Electronic Constructions

Solo performance music by Miguel Frasconi. Performed on glass bellbowls, toy piano, glass harp, and laptop with midi controllers. All recorded live with no overdubbing.

Bells, Bowls, & Dance

Plunderphonics

Acoustic Constructions

Every Thursday in 2015 I will be uploading a selection from my audio archive of my own work and collaborations. Thus we have an Audio Throwback Thursday!

A spreadsheet with details can be viewed here: http://bit.ly/1aJU4EA

#throwbackthursdays (24 tracks)

Track 3 from the album Spoken Songs 2002.
Text & voice: Arundhati Roy.

Weight Their Wings (ARoy)

Created Oct. 7, 2013. 
A study from the multi-channel soundscape, Hidden Music.

Hidden Music 2

Live performance by the Jon Hassell Performance Group, Avignon, France, June 1982. John Hassell: trumpet; Michael Brook: processing, kalimba; J. A. Dino Dean: log drum, percussion; Miguel Frasconi: udu, glass, keyboard (Casio 202).

As you will tell by the end of this track, most of the "hiss" on this recording is actually a field recording of a rainstorm.

Hassell in Avignon 1982_1

Live performance by the Jon Hassell Performance Group, Avignon, France, June 1982. John Hassell: trumpet; Michael Brook: processing, kalimba; J. A. Dino Dean: log drum, percussion; Miguel Frasconi: udu, glass, keyboard (Casio 202).

Hassell in Avignon 1982_2

Duo improvisation recorded in Norwalk, CT, USA, Dec 29, 2022.
Kristin Norderval: voice & gesture-controlled laptop,
Miguel Frasconi: glass & analog electronics

Norwalk - 3 / Norderval & Frasconi

Norwalk – 2 / Norderval & Frasconi

Ike Turner & Karlheinz Stockhausen passed away within one week of each other in 2007. IT"s "Rocket 88," 1951, is thought by some to be the first piece of "rock and roll." KS's "Etude," 1952, was his first piece of electronic music. Here their souls' merge as they move on. 

Karlturner Ikehausen

Bonus track from Miguel Frasconi's SONG+DISTANCE cd (2001, New Albion 111).
Composed & performed by Miguel Frasconi.
Two instruments, one performer, no overdubbing. 
Left hand: glass harp, right hand: toy piano. 
Recorded at Headless Buddha Labs, Oakland, CA, by Myles Boisen.

http://www.amazon.com/Song-Distance/dp/B000QZUPYK
or iTunes, or eMusic.com

Glass and Toy Piano

One section of Sun Studies by Miguel Frasconi, performed by Joan La Barbara, Gelsey Bell (voices) and MF (piano). Text by Ruth Krauss (1901-1993), from The Cantilever Rainbow (1964) by Ruth Krauss and Antonio Frasconi.

Performed in a concert by Ne(x)tworks at Issue Project Room, October 26, 2014.

…is so...

Composed for the site specific theater work SURRENDER by Lauren Elder at Project Artaud, San Francisco, 1993. For an ensemble of voice, strings, accordion, and drum. Text by the Mexican shaman and poet, Maria Sabina.
This is the first of weekly #throwbackthursday from my personal archive.

Maria Sabina Chant (1993)

Miguel Frasconi, piano; John Oswald, altered saxophone.
Recorded 1977 at The Music Gallery, Toronto.
Yet another audio-throw-back-thursday.

Duo:Frasconi+Oswald  (1977)

Aki Onda's Invisible Ensemble. Aki Onda, cassettes; Miguel Frasconi, glass; Marina Rosenfeld, turntables. Recorded in concert at The Kitchen, NYC, 2006. (Excerpt from 45 minutes set.) Another audio #throwbackthursdays.

Trio:Onda+Frasconi+Rosenfeld  (2006)

The sound of an electrical generator in a hotel in Dharamsala, India, in 1998. I recorded this using a handheld Sony stereo cassette tape recorder while touring with the Tibetan songwriter Techung. (Our project, Yarlung: Songs of Love & Freedom, had just won Best Traditional Music Album in the Tibetan Music Awards.) A shorter version of this recording was used in the dance score for Alonzo King’s Long Straight Line (1998).

