aworks :: "new" american classical music

Endangered Species (1993). Alvin Curran /not this record!/

A post on aworks citing the work Endangered Species by Alvin Curran incorrectly linked to an Amazon-stocked CD entitled "Lost Marbles" containing the work Endangered Species by Alvin Curran. The work Endangered Species by Alvin Curran on that CD was not the intended subject of the post and should not be seen as an endorsement for or against said CD. Instead, the post was describing the work Endangered Species by Alvin Curran, as played by pianist Bruce Brubaker on another Amazon-stocked CD, entitled "Inner Cities." The connection between these two selections is unclear and a quick trip to Rasputin Records did not provide the necessary source recording to ascertain just what was the compositional intent.

aworks welcomes comments and suggestions, or complaints about errors that warrant correction. aworks further regrets that the Amazon thumbnail for the Bruce Brubaker CD does not appear properly on the aworks site although the thumbnail for the incorrect CD works fine. argh.

intriguing.com: script containing obscure reference to Monty Python's Previous Record.

Endangered Species (1993). Alvin Curran /music is now free *and* minimal/

If you like John Cage's In a Landscape, you may like Alvin Curran's Endangered Species. To me, it is even more minimal and understated and effective.

On the other hand, I have no idea what Curran is getting at in his program notes for the piece that mention Callas, Stone, Xenakis, Billie, Carl Stallings etc. And composer César Alvarez has this NY Times quote of Curran:

Contemporary humans have become pathological music junkies reduced to searching obsessively for the ultimate 'Ode to Joy' cell-phone ring.

last.fm doesn't have a clip of Endangered Species but it does have an "artists like Alvin Curran station" including John Chowning, Maryanne Amacher, Richard Maxfield, and Luc Ferrari. And is Alvarez right that "music is free now?"