David Tudor and Gordon Mumma - Essay Example

Musicians Who Dared to Make a Difference. David Tudor and Gordon Mumma Order No. 235232 No. of pages: 9 Premium 6530 Tudor’s Early Life: David Eugene Tudor, well known as one of the leading avant garde pianists in his time, was born on 20th January, 1926 in Philadelphia, PA. His teachers included Irma Wolpe Rademacher (piano) H. William Hawke (organ, theory), and Stephan Wolpe (composition and analysis). Tudor’s musical Career: Initially Tudor’s career was built around being a pianist and organist but gradually he took a deep interest in creating his own kinds of sound making use of the technology that was available. In the early fifties when he began working with another stalwart in music called John Cage (1912 – 1992)1 he brought his career of an active pianist to a halt and turned his attention exclusively to composing music that comprised of live electronic sounds. David Tudor’s Shift to Electronic Music: As early as the 1950’s, Tudor had established himself as a pioneer in the field of performance which he systematically devoted himself to the world of electronic music. In the beginning Tudor concentrated on being a pianist and organist, but the creative shift into the field of electronic music took place in the 1950’s, when he started work at the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.2 The works of David Tudor was very significant and noted for their utilization of electronic circuits in creating different sounds. His “quirky” use of electronics has made a great impact on many of the modern day composers. In conversation with David Behrman, Ron Kuivilla stated that “….the instability of the electronics, the absence of presets and the viewpoint configuration defies the identity of the composition, combine to make it very difficult to distinguish performance from composition.’ (Behrman 14)3 The circuitry that he made use of for all his compositions was not only original but so very complicated, that it made it very difficult to understand the working of the piece. Only now, so many years after his passing, are colleagues and fans trying to understand the complicated circuitry used by David Tudor. Most of this was due to the fact that Tudor didn’t label any physical parts, and sketched his circuits out on paper. (Adams)4 It was this pragmatic approach towards music that helped David Tudor earn a prestigious place in the history of experimental music. John Cage, one of Tudor’s closest colleagues who is also an inventor discussed that it would be better to allow Tudor to work solo in the field of electronic music because he is a master at it. In the words of Cage, ‘He is doing such beautiful work in electronic music that I have no desire to do any in that field. And that’s because I am an inventor.” (Cage 14) Cage always recalled Sylvano Bussotti’s description of Tudor referring him to a “musical instrument” or as a “minotaur of the pianistical mythology” (Sylvano Bussotti, David Tudor Papers, GRI (980039). Series IV. Folder 8) Some of Tudor’s Famous Works: In the 20th century, David Tudor was more of a legend in the field of experimental music5 in America. In collaboration with Cage in the 1950’s, at the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Tudor came out with works such as ‘Rainforest” (1968) “Toneburst” (1974) “Phonemes” (1981) “Fragments” (1984) “Virtual Focus.” (1990) “Neural Network Plus” (1992) “Soundings: Ocean Diary”, (1994) This partnership between both Cage and Tudor continued for many decades thereafter. David Tudor progressed by collaborating on different International projects like ‘The Pepsi Pavilion”6 for Expo ‘70, in the 1970’s which took place in Osaka, Japan. Many of David Tudor’s works were in collaboration with various visual forces such as laser projections, dance, light systems, television and theater performances. A good example of such showmanship could be seen in the “Bandoneon”7 produced in 1966 at the 9 Evenings: Theater & Engineering in New York. The performance also involved video images that were projected together with moving loudspeaker sculptures. His spectacular and innovative career came to a close when David Tudor passed away on August 13, 1996 at his home in Tomkins Cove, NY at the age of 70. Gordon Mumma Early life of Gordon Mumma: Gordon Mumma8, who was one of the most prolific composers, was born on 30th March 1935 at Framingham, Massachusetts and resided at Ann Arbor, Michigan from 1953 to 1966 after he became the co- founder in collaboration with Robert Ashley, of the Cooperative Studio for Electronic Music that existed from the early 60’s. (All Music Guide) He was a virtuoso performer of the French horn and was one of the three great composer- musicians- the other two being David Tudor and John Cage. Al the three of them composed music for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Gordon Mumma’s compositions consisted of four commissioned works. Gordon Mumma’s musical Career: Gordon Mumma was one of the first composers to make use of circuitry of his own designs in both his performances as well as in his compositions. He had performed with the Sonic Arts Union and went on concert tours and recordings