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previous artist: pat patrick		there are 2 titles featuring ben patterson in stock. they are listed below.		next artist: mike patton

$26.18

back in stock as of
september 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
august 2nd, 2007

alga marghen (italy) #alga vocson17 lp

ben patterson “a fluxus elegy” long playing record

a fluxus elegy

alga marghen press release...

b e n p a t t e r s o n
"a fluxus elegy"
(cat no. 17vocson061)
lp record

this ben patterson composition, issued on is based on the basic principles of the polyphonic music of the bantu tribes of west and central africa.

first principle: the practice of interlocking individual pitches or tones performed by one person into spaces between other pitches or tones performed by another person, thus alternating pitches or tones of one part with those of another part to create a whole.

second principle: use of cyclical and open-ended forms involving one or more ostinato melodic/rhythmic pattern as a foundation.

third principle: community participation...non-specialists are encouraged to join in long performances with much repetition.

fourth principle: rhythmic complexity with the juxtaposition of double and triple patterns, multiple layering of different patterns, and interaction between a core foundation and improvised parts.

and, most important, the family 'ownership' of a specific tone: in the musical culture of these tribes, each ancestral family 'owns' and is responsible for one or more specific tones, which must be sounded at specific points, sequencing with the many other specific tones 'owned' by other families, to create a seamless melody.

ben patterson made a music based on this information by taking the initials of artists listed in "fluxus: the most radical and experimental art movement of the sixties" and encoding them in basic international morse code. these 'dots and dashes' were then performed on a yamaha djx keyboard (voice pattern setting), connected to a digitech jamman looper (over-dub setting), connected to an eurorack mx 602a mixer. front cover reproducing the original score.

$19.07

back in stock as of
september 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
october 12th, 2006

threads:
sound-art
fluxus

alga marghen (italy) #alga nmn08 cd

ben patterson “early works” compact disc

a simple opera (1995 lago di como version 13.4.1999) 15’51”
duo for voice and a string instrument (1961) 11’01”
variations for double-bass (1961) 11’22”
paper piece (1960) 17’05”
pond (1962) 05’24”

as of yet the only available recordings of ben patterson’s early fluxus sound-pieces, the majority performed on or of the acoustic double-bass & recorded in the early 1960s... the two contemporary book-end pieces are performed here by a small orchestra consisting of philip corner, walter marchetti, davide mosconi (of n.a.d.m.a. fame), and others...

alga marghen press release...

"a simple opera (lago di cama version}": i have included this new work for reasons which can be deduced from the sub-title and the libretto (see score reproduced in these notes.) fluxus historians may recognize similarities between this work and a 1960s opera by emmett wiliams. these similarities are intended, as my first version af this opera was a hommage to emmett williams on his 70th birthday.

"duo for voice and a string instrument": this duo was my most ambitious and last attempt to combine graphic notation and chance operations for the realization of a performance score. the complete set of materials necessary to realize a version of this work, consisted of two pages of instructions, three pages of a general universe of symbols and two transparencies (on which circular and rectangular contours were drawn) used to abstract sets of symbols (graphic notations) from the general universe in the preparation of a performance score (see pages reproduced in these notes). this work was first performed at galerie haro lauhus in cologne, germany, on may 14, 1961.

"variations for double-bass": within days after the first performance af "duo", i realized what interested me most about the work were my tentative experiments with "prepared double-bass". i immediately began working on a set of variations far double-bass. and then, unexpectedly, out of some unknown place, something new entered the process - humor! i still remember the joy and excitement of those next days, as the ideas fell into place. the piece was finished within a week and the first performance took place shortly there after on june 8, 1961, again at galerie haro lauhus.

"paper piece": this work cut the umbilical cord to all of my previous classical and contemporary musical training and experience. the process had begun during my first encounter with john cage at mary bauermeister's "contre festival" (may 1960 in cologne). three months later, my reaction to the first performance of stockhausen's "kontakte" made the completion of this process an urgent necessary. "paper piece" was completed in september 1960 and received its first performance at galerie lauhus, cologne on may 14, 1961. however, despite my reasonably precise instructions (see score repraduced here), beginning with the first fluxus festival concerts in 1962, "paper piece" grew a life of its own. it literally began enveloping and involving entire audiences in a wonderfully messy happening. now, nearly forty years later, this first studio recording returns to the acoustic origins of this work.

"pond": critics or historians searching for autobiographical references in my work should consider the following: 1) as a "country boy" in a rural area outside pittsburgh, listening to the crickets, "caddidies" and frogs at a nearby pond, was what i considered "night-life"; and 2) i did not decide wheter to study music or herpetology until the last month before . entering the university of michigan. "pond" was first performed at nikolai kirke, capenhagen on november 26, 1962.

the photos of "duo" and "variations" are fram the "kleinen sommerfest" concert at galerie parnass on june 9, 1962 (see invitation reproduced here); this event has special historic significance in that it included the first public presentation by george maciunas of his fluxus manifesto and plans for the wiesbaden fluxus festival.

previous artist:
pat patrick

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next artist:
mike patton