KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ First Festival of Live Electronic Music: Concert 3 with Dary John Mizelle, Stanley Lunetta, and John Dinwiddie
Digital Audio
Event Type
MusicOrigin
KPFAIdentifier
FLEM.1967.12.05.c2Program Series
First Festival of Live Electronic MusicProgram Length
76 minDates
1967-12-05 | createdDescription
The First Festival of Live Electronic Music included a series of five concerts held at Mills College and the University of California at Davis on December 4-6, 1967. In this program host Charles Shere introduces the works by Dary John Mizelle, Stanley Lunetta, and John Dinwiddie recorded during the the third concert held at the University of California, Davis, on December 5th, 1967.Radial Energy I with Light Sculpture by Dary John Mizelle:
The work is really the combination of two separate pieces, “Radial Energy I” and “Light Sculpture”, performed simultaneously. “Light Sculpture” involves the interplay between spotlights of changing colors and a large abstract sculpture, suspended from the ceiling, and fitted with sound generators that produce high pitched sounds when triggered by light. “Radial Energy I” is a piece designed around the concept of the perception of time through sound, and incorporates both electronic and acoustic instruments with a deliberately ambiguous graphic score. Although this performance involved less electronic transformation of sound than many of the other pieces during the Festival the fact the both pieces were performed simultaneously insured a rich complexity.
Music for Bandoneon and Strings by Stanley Lunetta:
“Music for Bandoneon & Strings” is described by the composer as “a machine” in which the performer’s actions are controlled by other non-sound producing companions. The basic concept was to have David Tudor, the main performer, sitting on a stool holding a bandoneon, with a series of strings attached to his head, hands, arms, legs, and feet, and with contact microphones attached to his stool, throat, and of course the bandoneon. The strings are then manipulated as if Tudor were a marionette, with the associated sounds thus produced being mixed and amplified. As such it was as much a theatrical piece as it was musical which was a theme that ran throughout the entire Festival.
Winters by John Dinwiddie:
“Winters” (probably named after a town where it was composed), can be regarded as two compositions performed simultaneously, one focusing on the sounds produced and the other on the activities involved in producing those sounds. The equipment used include two performers with microphones, a large wind chime made from a suspended bicycle wheel and seventy six mirrors of various sizes, four slide projectors, and electronic amplification. In response to instructions inferred from the slides, the two performers used microphones to either pick up the sounds of the wind chime as they struck it, or to produce feedback by placing the microphones near the loudspeakers. While this piece was intended to be accompanied by a “light show.” and is thus missing much of its original impact, there can be no doubt that this recording is an excellent example of the type of music presented during the Festival.
(Some of this information is from Will Johnson’s article in the magazine “Source: Music for the Avant-Garde” No. 4)
Genres
Electro-Acoustic / ElectronicAvant-garde
Musical Selections
Radial Energy I with Light Sculpture (1967) (20:00) / Dary John MizelleMusic for Bandoneon and Strings (1966) (23:30) / Stanley Lunetta
Winters (1967) (24:25) / John Dinwiddie
Performers
David Tudor, bandoneon (Music for Bandoneon and Strings)members of the New Music Ensemble (Music for Bandoneon..., Radial Energy I)
John Dinwiddie, electronics and processing (Winters)
Subjects
Multimedia (Art)Electronic music
Avant-garde (Music)
Light art
Aleatory music
Sound sculpture
Related places
Davis (Calif.) (was recorded at)Berkeley (Calif.) (was broadcast at)
Related Entities
Shere, Charles, 1935-2020Mizelle, Dary John, 1940-
Lunetta, Stanley
Dinwiddie, John
Tudor, David, 1926-1996