edward m. zajda “independent electronic music composer” compact disc-recordable

• study no. 10 (9:57) 1965-66
  
• in march for ann (5:05) 1967
  
• points (6:57) 1968
  
  
• magnificent desolation (16:52) 1968
  
• study no. 3 (3:20) 1968

creel pone press release...

this creel pone edition includes :: 1 x crystal-clear resealable polypropylene cd sleeve with a custom foil stamp affixed to the exterior 1 x double-sided six-color inkjet-printed hand-cut card-stock booklet 1 x six-color inkjet-printed compact disc recordable in a high-density round-bottom cd sleeve ... stereo side one:   study no 10 :  in march for ann :  points side two:   magnificent desolation   study no. 3 library of congress catalogue card number: 78-751132 printed in u.s.a. produced by ars nova ars antiqua recordings, inc. 606 raleigh p1ace, s.e. ,washington, d.c. 20032 the composer says: "i was born in chicago in 1941 and took my bachelor's and master's degrees in music at depaul university, studying traditional music composition under donald jenni and leon stein. even then, however, the strongest influences on me came from people like john cage and gordon mumma, and around 1962 i was sure that i wanted to make electronic music - but there was nowhere to go. i was far away from the big centers of study in the field. i had no choice. i had to build my own studio, bit by bit-perhaps the first studio for electronic music in chicago. i began with hi-fi components and graduated fairly quickly to building my own equipment. after a while i found that i was spending more time putting together equipment than composing music on it, so in 1967 i began using a moog synthesizer. along the way i got a lot of help from bob ashley, bill ribbens and gordon mumma ; gordon in particular contributed not only technical advice but personal and musical inspiration during those early years. “this album reads like a chronology of events in my composing, study no.3 was one of my earliest attempts, while magnificent desolation was organized during the first lunar landing. both are included for the sake of a bit of perspective on my development as a composer. “study no. 10 (1965-66), which opens side one, uses, for the most part, electronically generated sounds (sine and square waves that have been modified by a ring modulation process). some of the sound sources, however, are "real" ones; i'll leave it to the listener to identify them. “in march for ann (1967) is dedicated to ann waterman, who's done a jot to 'liberate' my thoughts about people. it's a bleak sort of piece that reflects my feelings about chicago in march-an ugly, dreary time and place. “points (1968). the first of my pieces to be created entirety on the moog synthesizer, was conceived as music for music's sake. on second thought, however, its piercing sound may be a reminder of midwinter, 1968, when it was organized the time of year when the snow crunches under your feet, and when the evenings are crystalclear. .” about the music: “... for a finale there was edward zajda's study no. 10, a bit of musique concrete indebted to varese, but which juggled its vocabulary with more than the usual tape-composer's sense of variety...” - donal j. henahan, chicago daily news “... first performance is actually a misnomer for the second item, for this was an electronic piece entitled points by edward zajda, composer-in-residence at chicago's new electric theater. the performance element, therefore, was restricted to the composer's sitting on the platform and switching the tape machine on and off. “for the first minute or so, it seemed as though points were going to be one of those agreeable but unnecessary tape pieces that limit themselves to effects equally within the capacities of ordinary instruments. this is a weakness observable in much electronic music in these still early days of the art's development just as, in the infancy of photography, it took practitioners a while to shed the habit of merely simulating the effects of painting. “the impression, this time, was quickly dispersed the spectrum of sonorities expanded widely, and combined with some genuinely creative rhythmic effects to hold the interest throughout. indeed, the only weakness of the pieces was its seeming desire to cover every conceivable electronic effect within its short compass." -bernard jacobson, chicago daily news cover design: jacqueline lafleur