This is another in the weekly #throwbackthursday series from my personal audio archives.

Dharamsala Generator (1998)

Fümms (Play It Like a Watermelon) was a structured improvisation with text based on Kurt Schwitters sound poem “Ursonata” (1932), with myself on vocals. This was performed by Möbius Operandi, the self proclaimed “post industrial urban folk music ensemble” from San Francisco that improvised on sound sculptures built by Oliver DiCicco in the early 1990s. At the time of this recording the core ensemble was myself, Peter Whitehead, Pamela Winfrey, and Oliver DiCicco. The instruments were made of metal, string, and wood, all with integrated amplification. I performed with Möbius Operandi from 1991 to 1995. 

Some photos of Oliver's instruments can be found here: http://www.sfgate.com/music/article/Steeling-Beauty-The-inventive-instruments-of-3238516.php

This is the 5th in my audio #throwbackthursdays series, taken from my personal archives of my own work and collaborations.

Fümms (1991)

ལོ་གསར་བཀྲི་བདེ་ལེགས།  Losar Tashi Delek! 

Today's #audioTBT celebrates Tibetan New Years. In 1995, Tibetan songwriter Techung asked me to help him arrange, perform, and produce some brand new songs he had written in the traditional Tibetan folk song style. The resulting album, Yarlung: Songs of Love and Freedom, became a hit in the world-wide Tibetan refugee communities. Between 1996 and 2005, Techung and I played this music to packed houses in the major Tibetan communities in San Francisco, New York, Toronto, and throughout India, including a concert for His Holiness The Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India. This song, Losar, was written by Techung, with him singing and playing dranyen (the 3 double-stringed lute) and me playing ASR-10 keyboard (with a self-designed zither/piano instrument) and percussion. This song has become a classic in the celebration of Tibetan New Years around the world. Other songs on this album were Rangzen (Independence), Peaceful Snow Lion, and 1959. This album can be downloaded:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/yarlung-tibetan-songs-love/id43638445
and an interview with Techung can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPTgd29adnk

Techung now tours with a larger band and their schedule can be found here:
http://www.techung.com
More Techung music here:
https://soundcloud.com/techung

This is the 8th installment in my weekly audio-throwback-thursday  series.


[Techung] Losar  (1995)

This is a recording of a solo glass+toypiano performance I did in the very first Garden of Memory annual walk-through event at the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland, CA. Every year since 1996, pianist Sarah Cahill and New Music Bay Area produce this event on the Summer Solstice in the labyrinthine Julia Morgan-designed columbarium and mausoleum filled with gardens, fountains, and stained-glass skylights. I performed in these yearly events for 10 years starting in 1996. This particular performance was in The Chapel of the Gentle Spirit, although for the following nine years I performed in the larger Garden of Eternal Wisdom. This recording features a “glass harp" of around 20 wineglasses plus a vintage toy piano. The glass harp is both finger-bowed and struck. At the beginning of this recording you can hear vocalist Mantra Ben-ya’akova (Plonsey) who was performing in the room across the way.

This is the 9th installment of my weekly #audioTBT.

Other recordings of my Garden of Memory performances can be found here:
https://archive.org/details/chapel-of-the-chimes_miguel-frasconi

Garden Of Memory: Solo 1  (1996)

In 1984 I spent an intense few months working on a new piece for retuned pianos written by my dear friend and mentor, the late James Tenney. This piece, Bridge, was scored for two pianos, eight hands, and was premiered at New Music America 1984 in Hartford, CT. The performers were myself, James Tenney, Casey Sokol, and Gordon Monahan. The two pianos are tuned to a 22-tone just intonation, resulting in a tuning system of amazing depth.

This is from an old cassette I just now digitized so it does have some "wow & flutter" to it. But not too bad after 30 years!

