June 13, 1979 - New Music, New York - day 6
Rockwell, Johnson, Palmer & Nyman (panel) ● Larry Austin & J. Large ● Joel Chadabe ● Charles Dodge ● George Lewis ● Alvin Lucier & George Barth ● Laurie Spiegel (+open letter to NMA) ● VaEARity Show
John Rockwell with Tom Johnson, Robert Palmer and Michael Nyman
Criticism and Experimental Music panel
Larry Austin with John Large Catalogo Voce
Joel Chadabe solo performance
Charles Dodge Cascando
George Lewis The Kim and I
Alvin Lucier with George Barth - work in progress for amplified piano
Laurie Spiegel Voices Within
RoseLee Goldberg with Adela Basayne, Rhys Chatham, Jack Goldstein, Peter Gordon, Joe Hannan, Robert Longo and Nina Canal
Book launch - Performance: Live Art 1909 to the Present
DNA, Robin Crutchfield and Dark Day at the Mudd Club
Alan Vega (as Alan Suicide) with Ann DeLeon at the Mudd Club
Youthanasia at Max’s Kansas City
Beth Anderson, Dean Drummond, Arlene Schloss, Charlie Morrow and R.I.P. Hayman - VarEarity Show at the Ear Inn
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June 13, 1979 Day 6 New Music New York
Critic’s Conference session
John Rockwell with Tom Johnson, Robert Palmer and Michael Nyman “Criticism and Experimental Music”
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‘Criticism and New Music,’ chaired by Rockwell, was not the stormy session many thought it would be. The New York Times critic suggested that writing criticism is ‘a kind of wishful narcissism that reflects a shared interest in art and the creative process.’ ‘It is an act like composing,’ he said.
- Keith Roether, Alburquerque Tribune, “Criticism is Wishful Narcissism” June 27, 1979
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- Beth Anderson “Report from the Front” - guerrilla criticism of ‘New Music New York’ (26 pages), June 1979
From the same report, short, snort and snappy interview with Joseph D. McLellan of the Washington Post
Q: What do you think about Mr. Nyman’s ideas?
A: Soho is a reaction against Nyman’s avant-guarde (sic)(the serialists). The tradition of Western music is being challenged in a few grubby blocks of lower Manhattan.
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Larry Austin with John Large Catalogo Voce
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On the other hand, much of the repertoire seemed clearly secular. These pieces are rooted in the here and now, and convey greater respect for human skills than for outside forces. A few examples might be Jon Deak’s one-man-band act, Jill Kroesen’s songs, David van Tieghem’s toy instruments, Larry Austin’s somewhat humorous lecture-as-song, Tony Conrad’s shaggy-dog piano piece which ends with the piano being played by a machine, and Jeffrey Lohn’s neoclassically structured work for a rock ensemble.
- Tom Johnson, Village Voice July 2, 1979
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Larry Austin’s Catalogo Voce for bass-baritone and tape was made up of short phrases sung in Latin and English primarily using a text of terms dealing with odology. The tape had digital and vocoder portions. The singer had a moustache, a pitcher of water, a piano, a lamp, a model of the vocal mechanism, and a push button for the slides illustrating the terms. Very theatrical / entertaining. Doubtlessly it’s been done before, but it was good to see and it is not necessary to be the first, all the time.
- Beth Anderson “Report from the Front”
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Joel Chadabe [solo]
(available on the Kitchen cd which I still don’t have)
https://www.discogs.com/release/550900-Various-From-The-Kitchen-Archives-New-Music-New-York-1979
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Some things were amusing or intriguing. … Joel Chadabee (sic) (Solo, 1978) manipulated sounds produced by a computer by alternating the proximity of his hands to two attennae (sic): one controlled the speed that the notes went by, the other changed the timbre of the sound from that resembling a clarinet to an entire woodwind chorus.
- Charles Ward, Houston Chronicle July 26, 1979
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Joel Chadabe made a strong impression, partly because his latest set-up involves two theremins, partly because it is so interesting to watch him move his arms in and out of the theremins’ field of sensitivity, partly because he first explained how the whole rig works, and mostly because his computer responds in a language of rich sounds, well-chosen harmonies, and exceptional variety.
