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Re: [microsound] context

I guess the phrase "premiered under MTT directing" was the source of
confusion. MTT invited Reich to perform that work with himself and
members of the BSO in Boston, in 1971.

On the topic of innovation, I would add to paraphrases from Varese,
given he was already mentioned in this thread: "Modern composers are
not ahead of their time; it is the audience that is behind" and "the
true artist creates the rules by which he creates his work." However
arrogant these might seem at first glance, it should be noted that
Varese expressed these thoughts in full awareness of tradition and
definitely not (as it was in e.g. Ligeti's case) innovation for
innovation's sake ("one must always strive for the new, at all
costs"). Somehow Varese's stance seems much more legitimate than
Ligeti's.

//p
http://www.interdisciplina.org/00.0/

On 9/16/06, Randal Davis <randal_davis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: 
You are, I am afraid, incorrect, Paulo.  The reference was, and is, to Four
Organs (1970).  Come Out and It's Gonna Rain, the two principal surviving
early tape works are dated 1966 and 1965, respectively.

Four Sections (1987) was indeed recorded by the LSO, MTT conducting, but the
performance of Four Organs to which I refer occured, under MTT's direction,
while he was MD of the BSO, in October, 1971.

So that we do not belabor the discussion with any further performance and
discographical histories, Four Organs was first performed at the Guggenheim
Museum (NYC) in May, 1970, and several times thereafter in gallery/museum
settings.  The performance I refer to did, however, mark the first major
appearance of his work outside of conspicuously avant-garde venues.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paulo Mouat" <paulo.mouat@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "microsound" <microsound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2006 5:33 PM
Subject: Re: [microsound] context


> You probably mean Four Sections and not Four Organs. And it is 1987,
> some 20 years after his early tape works.
>
> //p
> http://www.interdisciplina.org/00.0/
>
> On 9/16/06, Randal  Davis <randal_davis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Absolutely correct, Ian, in your fundamental point, which is why, in my
> > original post, the word "accident" was bracketed.  I do deny the
mechanisms
> > of Reich's historical embedding in the least.  I sought only to sketch a
few
> > possible modalities of what "historical engagement" has meant.
> >
> > At the same time, I am less sanguine about your conclusion, that
"therefore
> > a historical framework that legitimized his discovery as one of artistic
> > merit had been established."
> >
> > Not so many years after his initial tape works, Reich premiered Four
Organs,
> > under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, in the context of a
decidedly
> > non-avant-garde milieu, with results that nearly provoked a riot - see
his
> > own, and MTT's accounts of this.
> >
> > Again, I think, we see different modes of historical legitimation in
> > operation.  Yes?
> >
> > Thanks for your articulate response - I hope the list continues the
> > discussion in this manner.
>
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