Thomas Feng, piano

April 23, 2021
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Milton Babbitt – About Time

Thomas Feng, piano

recorded March 3, 2022
special thanks to Ryan McCullough and Andrew Zhou

Milton Babbitt – Partitions

This is a “quiet recording” from nature reserve Flói in the southwest of Iceland.
This recording contains many local birds and migrants. Birds as Red- necked Phalarope, Arctic stern, Red throated diver, Black tailed Goldwit, Common Snipe, Golden Plover, Whimbrel, Eurasian Oystercatcher and many other birds are in this recording. Noisiest and probably "ugliest sound" in this recording is the Red throated diver´s territorial call, but they also express in the recording a beautiful calm conversation with their eyes.
Background noise is coming from the surf among the south cost.
The recording was made in 26th of June 2012 around 3 am and is just nine minutes of ten hours recording that day. The weather was calm, clear sky and temperature around 5°C.
This is a very quiet nature recording so you should not play it loud. If you stay there you can barely hear this birdsong or this bird activity with open ears. You should play it like you think you will hear it trough open window, as a background sound. Best way to listen to all the details and explore the bird species is using quality headphones. This recording contains also very loud session when all Red throated divers in the area “scream” their territorial call.

Recorder: Sound devises 744. (24bit/48Khz)
Microphones: Rode NT1a (NOS setup)
The picture was taken at 26th of June 2012 at the recording place almost at the same time.

Listen to more recordings from Flói. Southwest Iceland
http://fieldrecording.net/tag/fri%C3%B0land-i-floa/

See more pictures from this two days recording trip.
https://picasaweb.google.com/104187345157190691446/FriLandIFloa2012?noredirect=1

Location of the nature reserve Flói:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Selfoss,+South,+Iceland&hl=en&ll=63.901525,-21.192284&spn=0.038891,0.132093&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=69.814448,135.263672&oq=selfoss&t=h&hnear=Selfoss,+Iceland&z=14

Nature reserve in Flói 2012

Roses Don’t Need Perfume takes its title from a quotation by Uruguayan writer/philosopher (…journalist, historian…), Eduardo Galeano.  In a recent interview, Galeano reflected on his own work and how, in a world of spin and manipulated language, one recognize truth.

In the first case, Roses… treats the notion of truth literally as the guitar is almost never “touched”/manipulated by the player, it sounds “as it is”.  Nearly every note is a natural harmonic and the entire electronic part (minus the use of spoken text) is derived from the instrument itself.  In the opening phrase, the guitarist slowly releases two fretted/stopped B naturals, allowing the natural harmonics directly beneath them (also B naturals) to sound.  The whole gesture, therefore, is that of simply lifting the hand to allow the guitar to speak for the remainder of the piece.

The three movements are continuous (attacca).

I. O Viole Elastique (The Toy Guitar): This movement is a setting of a photograph of the same title by an anonymous photographer.  In it a boy climbs a hill with a large bowl of laundry on top of his head.  A toy guitar strung over his shoulder waits to be played.  Tht title contains a word play that makes my direct translation deceptive: it refers to the instrument (a guitar/viol with elastic or plastic strings) as well as the idea of the fabric/clothing and of “violation”.

II. La Casa de las Flores (The House of Flowers): The title comes from Pablo Neruda’s poem Explico algunas cosas (“I explain a few things”), particularly its opening reference to his childhood home, destroyed during the Spanish Civil War : “My house was named /the house of the flowers, because everywhere /geraniums exploded: it was /a beautiful house / with dogs and little children. /Remember, Raul?/Eh, Rafel? /Federico, do you remember..”  This text, spoken by Neruda himself, appears within in the electronic part.  The final name he calls to, “Federico” is Federico García Lorca and the music here refers through Lorca to George Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children.

III. Compana de palo (Wooden Bells): Galeano uses the phrase “compana de palo” to describe the voiceless people, those whose village tower contains only a “wooden bell”, a silouette cut to appear real but unable to make any sound.  There is a secondary reference to the Argentine anarchist cultural magazine of the same title “Le Compana de Palo”, published in 1925-27, that included lively debates on art, literature, music, and social anarchy in South America.

Roses Don't Need Perfume

Cuneiform Records Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of "Easter", The First Composition that Composer/ Keyboardist/ Electronic Music Pioneer David Borden Created for Moog Synthesizer, and  The World's First Live Performance With a Mini-Moog, with a Free Stream of "Easter", as Recorded by Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company and Released by Cuneiform on 1970-1973

***

Fifty years ago, on Easter weekend 1970, David Borden composed "Easter", his first tonal pulse-piece for the Moog synthesizer. Working throughout the night at Bob Moog's Trumansburg studio during Easter weekend, he completed the multi-layered piece at 4am. Two weeks later, Borden and fellow Mother Mallard member Steve Drews performed "Easter" at Cornell University's Willard Straight Theater.

The April 1970 performance of "Easter" was the first-ever live public performance using a MiniMoog.

In a couple months, Mother Mallard again used Moog's prototype to perform "Easter" in New York City's Trinity Church - the June 1970 concert marked the debut of the MiniMoog in New York. Mother Mallard would perform Easter again the following year, on Easter Sunday 1971, at Cornell University's Sage Chapel.

"Easter", born in the Spring of 1970, heralds the Dawn of the Age of Electronic Music, both technically and symbolically. This David Borden work marks the debut of compositions created for, and works performed on the legendary MiniMoog.

Cuneiform is thus providing this stream of "Easter" in April 2020, to celebrate the  first live performance of Easter using the MiniMoog equipment by the world's first all-synthesizer ensemble, Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Co., founded by David Borden with Steve Drews.

Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co. - "Easter" from '1970-1973' (Cuneiform Records)

Gabriel Borden, guitarist, multitracks several of David Borden's compositions originally written for synthesizers and electric pianos.  Father (David) and son (Gabriel) have collaborated on several projects over the years and have performed together since 1990.

TCOSC.06 GABEguitar

TCSOC.09 GABEguitar

Taylan Cihan and Peter Vincent
Single-take improvisation early January 2013
Barnes Hall, Ithaca NY

Roses Don't Need Perfume

Kevin Ernste

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