for performance art theater with song stories, narration, a fashion show, video, computer graphics, costumes, and sets.

In addition to incidental music, Daytime Viewing includes the following songs and song-stories: Talk 1, Bareback, Domestic Violence, Distant Space, Talk 2 and Wishes. Piano–vocal scores for individual pieces will be made available soon. A recording made in the Mills College Center for Contemporary Music Recording Studio with voice, electronic orchestrations, and auxiliary instruments was released on cassette by Chez Hum–Boom Publications in 1983. A newly re-mastered digital version was created for release on LP, CD, and digital download formats by Unseen Worlds, 2013, UW10.

UNSEEN WORLDS

In the Beginning: Etude I (Trombones) (1979)

The fourth in the In the Beginning series of eight major works for various instrumental ensembles, soloists and electronic media.

In the Beginning: Etude I (Trombones) (1979) was written originally for any number of trombones. It includes sustained tone and short note, stochastic parts. It explores the In the Beginning language of proportions with both fixed and partly open notation and a ratio-metric tuning system. The original, hand-drawn score can be used as a template to make other realizations for soloists and ensembles. A fixed version for eight trombones is also included in the score. A recent recording of that version performed by trombone virtuoso, Mike Svoboda, has been released by New World Records. An earlier version by Toyoji Tomita, for whom the piece was originally written, was released on the multi-LP set, Music From Mills, Mills College, Oakland, 1986. The original score was also published in 1/1: The Quarterly Journal Of The Just Intonation Society, Other Music, Vol. 1, No. 2, Berkeley, 1985.

Recently, Los Angeles-based trombonist-composer, Matt Barbier, has made a new, solo trombone arrangement, treating the original score as a template. The score for this arrangement is also available for download. It demonstrates further the expansive nature of the original, generative form. Barbier is currently work on another arrangement for brass trio.

NEW WORLD RECORDS

Study for On Being Invisible (1978)

For brainwave performer and computer music system.

The score is included in the monograph, Extended Musical Interface with the Human Nervous System, Leonardo Monograph No. 1, ISAST, International Society for the Arts, Sciences, and Technology, Berkeley, CA, 1990; revised version (1997) available through Leonardo Electronic Almanac, Electronic Monographs.

Epilogue (1978)

Solo piano, developed through solo improvisational practice, also used as sound track for a film by Mary Moulton.

Recorded in performance at 1750 Arch Street, Berkeley, CA, 1978.

In the Beginning I (Electronic) (1978)

The first in the In the Beginning series of eight major works for various instrumental ensembles, soloists and electronic media.

In the Beginning I (Electronic) (1978) is for a computer–assisted electronic music system. It explores a particular harmonic and rhythmic language derived from arrangements of harmonic and sub–harmonic proportions. The score outlines musical materials and includes a computer program in the Patch IV language that was used with the Buchla 300 Electric Music Box with which the work was originally realized. A recording of a live performance with this system that took place at The Music Gallery in Toronto in 1979 has been released by New World Records.

NEW WORLD RECORDS

Throughout: The Coordinated Effect of Attraction and Repetition on Uncoordinated Presence (1978)

With George Manupelli and Jacqueline Humbert, performance art ensemble, created for the Maple Sugar group, Toronto.

There Are Sixteen Hours in a Day, Four Days in a Week, Two Weeks in a Month, Seven Months in a Year, The Rest of the Time is Spent Listening and in Contemplation of Fire (1977)

With George Manupelli, composer–artist duet, performance art with electronic music and theater.

Elements of the piece include live electronic music generated with chaotic oscillators and noise circuits throughout, sawing wood and nailing boards together to make a set of bleachers on stage, placing pieces of toy furniture and other selected objects on the bleachers, one or two actor models sometimes taking reclining poses on the bleachers, painting the toy objects with rubber cement and setting them on fire, placing small naked loudspeakers on the bleachers and playing pulses through them until their paper cones possibly rip or come loose, speaking these words through a megaphone, "Much of modern physics reduces itself to a controversy over whether an adequate description of nature is necessarily complicated or simple," and other actions and objects improvised by the performers.

