Wikipedia:
Composer Alvin Curran (born December 13, 1938), is the co-founder, with Frederic Rzewski and Richard Teitelbaum, of Musica Elettronica Viva, and a former student of Elliott Carter. Curran's music often makes use of electronics and environmental found sounds.
Curran was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He was a professor of music at Mills College in California until 2006 and now teaches privately in Rome, Italy, and sporadically at various institutions. His works include solo performance pieces such as Endangered Species, TransDadaExpress, and Shofar; radio works such as Crystal Psalms, Un Altro Ferragosto, I Dreamt John Cage Yodeling at the Zurich Hauptbahnhof, and Living Room Music; large scale musical choreographic works such as Oh Brass on the Grass Alas, for 300 amateur brass-band musicians, and the Maritime Rites series of performances on and near water; sound installation works such as Magic Carpet, Floor Plan, The Twentieth Century, and Gardening with John; chamber music such as For Cornelius for piano, the trio Schtyx, the string quartet VSTO, the saxophone quartet Electric Rags II, the percussion quartet THEME PARK, a series of works for chorus SATB, and the work for chamber orchestra and video Circus Maximus; and many collaborative dance and theater works. Since 1996, Curran has worked on a growing series of solo piano pieces entitled Inner Cities, which together form one of the longest non-repetitive piano pieces ever written. Daniela Tortora has edited a book about his work, Alvin Curran Live in Roma (Die Schachtel 2010).
Selected discography
Songs and Views of the Magnetic Garden (1974 Ananda, reissue 1993) Catalyst RecordsFiori Chiari Fiori Oscuri (1975) Ananda No. 4The Works (1978) ForeCanti Illuminati (1980 Fore, reissue 2004) Fringes RecordingsNatural History (1982) Editions GianozzoMaritime Rites, ten environmental concerts produced for National Public Radio (1984, reissue 2004) New World RecordsField It and Lenz (1985) Radio Art FoundationFor Cornelius and Era Ora (1986), Ursula Oppens, Frederic Rzewski pianos, New AlbionElectric Rags II (1989) New Albion Records, with Rova Saxophone QuartetHyper Beatles (1990) Aki Takahashi piano, Toshiba-EMI/AngelIl Clarinetto (1992) David Keberle clarinet/Curran electronics, BMG AriolaSchtyx (1994) Abel Steinberg Winant Trio, with VSTO (string quartet) David Abel, Sharon Wood, Meg Tichener, Dina Weinschelbaum, CRI.Animal Behaviour (1995) Tzadik.Yvar Mikhashoff plays Alvin Curran: Piano Works (1995) Mode RecordsTheme Park (1998) Tzadik.Crystal Psalms (1999) New World Recordsriverrun: voicings/soundscapes (1999) Klaus Schöning, editor, WERGOThe Things In Between (1999) Eve Egoyan, piano, ArtifactTime Tracks (1999) Jeanne Golan, piano, Albany RecordsApollo and Marsyas, Het Apollohuis 1980-1997: An anthology of new music concerts (2002) ACDInner Cities (2003), Bruce Brubaker, piano, Arabesque RecordingsLost Marbles (2004) Tzadik.Our Ur (2004), with Domenico Sciajno, Rossbin ProductionABO: Un Ritratto Sonoro (2004) Companion to the book, Lezione di boxe by Achille Bonita Oliva, Luca SossellaVindobona Blues (2005) Kunstradio ORToto Angelica (2005) I Dischi di Angelica.Hesitation-Tango (2005) Aki Takahashi, piano, CamerataInner Cities (2005) Daan Vandewalle, piano, Long Distance RecordsThe Art of the Fluke (2007), with Cenk Ergün, TEAR RecordsHope Street Tunnel Blues (2007) Bruce Brubaker, piano, Arabesque RecordingsFor Cornelius, Kees Wieringa, Do RecordsThe Stroke That Kills (2008) Seth Josel, guitar, New World RecordsThe Magic Carpet (2008), reissue of 1971 LP on SOURCE, music of the avant garde: Source Records 1-6, 1968-1971, Pogus ProductionsEndangered Species (2010), ATOPOS RecordsUnder the Fig Tree/The Magic Carpet (2010), Die SchachtelAlvin Curran: Solo Works - the '70s (2010), 3-CD set, New World RecordsMMM Quartet - Live At The Metz' Arsenal (2012), with Joelle Leandre, Fred Frith, Urs Leimgruber, Leo Records Discography with Musica Elettronica Viva
Friday (2008) reissue of 1969 Polydor LP by Alga MarghenSpacecraft/Unified Patchwork Theory (2001) Alga Marghenapogee - MEV/AMM (2005) Matchless RecordingsMEV40 (2008) 4-CD set with 40 years of music, New World RecordsAMM/MEV: Live Electronic Music Improvised (2009) reissue of 1968 Mainstream LP by WERGO
Sources