[Tenney] Bridge, excerpt (1984)

This is a solo version of the ensemble piece with the same name presented on the CD "SONG + DISTANCE" (New Albion #111). As in the other recording, here I am playing 7 string homemade zither/koto instrument (the ethno-fako-koto), plus toy piano and glass bottle. The piece was composed in 1995, but this recording is from my second Rockridge House Concert, March 2000, in Oakland, CA.

Photo by Jan Traylen.

Dreams From the Body, Solo Live (1995/2000)

From the 2003 dance score; a collaboration with choreographer Alonzo King for the Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco). Premiered at the Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, May 2003. A “tape” composition using glass, altered sounds, and strings.

Another in my #audioTBT weekly series of material from my personal archive.

Steal Away, part 1 (2003)

John Cage composed Experiences #1, for two pianos, in 1945. This performance, by myself and composer Andrew Timar, was recorded in 1978, which is 38 years ago but only 33 years after it was composed. I find it interesting that more time has passed between now and this performance than between this performance and the year Cage composed this wonderful work.

I am choosing this piece for this week's #audioTBT because this is my birthday week, celebrating yet another year filled with experiences. Also to honor Mr. Cage, without whom I would not have had the life I have had so far.

This was recorded at a New Music Co-op concert in 1978 at The Music Gallery, Toronto. I think there was a dancer involved but I can't for the life of me remember who it was.

[Cage] Experiences 1 (1945; rec. 1978)

Amanda Moody, voice;
Miguel Frasconi, piano;
Nina Hart, story & text, from Somewhere in a Town You Never Knew Existed Somewhere (2015).
Recorded live at Berkeley Arts, Berkeley, CA, November 2015.

Bonanza (for voice & piano)

Composed & performed on a Buchla 200e system.
Inspired by "Ode to Time" by Pablo Neruda.
"...Time is unwavering..., it increases, it journeys, it shows up within us like water that deepens within our own watching...,"

Ode to Time (Buchla modular)

Piano solo composed and performed by Miguel Frasconi.
January 15, 2016, at Harrison House, Joshua Tree, CA.
In memory of Lou Harrison.

Remembering Lou At Harrison House

In 1893, Erik Satie composed Vexations for solo piano, consisting of a short motif repeated 840 times. Satie directs on the score: "In order to play this motif 840 times consecutively to oneself, it will be useful to prepare oneself beforehand, and in utter silence, by grave immobilities." The first complete performance was in 1963 and took 19 hours, performed, relay style, by a series of pianist directed by John Cage. In 2006, Sculpture Center in NYC produced “Painless Vexations,” a 12 hour event where a series of artists performed Vexations on various instruments. 

In this excerpt from that concert, Miguel Frasconi plays a sampled Glass Harp, performed on the Thunder, a midi controller built by electronic music pioneer Don Buchla. Each note is a multi-sample created by Frasconi of his own set of glass instruments.	

The complete 12 hour performance from June 11, 2006, with all 24 performances, can be found here:
http://www.ubu.com/sound/vexations.html

[Satie] Pianoless Vexations 2006

Live performance on Buchla modular synth and Bugbrand audio devices. 
Composed and performed by Miguel Frasconi.
Recorded May 24, 2016.

Beyond One

Created on a Buchla modular electronic music system, May 2016.

Patch 58

Study for the upcoming dance piece SOMA PATH, a collaboration with dancemakers Laurel Jenkins & Chey Chankethya. Premiering at REDCAT, L.A., July 28-30, 2016. 

Soma Study

Live solo performance for glass bellbowls and ASR-X sampler.

Vapor Trace

John Cage reads the preface to his Lecture on the Weather, before its premiere performance at York University, Toronto, 1976. I was one of the performers in this premiere performance.

[Cage] Preface To Lecture On The Weather (1976)

From the 1995 album Yarlung: Tibetan Songs of Love and Freedom. Songs by Techung. Produced, arranged, and performed by Techung and Miguel Frasconi.

Chorus:
"Rangzen, Independence and freedom.
It's up to us. We're the ones who must make it a living fact."

