source file: mills2.txt Date: Tue, 25 Jun 1996 06:53:14 -0700 Subject: Re: Post From McLaren re Reinhard From: Johnny Reinhard Actually there is a Universe Symphony version by Larry Austin that is essentially a fantasy on some of the ideas of Charles Ives, but it dramatically different from my realization which adds no new notes to the sketches left by Ives. Since Mr. Austin took 20 years to make his "completion" most people compare my work to his, never looking at the original material left by Ives. For this and other reasons I thought maybe it was a time to make a report of the concert. The performance at Alice Tully Hall was by most reports about 85% full and there was a 4 minute standing ovation for the 74 minutes of music heard. A rush at the box office forced Lincoln Center to ask for us to start late, by about 25 minutes. I am might proud of my orchestra of 71 players and 2 assisting conductors: the recording demonstrates _sans doubt_ that this performance beautifully represents my score of the transcendental masterpiece (now being debated in a described "firestorm" by music critics). The Ives Society had previous to the concert already analyzed my score and described it as "admirable." I was told to use the phaseolgy "realized by Johnny Reinhard exclusively on Ives' Universe Symphony sketches" on all publicity, to demonstrate that what one hears is what Ives devised, and not another musical entity. The transcendental factor - as well as visual "dissonance" interfered with some listeners. The piece has no breaks: 10 cycles of percussion divisions of a basic unit of 16 seconds is divided equally into whole numbers from 1 up to 43. The opening "Prelude of the Cosmos" played by 13 percussionists in what was the most literal of all instructions by Mr. Ives, is devilishly disorienting. This lengthy half-hour prelude is the portal by which a listener enters a fantastic original time frame. My 4-square beat is not heard in the music! Some challenged my tempo of 16 seconds for a basic unit. Yet this is the indication in the sketch (Mr. Austin thinks Ives made a mistake). After hearing the recording no one has suggested changing the tempo at all. Put simply, 2 listening are required by Mr. Ives to reach the transcendent level he called "parallel listenings." Of course, 2 live performances in a row would have been too much for an orchestra playing 21st century music...81 years old. Most didn't believe that one could feel such a slow tempo. More accurate is the difficulty with which one hears Ives' Universe Symphony. After a couple of listenings - again, demanded by Ives in his Memos, in case someone would finish his work if he couldn't get to it - one apprehends a fast piece. There is an constant cycling of a triplet of notes that is as celestial - or cosmic - a sensation as I've experienced. Jon Catler shares all of this, as does a good share of people. Intonationally, this was beyond dispute. No one has ever brought it up. The New York Times review of 6/8/86 titled BELLS AND MICROTONES - A LEGEND COMES TO LIFE. Ives was very clear in his writings that an Fb was lower than an E and accordingly, sharps are higher than flats. There were microtonalisms on this level throughout the piece. This work was not easy listening. But for those that come to the work openly and not critically are in for a real treat. I mean critically in terms of a left-brainish focus on a detail and missing the forest for a tree. The rewards of listening to this piece will take years before it is available commerically, frustratingly so due to several unions that are involved (commercial release is a whole different level of payment), and even Licoln Center itself. $150,000 ought to do it. I am able, however, to use this recording for grants for the American Festival of Microtonal Music (AFMM). :) Being a live premiere that was demanding to the Nth degree for each musician, there were surprises. The disorientation factor worked on the musicians that felt like making early entrances. On the recording this is beyond notice. The audience was exceptionally quiet and the recording sparkles and shimmers, though the universe is a bit complex. Johnny Reinhard Director American Festival of Microtonal Music 318 East 70th Street, Suite 5FW New York, New York 10021 USA (212)517-3550/fax (212) 517-5495 reinhard@styx.ios.com On Tue, 25 Jun 1996 jpff@maths.bath.ac.uk wrote: > Message written at 24 Jun 1996 20:41:14 +0100 > In-reply-to: > (message from John Chalmers on Sun, 23 Jun 1996 09:35:05 -0700) > > May I ask a naive question about Ives' "Universe Symphony"? I thought > I had seem an advert for a recording of this symphony in a completion > by Larry Austin. Am I confusing two different works, or are there two > completions? If the latter, how similar are they? > > I know I should have been listening more closely.... > > ==John > Received: from eartha.mills.edu [144.91.3.20] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Tue, 25 Jun 1996 18:53 +0100 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id JAA17499; Tue, 25 Jun 1996 09:53:35 -0700 Date: Tue, 25 Jun 1996 09:53:35 -0700 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu