Perspectives of New Music articles from January 1994

Perspectives of New Music archives from January 1994

Feminist theory, music theory, and the mind/body problem. (Towards A Feminist Music Theory)
January 1, 1994... One of the first intellectual rituals a person encounters on becoming a feminist is the ritual of self-identification. It is understood now - as it was not twenty years ago - that each of us speaks for sure only for herself, each of us from a...

A woman's (theoretical) work. (Towards A Feminist Music Theory)
January 1, 1994... While still a graduate student in music theory, I began to notice that informal, figurative language conveyed and encouraged a vital engagement with music in ways that I missed in many analytical texts. I came to this realization from a typical...

Of poetics and poiesis, pleasure and politics - music theory and modes of the feminine. (Towards A Feminist Music Theory)
January 1, 1994... A little over a year ago, I wrote about my thoughts and experiences at the first conference on feminist theory and music held in June 1991 at Minneapolis: about that binding of identity, creativity, feeling and vulnerability that we felt as we...

Paradigm dissonances: music theory, cultural studies, feminist criticism. (Towards A Feminist Music Theory)
January 1, 1994... In the debate that has raged during the past year between music theory and feminist criticism, participants often appear to be talking at cross-purposes. On the one hand, we are offered models of autonomous compositional procedures; on the...

Remarks on originary feminism. (response to Rosemary N. Killam, Perspectives of New Music, vol. 31, no. 2, Summer 1993, p. 230) (Towards A Feminist Music Theory)
January 1, 1994... Rather than attempt to "correct" Ms. Killam's reading of my work (Rosemary N. Killam, "Women Working: An Alternative to Gans," Perspectives of New Music 31, no. 2 (Summer 1993): 230-51), I would prefer to touch on a few issues raised by...

Why complexity? (Guest Editor's Introduction, part 2) (Complexity Forum)
January 1, 1994... In glancing over the forty-page booklet published on the occasion of the Rotterdam "Complexity?" festival,(1) it struck me that, of the individuals whose submissions were printed, only a few attempted to provide a definition of the term, one...

Elephantine data mist. (short story) (Complexity Forum)
January 1, 1994... Beginnings burst through ash, cro-magnesium shavings off a wizened outcrop of Pokey's turds. Yonder lies the pattering of rhyme, a slender, graceless ripple which forces one to weave tunes amidst harried, tub-ridden pagination endeavors....

Composing a viable (if transitory) self: Brian Ferneyhough in conversation with James Boros. (Complexity Forum) (Interview)
January 1, 1994... I seem to recall your discussing the notion of musical complexity in terms of the dynamic transmission of information and its relationship to states of stability and instability. Among other things, that's true. How to get a grip on the...

Developing an interpretive context: learning Brian Ferneyhough's 'Bone Alphabet.' (Complexity Forum)
January 1, 1994... One of the first casualties of the fast pace of professional performance in contemporary music is the small but pleasurable distinction between the act of learning a piece of music and the art of performing it. So often, out of the pressure to...

"Prima le parole ..." (on the sketches for Ferneyhough's Carceri d'invenzione I-III)(Brian Ferneyhough) (Complexity Forum)
January 1, 1994... What follows is not, as might at first appear, yet another contribution to the age-old words-versus-music debate. That issue is certainly a crucial one in Ferneyhough's many vocal works, and has already been addressed by the composer, among...

The inner and outer complexity of music. (Complexity Forum)
January 1, 1994... I. Redefining Musical Complexity In a culture where everything seems to need a label if it is to attract any attention, "the new complexity" is one that has arisen in contemporary music recently. To the intellectually inclined it...

A view from the piano bench, or, playing John Zorn's 'Carny' for fun and profit. (Complexity Forum)
January 1, 1994... Most performer worth their salt (which unfortunately rules out a great many making their living on the concert stage) relish a composer's challenge and prefer to sink their teeth and digits into a musical stew rich enough to reward hours of...

Some thoughts on the new complexity. (Complexity Forum)
January 1, 1994... I am ambivalent about what seems to have been labelled the "New Complexity." One reason for this is that many "new complexities" are grouped under this heading, and are not only variably interesting but potentially contradictory. Casually to...

Long enough to reach the ground or how long should a man's ... legs be? (Complexity Forum)
January 1, 1994... 17 August 1992 1168 Mass. Ave. Cambridge, Mass. 02138 Mr. Jim Boros, Associate Editor, Perspectives of New Music School of Music DN-10 University of Washington Seattle, Wash. 98195 Dear Mr. Boros: THANKS VERY MUCH for inviting me to take...

Against definition (1992). (Complexity Forum)
January 1, 1994... I. In the late summer of 1991 the family lawnmower died of old age and long neglect. Sylvia and I knew a new life could spring forth from this simple householding incident. Here are the facts that we faced squarely: We hate mowing...

Art-tickle: points to ponder. (Complexity Forum)
January 1, 1994... Complexity vs/and/as clarity Complexity vs/and/as simplicity Complexity vs/and/as utility Complexity vs/and/as artistry Complexity vs/and/as imagination Complexity vs/and/as information Complexity vs/and/as nuance Complexity...

A reply to Boros. (James Boros in Perspectives of New Music, Winter 1993) (Complexity Forum)
January 1, 1994... In his winter 1993 Perspectives article "Why Complexity?" James Boros presents a bipolar view of recent trends in new music with "the school of complexity" pitted against the "new romantic" school, presenting the former as a musical savior and...

A response to Bohn. (James Bohn in this journal, p. 224) (Complexity Forum)
January 1, 1994... I'm puzzled by Mr. Bohn's Response to my essay, particularly his claim that I present a "bipolar view of recent trends in new music with the |school of complexity' pitted against the |new romantic' school." Nowhere in my paper do I define or...

Diatonic interval cycles and hierarchical structure.
January 1, 1994... This paper extends and generalizes my work on diatonic circles published some years ago in this journal.(1) In the earlier work I showed that cycles of scale degrees based on a single generic interval (seconds up/sevenths down, or thirds...

Open form and Earle Brown's 'Modules I and II' (1967).
January 1, 1994... I. Introduction My first impulses to work with new notations and new scoring methods were primarily motivated by a desire to create a mobile situation in a piece of music.(1) to have elements exist in space... space as an...

A conversation with Claudio Spies. (Interview)
January 1, 1994... When you came to this country in 1942, at the age of seventeen, you first enrolled at the New England Conservatory, and then, a few months later, you began studying with Nadia Boulanger at the Longy School. In 1947 you went to Harvard as an...