Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air

Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air
Label: Columbia
Catalog#: MS 7315
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: US
Released: 1969
Genre: Electronic
Style: Minimal, Ambient
Credits: Producer - David Behrman

Terry Riley is one of the 60's American minimal composers. He was involved in the experimental San Francisco Tape Music Center working with Morton Subotnick, Steve Reich, Pauline Oliveros and Ramon Sender.

While his early endeavours were influenced by Stockhausen, Riley changed direction after first encountering La Monte Young, in whose Theater of Eternal Music he later performed from 1965-66. Riley has referred to Young as "the freakiest guy I have ever met in my life," stating that it was Young's ideas that were at the heart of minimalism, though more composers have come to name Riley himself as an influence. The String Quartet (1960) was Riley's first work in this new style; it was followed shortly after by a string trio, in which he first employed the repetitive short phrases that he (and minimalism) are now known for.

His music is usually based on improvising through a series of modal figures of different lengths, such as in In C and the Keyboard Studies. In C (1964) is probably Riley's best-known work and one that brought the minimalist music movement to prominence. Its first performance was given by Steve Reich, Jon Gibson, Pauline Oliveros, and Morton Subotnick, among others, and it has influenced their work and that of many others, including John Adams and Philip Glass. Its form was an innovation: the piece consists of 53 separate modules of roughly one measure apiece, each containing a different musical pattern but each, as the title implies, in C. One performer beats a steady stream of Cs on the piano to keep tempo. The others, in any number and on any instrument, perform these musical modules following a few loose guidelines, with the different musical modules interlocking in various ways as time goes on. The Keyboard Studies are similarly structured – a single-performer version of the same concept.

This format, with a collection of minimal musical elements coming together to form a complex and cohesive whole, launched a movement that was a step away from the increasing academicism in western classical music. The complex formal structures of the Second Viennese School and the neoclassicists had dominated the classical musical landscape throughout the middle of the 20th century; the minimalistic movement abandoned that formalism. Riley often further denied strict structure by introducing improvisational elements into his compositions (though he had long been improvising in solo performance); one of the primary pieces to use this approach was his A Rainbow In Curved Air (1968). This work and Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band, its companion piece on a recording issued in 1969, were intended to give a necessarily truncated impression of the sound of Riley's all-night concerts.

For a time Riley stopped notating his works at all, focusing on Indian classical music and solo performance. Working with the Kronos Quartet has led him back to more structured, notatable music, but improvisatory elements remain an important part even of the works composed for them.

Being on the leading edge of music was nothing new for Riley. Already in the 1950s he was working with tape loops, a technology then in its infancy, and he has continued manipulating tapes to musical effect, both in the studio and in live performance, throughout his career. He has composed in just intonation as well as microtonal pieces.

Riley's collaborators include the Rova Saxophone Quartet, Pauline Oliveros, and, as mentioned, the Kronos Quartet.

He has also had a notable collaboration with Beat poet Michael McClure, with whom he has released several CD's and most recently contributed music to a London revival of his play The Beard.

A Rainbow In Curved Air inspired Pete Townshend's synthesizer parts on The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Baba O'Riley", the latter apparently named in tribute to Riley as well as to Meher Baba. - wikipedia

Conrad Schnitzler: Cassette Concert

Conrad Schnitzler:
Cassette Concert
exerpt of a cassette concert - music composed by conrad schnitzler - remixed by wolfgang 'sequenza' seidel

Conrad Schnitzler (b. Düsseldorf, 1937) has been a major, though reclusive, figure on the European music scene since the late 1960s. Schnitzler was one of the founding members of Tangerine Dream, and later the band Kluster. He left both bands soon, to focus on his solo-work. He continued to record from his home studio in Dallgow, Germany, creating CD-Rs which he sells independently. - wikipedia

"He began working with non-keyboard analog synthesizers and amplified acoustic instruments in the late 1960's. He is known as a pioneer of electro-acoustic music, with over thirty records released internationally on both major labels and independent labels, as well as being credited with starting the independent home composing and production movement.

What is a Cassette Concert?

A Cassette Concert is a method of composing and performing electronic music in a dynamic way. It was developed by Conrad Schnitzler in Berlin but is now being used by composers around the world including David Myers and Gen Ken in New York City, David Prescott in Boston, Michael Chocholak in Oregon, Giancarlo Tonuitti in Italy, Serge Leroy in Paris, and Jorg Thomasius in East Berlin. A Cassette Concert consists of a group of recorded cassettes containing single tracks of a larger composition, intended for live performances that can be given anywhere in the world, at any time, by anybody. When these groups of cassettes are played simultaneously, the combined sounds constitute the basic, although variable, form of the composition. The number of cassettes is also variable--from two cassettes in its simplest form, to any number of cassettes physically possible or needed. Most cassettes are recorded in stereo, so for optimal listening each cassette should have its own amplification system, with the speakers placed at opposite ends of the space. However, the realization of a Cassette Concert is flexible and can also be played on separate portable tape machines (stereo or mono) without additional amplification." - read a much more detailed history HERE.

Con is still making music and releasing. Have a look at his most recent album Trigger Trilogy or go to the root and have a look at Con

Pierre Henry "Psyché Rock"

Pierre Henry "Psyché Rock"
Label: Philips
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: France
Released: 1967
Genre: Electronic
Style: Abstract, Noise, Experimental, Ambient
From: nightwatch01

Check out Pierre Henry - Messe Pour Le Temps Présent(1967)