to Europe, Japan and the North and South America. Besides his very diverse artistic collaborations with a very wide range of artists, he wrote extensively on contemporary performance arts and also on technology. Mumma’s writings were very vivid and were published in several different languages. Gordon Mumma was an exceptionally talented electronic – music engineer and designed equipment not only for individuals but also for different institutions. He was also responsible in designing an electronic music system that was displayed at the EXPO – 70 in Osaka, Japan. Besides this Mumma had been serving as a faculty for many different Universities which also include the Brandeis University, the University of Illinois, the Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (Darmstadt, Germany), and the Cursos Latinoamericanos de Música Contemporánea (Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Santiago, R.D. He was also a Professor of Music at the University of California, Santa Cruz from 1975 to 1994. Gordon Mumma received the much coveted biennial John Cage Award from the Foundation for the Contemporary Performance Arts. From 2004 onwards he has been a resident of Canada and is closely associated with the University of Victoria, British Columbia. Works of Gordon Mumma: Gordon Mumma’s works were very well known for the integration and the utilization of advanced electric principles during the operation of different musical styles and structures. He coined the term “Cybersonic”9 which he used to describe this approach which he used in a wide range of his compositions. (E.G., Hornpipe, electronic music for Cybersonic French horn, Ambivex, a surrogate myoelectronic telemetering system which included pairs of performing appendages. As a Duo: David Tudor and Gordon Mumma: The 20th century’s avant garde’s most well loved pianist, David Tudor was recognized by some of the great composers as Stockhausen, Cage, Boulez, in performing such works that demanded exceptional skill. After becoming a collaborator with many important people, he was commissioned by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 1968, to create music for a dance titled “Rainforest” which was a portrayal of Colin Turnbull’s “The Forest People.” The basic notion, which is a technical one, was the idea that the loudspeaker should have a voice which was unique and not just an instrument of reproduction, but an instrument unto itself." (Interview by Teddy Hultberg in Dusseldorf, May 17, 18, 1988) The sounds for the choreography were designed to portray the sound of the rain, wind, screeches of animals and the chirping of birds. He made use of oscillators to produce these sounds and because they were so tiny he amplified them by making use of contact microphones. Rainforest’s earliest version is followed by six bits by Gordon Mumma which were about fifteen seconds to nearly six minutes long. They consist of four Mographs and two Gestures. Both of these works were done for the two pianists Tudor and Mumma. The Mographs were "derived from seismographic recorded P-waves and S-waves of earthquakes and underground nuclear explosions" (liner notes by Gordon Mumma, page 18.) The sounds in ‘Rainforest” is made up of a solo occasional note with spaces and interspersed with quick chords and fragmented arpeggiations. Once in a while small segments are repeated but with a few variations. The composition of the Gestures was made up of more complicated structures that made use of different techniques along the way. Section 7 of the piece that spanned across both the pianos was more thorough in composition, than section X which was more limited in comparison. On the whole the sounds in the piece had interesting and simple structures that seemed similar but at the same time possessed continuous variety. David Tudor’s “Rainforest”10 is a forty minute piece intertwined with piano excursions and the sound of rain and different animals. Tudor’s creativity in sound shows how intensely he would have listened to these sounds to capture them so beautifully and skillfully. As rightly said by Robert J. Kilpatrick in his summing up of Rainforest, that “Tudor seemed far more interested in using the tools at hand to create the sounds in his head and in this case with complete success.” (Robert J. Kilpatrick) He also added that this particular album, not only had historical significance but also great music. Gordon Mumma gave a fitting ending to the album on hearing of Tudor’s death by playing a short solo piece on the piano and titled it “Song without words”. This small piece is made up of melancholic simple chording with single notes interspersed with little spaces. It is almost a romantic meander signifying a tribute to David Tudor whom he had always admired so much. References: David Tudor www.tiger.towson.edu/users/kdoty1/tudor.htm The David Tudor Pages www.emf.org/tudor Unpublished letter from Sylvano Bussotti, David Tudor Papers, GRI (980039). Series IV. Folder 8. Gordon Mumma www.lovely.com/bios/mumma.html Bagatellan: David Tudor & Gordon Mumma www.bagatellen.com/archives/reviews/001474.html Bandoneon www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandone%C3%B3n Read More