Tudor has been mentioned quite a bit in the Haubenstock-Ramati thread, particularly in connection with his advocacy of and attitude towards performing aleatoric music, a subject which is touched on in this interview

https://list.mail.virginia.edu/mailman/htdig/silence/2005-December/001809.html

between Tudor, Cage and the British writer and erstwhile composer Dick Witts. There are quite a few little gems of wisdom and amusement in this exchange.

Further to which, I wanted to say (once more) how beautiful I find most of Tudor's live electronic music, which seems to be almost unknown in the UK. (I'm not sure whether he gave many performances there outside of the regular appearances of the Merce Cunningham company at Sadler's Wells.) There must be many recordings of his solo performances out there waiting to be released.

I don't have time to read the whole article, but it is interesting.

It is hard to play the same piece (or pieces) over and over again. Yes, one finds many new and interesting things in every piece, but it is difficult none the less (even it one is not a composer).

Cage always says something strikingly original. I will have to read the article later.

I think versions of Rainforest are still available - New World issued a CD last year. The first post in this thread has some links. A nice (complete?) discography too: http://www.discogs.com/artist/David+Tudor

I've only ever heard really good things about Tudor's music, but I don't think I've ever heard any. 

A "sound installation" is generally something which depends to a great extent on the listener being there and participating by moving through the space where it's happening, and this is certainly true of Rainforest. By "primarily for listening" I meant in the sense of listening to a CD recording. The Mode Records site has a good description of what the piece is "about".

Rainforest was one of the works played at the Cage/Tudor concert at the RAH in May 1972 (a Music Now presentation organized by Victor Schonfield). I am ashamed to relate that the music was so loud I left the Hall part way through the concert. At that concert, the audience member (with dishonourable exceptions such as myself) remained in their seats, rather than wandering around in the musical space.

I expect it is. There's no actual music by Tudor on it though (unless you count his "realisations" of aleatoric pieces by others that is). I think one reason I favour Neural Synthesis is that I saw Tudor perform it live, and this was one of the half-dozen most memorable concerts I've ever attended. It was performed in a fairly small space (STEIM in Amsterdam) with a 4-channel sound system, and was surprisingly QUIET compared with most electronic performances I've seen (certainly compared with the version of Rainforest I heard accompanying choreography by Cunningham, which was fantastically loud). What impressed me most was the sense of structural timing with which the various sound-processes succeed one another, and this feature is also prominent on the CD version, although each of the four versions on the CD is the result of superimposing two different takes which had been made without reference to one another, so they don't have the same feeling of a single solo performance (though I don't remember the live performance being noticeably less dense). Nevertheless I think Tudor's work is one of the very few examples of electronic music where the sounds are what you might call "abstract", that is, not reminiscent of any natural or instrumental or vocal sounds, while at the same time possessing what I can only call a "living" quality. Performing these pieces may have involved a great deal less activity than playing the piano (it was very difficult to see what Tudor was actually doing at his component-strewn table, even from fairly close up), but in a way a comparable sense of movement is apparent to the ear.

Is that in Vauxhall?

"Nevertheless I think Tudor's work is one of the very few examples of electronic music where the sounds are what you might call "abstract", that is, not reminiscent of any natural or instrumental or vocal sounds, while at the same time possessing what I can only call a "living" quality."

I do like this, yes!


Acapulco! Have fun, t_i_n.

Just looked at june a cpl of days ago and the calendar filled up. This is the best month for concerts I've seen for a while w/spittafields, etc.