Thaddeus Cahill, Deceased (or Drums Mark the End) (1977)

With G. Manupelli, J. Humbert, M. Moulton, W. Winant, J. Tenney, A. Holloway, M. Byron, and C. Arnoldin, full length concert work for performance art ensemble, created originally for a performance by the Maple Sugar group at The Music Gallery, Toronto, 1977.

Keyboard Encounter for Two Pianos and Two Unacquainted Players (1976)

Concert encounter arranged for two previously unacquainted pianists, Charles McDermed and David Rosenboom, who perform without having visual contact with each other.

Organized by Donald Buchla, recorded in performance at 1750 Arch Street, Berkeley, CA, released by Ocean Records, Composers Cassettes, Vol. VII, Los Gatos, CA, 1976.

On Being Invisible (1976-1977)

The Naked Truth (1976)

With George Manupelli and Michael Byron, full–length concert work for performance art ensemble; violinist playing As Time Goes By is stuffed with wadded newspapers by two artists as musicians perform while doing choreographed calisthenics with amplified breath, includes electronic music.

The Naked Truth developed into its final form described above over the course of many performances. The very first performance was developed in the context of the Maple Sugar performance art collective in Toronto and included collaborative contributions by George Manupelli, Rae Huestis, David Rosenboom, Mimi Haas, John Miller, Mary C. Moulton, Michael Byron, Jacqueline Humbert, and Eugene Tellez.

Rain, A Lament for the Peoples of Chile (1976)

Created for the Maple Sugar performance art collective in Toronto by David Rosenboom, William Winant, Juan Pablo Orrego, and George Manupelli.

A real-time visual and sonic tribute to those who struggled in the September 11th, 1973 overthrow of the democratic socialist government of Salvadore Allende in Chile. Elements include creation of indoor and outdoor images in time, sonic environments, and audio sine waves heard from sources whirled around in circles by a performer leading the audience from inside to outside.

Androgyny, Broke and Blue, Wild About the Lady, Strong Arms, Grand Canyon Heartache, Clear Light, Younger Lady, Oasis in the Air (1976-1978)

Chilean Drought (1974)

With Jacqueline Humbert, for speaking and chanting voices that may be pre–recorded, piano, electronics, brainwave performer, and optional percussion.

Recording released on Brainwave Music, Aesthetic Research Centre of Canada, ST1002, Toronto, 1976, LP; score included in the book, Biofeedback and the Arts, Aesthetic Research Centre of Canada, Vancouver, 1975, available from Frog Peak Music, Hanover, NH.

FROG PEAK MUSIC | BLACK TRUFFLE RECORDS

The Seduction of Sapientia (1973-1974)

Three movements for viola da gamba employing cyclical gradual process techniques and parts in which melodies are drawn from the overtones of the instrument, originally realized with voltage controlled resonators and an envelope follower responding to subtle changes in bow pressure. The work may also be realized with other bowed stringed instruments, particularly the cello, which can use the notation in the original version. (Other instruments may require transpositions.) The electronic parts may also be realized with modern digital or hybrid media.

Recording released on The Contemporary Viola da Gamba, Music Gallery Editions, MGE–7, Toronto, 1977, LP; score included in Byron, M. (ed.), Pieces, and Collected Scores, Frog Peak Music, Hanover, NH. The work was revived in a new realization with digital electronics by Dirk Moelants in 2005. The YouTube video links below show performances of the first and second movements recorded at the Logos foundation in Ghent, Belgium on March 30th 2005. Live-electronics mastered by Kristof Lauwers.

FROG PEAK MUSIC

Portable Gold and Philosophers’ Stones (Music With Trills) (1972)

The score describes instructions for setting up a particular electronics system and a performance paradigm for one or two brainwave performers.

Included in Biofeedback and the Arts, Aesthetic Research Centre of Canada, Vancouver, 1975 & 1976, available from Frog Peak Music, Hanover, NH.

FROG PEAK MUSIC

Piano Etude I (1971)