Pale plumes of dullness
["The Vermont Notebook," John Ashbery]
readings 49

2 c30 audio cassettes, rendering The Vermont Notebook (by John Ashbery, with drawings by Joe Brainard)

version with A & B sides of both tapes superimposed (4 tracks)

48 audio scenes taken on and around Vermont Ave in Los Angeles (predawn), 48 text fragments read in my apartment (after dark), disposed in two layers on each tape (July 12, 2013)

Text from John Ashbery's 'The Vermont Notebook' Copyright © 1975, 2001, 2008 by John Ashbery.  All rights reserved.  Used by arrangement with Georges Borchardt, Inc. for John Ashbery.

Pale plumes of dullness (mark so, 2013)

for 2 orchestras - jungle & pyramid/sky.

performed by Claire Bergen, Madison Brookshire, Aaron Drake, Mari Garrett, Christa Graf, Jonathan Guillen, April Guthrie, Vi Ha, Orin Hildestad, Julia Holter, Lewis Keller, David Kendall, Liz Kotz, Cat Lamb, Rachel Manderfeld, Liam Mooney, Adam Overton, Kurt Ozment, Michael Pisaro, Mark So, Laura Steenberge, Cassia Streb, Jason Teutsch, Tashi Wada, Brian Walsh, and Mike Winter (tones, sounds, percussion)

25 april 2008
on the program "harmonic space i" (microfest 2008)
armory center for the arts, pasadena

recorded and mixed by Lewis Keller



THE MAYAN EMPIRE to James Tenney & Christian Wolff (mark so, 2006)

c45 cassette

sides A & B presented simultaneously, left and right, respectively

recorded 17 june 2015
puerto los cabos, mexico

FUENTE para Istvàn Zelenka (mark so, 2015)

reading a passage from "Asphodel" by H.D. in my kitchen,
with feedback

15 march 2015
los angeles

Syracuse - H.D. (mark so, 2015)

a piece made with 2 found mixtapes, 60' and 90', advanced twice around in real time, intermittently recording field sound; treated as a single 150-minute loop; first time, a night walk in Los Angeles; second time, immediately thereafter in my apartment with each tape advancing/recording while the other tape plays back; digital realization, L-R pan: all 4 tape sides - 1A2A2B1B - ending together (April 2013)

Shenandoah Suite (5 hours in Los Angeles) for Madison (mark so, 2013)

4 tape environment from reading 'Illuminations' [readings 41] 

recorded by Julia Holter & Mark So, August-October 2011 in Los Angeles & environs, the Mojave Desert, and Portland, OR (4 audio cassettes, sides A&B together, interspersed L-R pan)

commissioned by the Pasadena Arts Council for the 2011 AxS Festival


Arthur Rimbaud’s Illuminations, translated from the French by John Ashbery.  Translation copyright © 2011 by John Ashbery.  All rights reserved.  Used by arrangement with Georges Borchardt, Inc. for John Ashbery.

mark so

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