- Tom Johnson, Village Voice July 2, 1979
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The critic known as “Tin Ear” notes “Chadabe’s Solo will soon be the sound track for a Draino commercial.”
He has invented a melody-generating machine which he conducted. His explanation, both written and given orally, was thorough and gave the performance a two-part form. The proximity sensitive antennas controlled instrumentation and duration. In regard to these antennas, one wit said “They’re like two girls that every time you put your hand near them, they scream.” It was dancy too.
- Beth Anderson “Report from the Front”
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Charles Dodge
Any Resemblance is Purely Coincidental and/or Cascando
(gd - program sez ARiPC; reviews say “Cascando”)
Dodge’s recorded version of Cascando
Beckett version: BBC October 1964
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Some of the ideas that worked, for me, included… Charles Dodge’s Cascando was a superbly crafted example of computer-derived music. Starting with the recording of an actor reading the Samuel Beckett radio play, Dodge manipulated that sound to produced (sic) a distorted voice that answered and mimicked the text and then altered it more to produce an unrecognizable background noise.
- Charles Ward, Houston Chronicle July 24, 1979
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Charles Dodge set some Beckett text in synthetic voice apparently made from tritones. Some electronic music-type sounds were interjected between the machine-like voice and the man-like voice. The piece might have worked better had it ot been at the end of the program. Its text kept saying it was going to stop (“And I close.”) and then it would continue. After Mr. Lucier’s scale, this dated choice of text did not have a chance, even if it is true that it was a sensitive setting. Since it wasn’t listed on the program, it was impossible to tell if it was possibly an old work – which would tend to lend it a classic air, rather than a dated one.
- Beth Anderson “Report from the Front”
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To this taste, the ‘best’ pieces were by Phill Niblock, Charles Dodge, David Behrman, Rhys Chatham, Frankie Mann and Laurie Anderson. … Mr. Dodge’s setting of Beckett’s radio play ‘Cascando’ suffered from a too-actorish actor, but the use of computer synthesis to create one of the spoken parts and the ambient music seemed wonderfully suited to Beckett’s sensibility.
- John Rockwell post festival wrap up review, New York Times June 18, 1979
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George Lewis The Kim and I
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Some of the ideas that worked, for me, included… Jazz-based trombonist George Lewis performed a finely honed improvisation against a simpler improvisation by a small micro-computer he carries around in a suitcase.
- Charles Ward, Houston Chronicle July 24, 1979
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George Lewis improvised with Kim-1 Micro-computer on his trombone. He stood listening to it looking very innocent, for awhile. When he played there was a very round sound. It was lovely to hear music with a melodic and contrapuntal orientation again. At one point he had a phrase that he repeated and varied, but he did not do it as though it were an obsession. The gentleness and relaxation of the performance gave an ambiance to the improvisation that was much appreciated and respected. Concerning Mr. Lewis’ performance, Lucia Dlugoszewski said: “One of the nicest things that’s happened on this festival.
- Beth Anderson “Report from the Front”
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George Lewis’ trombone solo over a programmed synthesizer showed just how composition and improvisation can combine in a way that hides the seams of that process. His program captured what many others did not – that delicate balance between structure and spontaneity, intellection and emotion.
- Keith Roether, Albuquerque Tribune, “Criticism is Wishful Narcissism”, June 27, 1979
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Alvin Lucier with George Barth
[untitled work in progress]
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Finally, several pieces pointed up the fact that community of like-minded, tolerant musicians can sometimes allow the sloppiest of ideas to pass for art. Alvin Lucier’s work-in-progress for amplified piano consisted of a couple of dozen single tones played in succession on a piano, each sounded only after the previous one had died away.
- Charles Ward, Houston Chronicle July 24, 1979
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… Still, religious instincts make themselves felt in all human societies, and they have had much to do with the evolution of experimental music. Composers, perhaps more often than their contemporaries in any of the other arts, have been quite aware of spiritual values. Pauline Oliveros is a case in point.