Techung: vocal, damnyen. Miguel Frasconi: ASR-10 keyboard sampler, voice. Jim Santi Owen: drum set.

Complete lyrics:
http://www.broadjam.com/artists/songs.php?artistID=41809&mediaID=308252

[Techung] Rangzen (Independence)

Music performed live for the dance piece by Laurel Tentindo. Judson Church, NYC, April 30, 2012. 
Miguel Frasconi: glass bellbowls, glass flutes, laptop, ipad, and keyboard.


Spooky Action at a Distance

A study from a work-in-progress bunraku puppet theater piece by Luis Tentindo. Created May 26, 2012.

Tsunami (after Waits)

My contribution to this project.
Disquiet Junto Project 0381: Shared System
The Assignment: make music using a free software synth assembled by Scanner.

Step 1: This week’s project involves all participants working with the same instrument. The instrument is a specific set of modules in a free software synthesizer. The software is Reaktor Blocks Base.

MoreLess_disquiet0381

382nd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Understanding McLuhan / The Assignment: Remix samples of an interview with Eric McLuhan on his father and media theory.

Sea Of Information_disquiet0382

A bit of Cage to sing out his centennial year.

1 minute 9 and a half seconds

Currently available on the CD companion to Leonardo Music Journal 22: Acoustics
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/lmj/-/22
Two glass objects. One, a 7 inch long shard from a broken bell-bowl, concave and crescent shaped. The other, a hand blown very thin disc with different textures on its face, created by Amanda Lind. These two objects interact in various ways, positioned to  bring out certain resonant frequencies in each object.

Transverse Crescent

Audio of The Glass Orchestra on the TV show, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, ca. 1981.

Glass Orchestra on Ripley’s Believe It Or Not 1981

Performed on the evening of John Cage's 100 birthday, September 5, 2012. Many pieces by Cage performed individually and simultaneously by 21 musicians. The Stone, NYC.

Part of "Cage100@The Stone," curated by Miguel Frasconi.

The John Cage Variety Show Big Band is:
Cristian Amigo (guitar), Guy Barash (lemur), Gelsey Bell (voice), Richard Carrick (guitar), Shannon Fields (electronics), Dan Goode (clarinet), Damon Holzborn (iPad), John King (viola), Raz Mesinai (laptop), Chris McIntyre & TILT Brass (Gareth Flowers, Tim Leopold, Chris DiMeglio: trumpet; Jen Baker, Will Lang, James Rogers: trombones), Paul Pinto (voice), Erin Rogers (alto sax), Sara Schoenbeck (bassoon), Kathy Supové (piano). Directed by Miguel Frasconi.

I first worked with John Cage when I was 19, in the premiere performances of Cage's Lecture On The Weather. It was first performed early 1976 at York University in Toronto, Canada, where I was studying electronic music and composition, and later that same year in Buffalo, NY. This began an ongoing series of meetings throughout the 1980s, where I would visit the composer in his New York apartment to talk, play chess, and sit with him while he worked. He was also interested in seeing scores of my own music and was a source of encouragement in my youthful days.

The John Cage Variety Show is an ongoing project of mine. For his 100th birthday I thought a Big Band would be appropriate. I invited a wide variety of new music musicians to each perform a solo interpretation of one or more of Cage’s works, spanning from the early 1940s through to some of his final pieces. Although performed as solos, these pieces are performed simultaneously, with each performer working from their own timeline of when to play and when to tacet. The musicians have specifically been asked to not interact with what others are doing, thus creating a totally Cagean event where sounds are allowed to interact on their own, separate from the will of the performers.

-Miguel Frasconi

John Cage Variety Show Big Band, excerpt

Performed by The Noisy Toy Piano Orchestra, directed by Miguel Frasconi. The Stone, NYC, September 4, 2012.

The Noisy Toy Piano Orchestra is: 
Miguel Frasconi (director), Stephen Gosling, Patrick Grant, Brian McCrokle, John Morton, Shoko Nagai, Paul Pinto, Kathleen Supové. Eight toy pianos of various makes and sizes.

