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Throughout his career Morton Feldman tried to locate sound at the moment we become conscious of its presence to us. His work vivifies our experience of sound as it is in the process of being transformed into ‘music’. Feldman constantly strove to identify his compositions with this process, both as a perceptual act and as a potential conceptualization in which order never seems to exist a priori. As I have shown in detail in my previous essays on Feldman, to understand his music requires careful attention to the way that he treats every aspect of his sonic material. Only detailed examination of pitch, interval, tone color, register, duration, and articulation—giving equal weight to each—can lead to an understanding of this unique body of work. In this essay I examine his compositional process as exhibited inThe Viola in My Life (1), for chamber ensemble and solo viola. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay the author discusses various compositional ideas and procedures as they have developed in his music over a number of years. He explores the underlying principles which unite a diverse body of works ranging from chamber and computer music to live electronic sound installations. Specifically, he analyzes structures which he has developed which are, at once, both continuous and fragmentary. In so doing, he identifies one crucial area of inquiry for artists today: the integration of contradictory modes of experience. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Each of the works considered in this paper focuses, in some way, upon the notion of context. Each articulates the crucial role of context in all creative and perceptual processes. The examples for analysis are taken from various media: music, literature and the visual arts (John Cage's Variations VI, Robert Irwin's Black Line Volume, Alvin Lucier's “I am sitting in a room,” Dan Graham's Scheme, and Hans Haacke's Seurat's “Les Poseuses"). These works, when taken together, seem to spiral outward, progressively expanding the very definition of context itself. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Mathematical game theory considers situations in which two or more people control some, but not all, variables necessary to determine the outcome(s) of a particular event. Based upon these outcomes players receive certain payments. As such, each player strives to formulate a strategy which will maximize his winnings. Mathematical “games” are used to address problems in such diverse areas as economics, politics, military strategy, moral philosophy and urban development. In works such as Strategy and Duel, Iannis Xenakis formulated some of the first artistic applications of mathematical games. This paper presents a detailed analysis of his most recent piece to use such games, Linaia‐Agon. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The sixth song of Dallapiccola's cycle The Goethe Lieder represents a striking example of that composer's ability to fashion meticulously a complex network of relationships through the simplest of means. This analysis complements an earlier study of the second song of the cyle ("A Proliferation of Canons: Luigi Dallapiccola's Goethe Lieder #2”, Perspectives of New Music, Spring‐Summer, 1985) with which the sixth must be paired. Together, these analyses reveal, in microcosm, many formal procedures which constitute the foundation of the entire cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For the past 25 years Morton Feldman has been recognized as one of the leading figures in American avant‐garde music. During the 1950's, along with various members of the so‐called New York school of painters and Black Mountain poets he became one of the first to conceive and execute an art completely freed from any vestige of a‐priori compositional rhetoric. In this paper the author considers various aspects of Feldman's compositional practice through a detailed analysis of Durations III. #3 for violin, tuba and piano. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This is a study of notation in recent music. Central to this exploration is the idea that, with respect to much recent music, what composers notate are the activities associated with the compositional process rather than the sonic remnants of that process. Two categories of structure and notation are defined and explored ‐ behaviorism and pluralism. Works in the former category which are studied are Christian Wolff;s For 1, 2 or 3 People and Robert Ashley's in memoriam... Crazy Horse; works in the latter category, Pozzi Escot's Neyrac Lux and John Cage's Variations II. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Alvin Lucier was born in 1931 in Nashua, New Hampshire, USA. He studied at both Yale and Brandeis Universities and is currently chairman of the Music Department at Wesleyan University in Middletown. Connecticut. Widely recognized as one of the most innovative composers in America today Lucier's work represents a truly unique direction in new music. This article outlines his entire career exploring such diverse works as the early brain wave composition Music for Solo Performer (1965) and the recent piano piece Shapes of Sounds from the Board (1979–80). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The result of a collaboration by Picasso, Massine, Cocteau and Satie, the ballet Parade is one of the truly remarkable works of the early twentieth century. In Parade Satie carefully controls both the speed and duration of each sonic event. At several points at the beginning of the piece, multiple levels of activity are heard either simultaneously or in close succession. These generate the temporal materials for the entire ballet. In this paper, the author first deals with the complex rhythmic structures in the Choral, Prelude, and the three repetitions of the managers' music. (The latter form an interrelated group and probably constitute the most important music of the ballet with regard to its rhythmic structure.) The author then examines a number of general relationships found among the three main scenes of Parade and finally presents a detailed examination of the rhythmic structure of the third scene. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]