KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ New Sounds San Jose: The Fourth Annual Festival: Concert Two, 2 of 2

Analog Audio

Event Type

Music

Origin

KPFA

Identifier

NS.1982.05.08.1.B

Program Series

New Sounds San Jose

Program Length

74 min

Part

2 of 2

Dates

| broadcast
| 1982-05-08 | created

Description

Recorded on May 8, 1982, the second concert of the 4th annual New Sounds San Jose Festival featured Joan La Barbara presenting selections of music for voice, tape and electronics, most of which were her own compositions. Subtitled “Voice is the Original Instrument” the first half of this concert featured works where all the sound were created by the natural voice, amplified to bring out quiet sounds and particular qualities that would not be clearly audible without the use of amplification. While some of the pieces included multi-tracking, no electronic or tape manipulation was used and all one hears is either live or pre-recorded amplified voice. The second half of the concert included pieces by John Cage and Morton Subotnick, who is also La Barbara’s husband. While some of these pieces include additional instrumentation such as ghost electronics the focus remains on the extraordinary vocal talents of La Barbara, whose impressive range and expression has made her one of the favorite vocalists for avant-garde classical composers. Upon listening to this recording there will be no doubt as to why that is so.

Genres

New music
Electro-Acoustic / Electronic

Musical Selections

Solo for Voice 45, for voice and tape [from “Song Books”] (1970) (13:44) / John Cage -- The Last Dream of the Beast, for voice, tape, and ghost electronics [later incorporated into “Double Life of Amphibians”] (1979) (14:44) / Morton Subotnick

Performers

Joan La Barbara, voice

Subjects

New music
Electronic music
Vocal music
Songs
Aleatory music
Vocalises with electronics

Related place

San Jose (Calif.) (was recorded at)

Related Entities

Cage, John
Subotnick, Morton
La Barbara, Joan, 1947-