In the late '70s I started collecting toy pianos, influenced by both Cage's work for the instrument and by their similarity to the tone of gamelan ensembles. By that time I had already founded Toronto's Glass Orchestra, a music improvisation ensemble using all glass instruments, and was to soon be a founding member of Toronto's Evergreen Club Gamelan Ensemble. In 1983, I composed Out of Running + Longing for two toy pianos and violin. John Cage enjoyed the score for this piece and was amused by the idea of a toy piano collection. Around this time Cage gave me permission to perform his Cheap Imitation on solo toy piano.

30 years and 15 toy pianos later, The Noisy Toy Piano Orchestra had it's premiere performance to celebrate Cage's 100th birthday. Some of the best new music pianists and composers agreed to join in and perform John Cage's Cheap Imitation (1969) like it's never been heard before. Eight toy pianos (and some other sounds) perform the piece mostly in unison. Cage certainly would have approved, and perhaps even been overjoyed. This is short excerpt from the performance.

-Miguel Frasconi

Cheap Imitation by John Cage, ©1970 Henmar Press, Inc.

John Cage's Cheap Imitation (1969), excerpt, on 8 toy pianos

Written in 1983 for the degung gamelan ensemble, the Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan (1984), with Jon Siddall (director), Gordon Monahan, Robert W Stevenson, Miguel Frasconi, Anne Holloway, Mark Dugan, Hedi Wong, and Michael Bakan. In '83/'84 in Toronto, this piece had many manifestations. First as a piece for solo violin, then for electric violin & electric keyboard, then this gamelan score, then finally for John Puchiele's rock band, Word of Mouth. The "distancing" of the title refers to the various processes of metric & melodic expansion & contraction at work throughout the piece. But some of the performers back then also used to say that performing this piece put them in a sort of trance that distanced them from the outside world.

Distancing (1983)

Third etude by Miguel Frasconi  & Wendy Tremont King based on the Covid-19 genome sequence. Read by Wendy Tremont King, editing by Miguel Frasocni, April 2020.

COVID-19 Etude #3

The Riot of Spring, for 16 orchestras. 

Sixteen different recordings of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, played simultaneously.

Music composed by Igor Stravinsky (x16). This recording compiled and edited by Miguel Frasconi, on this day, May 29, 2013, the 100th anniversary of the premiere performance of The Rite of Spring. (This date also happens to be my 57th birthday.)

The complete work can be downloaded for free here:
http://frasconimusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-riot-of-spring-by-16-stravinskys

Riot Of Spring (excerpt) by 16 Stravinskys

Miguel Frasconi is a composer and improviser whose instrumentarium includes glass objects, electronics and instruments of his own design. His glass objects are struck, blown, stroked, smashed and otherwise coaxed into vibration, while his unique approach to composition takes a similar approach, yet solely in the sonic domain. His array of activities have included collaborations with the Balinese composer Dewa Berata on music for a large-scale shadowplay, with operatic tenor John Duykers on unique music/theater events, and with the Tibetan songwriter Techung, with whom he has toured throughout India. He has composed chamber music, most recently for Ensemble IPSE; operas, most recently for Experiments in Opera; and numerous dance scores, most notably as music director for dance pioneer Anna Halprin. In 2017 his live score for Ripe Time’s production of Haruki Murakami’s Sleep was performed at the BAM Next Wave Festival. Miguel has works closely with composers John Cage, Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros, James Tenney, Joan La Barbara, and Jon Hassell. In 2012 the New York Times called his CAGE100 Festival @ The Stone "one of the best observances of John Cage's 100th birthday" and included performances by his Noisy Toy Piano Orchestra and John Cage Variety Show Big Band. He was a founding member of The Glass Orchestra, the internationally renowned ensemble featuring all glass instruments (1977-86), and the San Francisco sound-sculpture band Mobius Operandi (1990-95) and has performed as a keyboardist with the Paul Dresher Ensemble (1988-95) and the Philip Glass Ensemble (1992). His music has been released on New Albion, Porter, and Clang.

frasconimusic

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