… As the week progressed, I began to hear other works in religious terms. … Alvin Lucier often refers to his work as a kind of alchemy, and it does seem to involve a semi-mystical manipulation of electronic phenomena.
- Tom Johnson, Village Voice July 2, 1979
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Alvin Lucier’s work-in-progress for amplified piano was the work of a patient man who says he doesn’t mind taking his chances (in the performance situation, I assume). The pianist played an excruciatingly slow scale (20 minutes for 8 pitches approximately). Each tone was supposed to create a ‘spacial shape’ in feedback - - due to the electronic set-up. Mr. Lucier chose the scale so as to avoid implying a melody/other inds of music. The tempo was slow in order to hear the entire envelope of each note. It really didn’t work last night, but he needed more set-up time and he intends to modify the electronics. The audience was impatient, and for good reason, but everyone takes their chances with music that is really an experiment. I am reminded to say; “Don’t laugh at the composers. You paid to get in.
- Beth Anderson “Report from the Front”
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From Beth Anderson’s “Report from the Front”, the critic known as “Tin Ear” draws an approximation of the Alvin Lucier set up:
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Even some of the unsuccessful pieces had their place, particularly an effort by Alvin Lucier that failed almost entirely, unless its very intention was to show that failed experiments have a place in a festival of experimental music.
- John Rockwell, wrap up review in the New York Times June 18, 1979
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Laurie Spiegel Voices Within
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Laurie Spiegel’s short improv on digital computer sounded like snowflakes bursting in air with the raw materials dwiddeling down froma place high above, over a deep wobbly volcano-like sound. At the end it became calm, streamy, sensual, and then it stopped. Both of her pieces tonight had an image-producing effect on this reviewer, as well as a kind of narrative feel. Voices Within, a tape composition made on the Electrocomp (a fairly historic model), was new and beautiful. It evoked the feeling of multitudes crying for help in the dark, far away, with the wind blowing. Lives were flashing by. Again there was that quality I call ‘streaming’. It faded and surged in again, seethed, slid out, and came to rest on a second inversion tonic. Carol Baron (a musicologist) said: “This is straight out of the European romantic tradition and it’s really nice. It had a real beginning, middle and end – with a development. And a real coda.” It was a beautiful extension of the idea of the character piece.
- Beth Anderson “Report from the Front”, June 1979
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Laurie Spiegel’s taped synthesizer composition and Phill Niblock’s combination of tape with live bassoon and oboe were extraordinary explorations into sound as texture and mass. Both filled The Kitchen with an almost visible presence and weight.
- Keith Roether, Albuquerque Tribune “Criticism is Wishful Narcissism”, June 27, 1979
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Laurie Spiegel’s
“An Open Letter in the Wake of New Music New York”
published in Ear Magazine, end of June 1979:
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Other events
RoseLee Goldberg book launch “Performance: Live Art 1909 to the present” at Fiorucci’s
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DNA, Robin Crutchfield’s Dark Day, Alan (Vega) Suicide with Ann DeLeon at the Mudd Club
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Constant in this throbbing environment has been the refusal to observe any boundaries of art. MCA institute fellows heard, for example, a disco mix of Glass’ North Star and saw a video tape by a composer who works as much in video as he does in sound sources. Chatham has programmed evenings of “art” music at the Mudd Club, the hippest spot of the downtown popular music scene.
- Charles Ward, Houston Chronicle July 24, 1979
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The Static and Youth in Asia (Youthinasia) at Max’s Kansas City
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“VarEarity Show” with Beth Anderson, Dean Drummond, Arlene Schloss, Charlie Morrow and R.I.P. Hayman at the Ear Inn
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In Beth Anderson’s “Report from the Front”, Charlie Morrow reviews VarEARity Show at the Ear Inn featuring Beth Anderson and Arlene Schloss:
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Screen shots of the original New Music New York 1979 program were from a downloadable photocopied pdf available from the site of the late Michael Galbreth. Direct link to the downloadable program here:
https://www.michaelgalbreth.com/_files/ugd/b4072f_e5d11c9f076542479f8a38108565980a.pdf