KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ Text-Sound and Electronic Works by Stephen Ruppenthal

Analog Audio

Event Type

Music

Origin

KPFA

Identifier

P.RUP.STE.01

Program Length

48 min

Dates

1977 | created

Description

Two early text-sound and electronic music compositions by Stephen Ruppenthal, taken from “Totemic Illusions” a suite of seven pieces composed from 1977 to 1979. The first work, for two voices and electronic music, features a text by the composer, combined with one taken from a traditional Navajo ceremony or “way.” The theme of the texts appears to be that of an almost mystical appreciation for nature and is accompanied by subdued and somber electronic music, somewhat reminiscent of a church organ. The following musical selection, an excerpt of “Seventh Trace,” features a variety of vocalizations and fragmented speech overlaid onto more typically avant-garde analog synthesizer and processed percussion music. Ruppenthal was born in 1949, studied with Allen Strange and Lou Harrison, among others, and was an early proponent of sound poetry, his Masters thesis having been one of the first papers on the subject written in English. Ruppenthal also co-authored “Vocable Gestures: An Historical Survey of Sound Poetry” with his frequent collaborator Larry Wendt in 1977.

Genres

Electro-Acoustic / Electronic
Sound poetry

Musical Selections

Night Ways (1978) (10:25) -- Seventh Trace [excerpt] (1977) (14:50)

Subjects

Sound poetry
Text-sound compositions
Electronic music

Acknowledgment

Funding for the preservation of this program made possible through a grant by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Related Entities

Ruppenthal, Stephen