aworks :: "new" american classical music

The Time Curve Preludes (1977-78). William Duckworth (1943-2012) #serenity #single-mindedness

I can't speak for William Duckworth as a person, but his The Time Curve Preludes is an important work.

I'm streaming the recording by Andy Lee via Irritable Hedghog and their cast of characters ("select recordings of minimalist and postminimalist repertoire"):

• David D. McIntire: electroacoustics, soundscapes, irritability
• R. Andrew Lee: pianism, internets, vertical time
• Scott Unrein: aetherial beauty, graphic wizardry, twins consultant
• Rachel McIntire: video, images, global perspective
• Eileen McIntire: hedgehogs, marketing, forensic psychology
• Michelle Allen McIntire: catalyst

I just pulled out my copy of Talking Music: Conversations With John Cage, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, And 5 Generations Of American Experimental Composers by Duckworth. I likely read it in 1995 and at that point, I don't think I had actually heard the music of La Monte Young, although I had first heard of Young in a downbeat magazine article in the Seventies. The interview was fascinatingly esoteric:

Duckworth: What kind of work did you do to improve?

Young: Well, anytime I heard music I would analyze it as I listened. Of course, I couldn't analyze everything I heard, nobody can, but I would analyze as much as I could. I always listen analytically now. There's never a time I'm listening without trying to formulate as much as I can about what I'm hearing--to analyze exactly what intervals I'm hearing.

The Time Curve Preludes:

Musically, The Time Curve Preludes focus on one principal melody, which is based on the Dies Irae, and include hints of Satie, Bluegrass banjo picking, and, on occasion, the piano playing style of Jerry Lee Lewis, all held in musical space by a durational architecture based on proportional time.  

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Time Curve Preludes (1979). William Duckworth /my comments on bruce brubaker's list/

Carnegie Hall via Wikipedia

In the previous episode, Bruce Brubaker reports he has a new recording of piano music by William Duckworth and Philip Glass. (PianoMorphosis aworks)

Brubaker also notes that listeners of his music download other particular artists. My comments on his list:

• Radiohead. I'm not yet to the point of needing medication but yes, I'm pretty much obsessed with Radiohead. I did give up on my project to rank Radiohead tracks from 1 to n.
• Death Cab for Cutie. Not so interested.
• Carl Craig. Vaguely know who this is. 
• Aphex Twin. Fifteen months after being rear-ended on 101 while listening to this music, I still have an aversion to it. Though, kudos to the California Highway Patrol, Allstate Insurance, and even the guy who hit me after he suggested I move away from traffic and get back into my car, given my stunned state.
• Mozart as played by Radu Lupu. My one and only visit to Carnegie Hall was to hear Lupu play Chopin. Peak experience.

Of William Duckworth's work:

On the minimalist side, the Preludes are spare and meditative, each pursuing a single rhythmic figure to the end. With the exception of moody Prelude No. 6, however, none are literally repetitive. Every one is grounded by drones, a device minimalism picked up from Indian music. Rather than hum consistently, though, the drones appear and disappear, shift delicately from pitch to pitch, and define each prelude’s rhythmic backbone. (DRAM)

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and if i were 30 years younger and/or didn't have a mortgage, i'd probably respond to brubaker's craigslist ad.

Time Curve Preludes (1979). William Duckworth /important news/

Blogger (and contemporary pianist extraordinaire) Bruce Brubaker reports of his soon-to-be-released recording of music by William Duckworth and Philip Glass.  This is of such interest that I'll make my normal comments in a subsequent post so as to not distract from that message. (PianoMorphosis)