ASSIGNMENT
For this writing, Listen to a long composition by Morton Feldman “Three Voices”. Additionally, choose ONE other piece by either Éliane Radigue or by Alvin Lucier. Thus you will be writing about two pieces, one of which is “Three Voices”, and the other of which is a piece of your choice.
Morton Feldman: Three Voices (1982）
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZVsEbodf6orton Feldman: Three Voices (1982)
1. Alvin Lucier: “I Am Sitting In A Room”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAxHlLK3Oyk
2. Alvin Lucier, “Exploration of the House” (2005)
https://www.dramonline.org/albums/alvin-lucier-orchestra-works
4. Éliane Radigue, “Étude” from “Opus 17” (1969-70)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MqyN1wNctc
5. Éliane Radigue, “Kyema” (1990)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnbGirPTgF0
The questions that Address are these: How do these pieces function as the unfolding of a gradual process? What happens over the course of each piece that suggests a process of gradual change or transformation? Describe, to the best of your ability, the transformation that occurs (there may be multiple ones), and the musical process through which it occurs. Does change occur step-by-step, or continuously? Does the process stretch as one continuous event over the entire span of the piece, or are there different processes in sequence? or maybe even at the same time? Can you identify critical turning points in these pieces, after which point in the process the difference to the starting point is greater than the similarity?
If you wish, you may also make reference to other pieces that have come up in our class, if you feel that they help to illuminate the questions posed. As usual, no citations or filler information, no critiques or quality judgements, and a length of ca. 950 words.
