# La Monte Young (1935 — )



## Morimur

*Excerpt from MELA Foundation, Inc.*
http://www.melafoundation.org

La Monte Young has pioneered the concept of extended time durations in contemporary music for over 50 years. He contributed extensively to the study of just intonation and to the development of rational number based tuning systems that are used in his periodic composite sound waveform environments, as well as in many of his major performance works. Presentations of Young's work in the U.S. and Europe, as well as his theoretical writings, gradually influenced a group of composers to create a static, periodic music which became known as Minimalism. Musician magazine stated, "As the acknowledged father of minimalism and guru emeritus to the British art-rock school, his influence is pervasive," and in 1985 the Los Angeles Herald Examiner wrote, " for the past quarter of a century he has been the most influential composer in America. Maybe in the world." In Minimalism:Origins, 1993, Edward Strickland added, "Young is now widely recognized as the originator of the most influential classical music style of the final third of the twentieth century."

In L.A. in the '50s Young played jazz saxophone, leading a group with Billy Higgins, Dennis Budimir and Don Cherry. He also played with Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman, Terry Jennings, Don Friedman and Tiger Echols. At Yoko Ono's studio in 1960 he was director of the first New York loft concert series. He was the editor of An Anthology (NY 1963), which with his Compositions 1960 became a primary influence on concept art and the Fluxus movement. In 1962 Young founded his group, The Theatre of Eternal Music, and embarked on The Tortoise, His Dreams and Journeys (1964- ), a large work involving improvisation within strict predetermined guidelines. Young played sopranino saxophone and sang with the group. Jennings, Dennis Johnson, Terry Riley, Angus MacLise, Marian Zazeela, Tony Conrad, John Cale, Jon Gibson, Jon Hassell, Lee Konitz and David Rosenboom are among those who worked in this group under Young's direction.


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## millionrainbows

Hey Morimur! Now you're talking my language. That good ol' drone. I have one CD by Young, on Grammavision. I saw the Well-Tuned Piano box a long time ago in Dallas for $75, and I eternally regret not getting it. What's it going for now, $3500?

For a close substitute, check out Terry Riley's "The Harp of New Albion."

I've got all that Dream Theatre stuff, too, with John Cale. I think Young sued them for releasing it. The Tony Conrad Early Minimalism box is good, too.
A bonus cut on the remaster of John Cale's Vintage Violence has him doing overdubbed droning violas. Be sure to hear that one.


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## adtsang

millionrainbows said:


> Hey Morimur! Now you're talking my language. That good ol' drone. I have one CD by Young, on Grammavision. I saw the Well-Tuned Piano box a long time ago in Dallas for $75, and I eternally regret not getting it. What's it going for now, $3500?


In that case, I think you might appreciate this: 




All six and a half hours of its glory.


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## SeptimalTritone

OMG it's up on youtube again!!!


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## Xenakiboy

Last year I was walking around a city (not mine) when I was at a university openday. I have previously downloaded The Well-tuned Piano to my iPhone and had it playing as I had a few hours spare. I walked around the city with that piece playing and it was a surreal experience. (I had a Xenakis playlist on the way there and back too, it was on a bus)
But the Well-tuned Piano is still unlike anything I've really heard before, the closest probably being Feldman. The quality of his Minimalism puts him as a very unique composer, and one I have ecstatic memories of! :angel:


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## seven four

hell yeah!





.


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## seven four

how's that for enthusiasm?




I used to volunteer at the Dream House


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## Pugg

seven four said:


> how's that for enthusiasm?
> 
> I used to volunteer at the Dream House


Not any more then?


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## seven four

It's been 13 years! I had more free time back then. I did it for a long time. And other things for them too.

I'm still a big fan of their art and music. :tiphat:


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## isorhythm

Very open-ended question here: what's the deal with recordings of Young's music? What's out there, what was released and has gone out of print, what's online?

Magnum Miserium posted a Theater of Eternal Music recording on youtube the other day that I really liked. And I know there's at least one recording of the Well-Tuned Piano on youtube. But surely there are other sources for recordings of his music? I can't recall seeing them in used record stores but maybe I haven't looked hard enough.


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## millionrainbows

isorhythm said:


> Very open-ended question here: what's the deal with recordings of Young's music? What's out there, what was released and has gone out of print, what's online?
> 
> Magnum Miserium posted a Theater of Eternal Music recording on youtube the other day that I really liked. And I know there's at least one recording of the Well-Tuned Piano on youtube. But surely there are other sources for recordings of his music? I can't recall seeing them in used record stores but maybe I haven't looked hard enough.


All the stuff he had on Grammavision went out of print when Rykodisc bought it out, for reasons probably due to the fact that La Monte Young doesn't want it in print, for one reason or another. There was a legal dispute when John Cale released his tapes of The Dream Syndicate, which he was in.

There was a bunch of bickering on-line at Young's website, years ago. I doubt if anything has been resolved.


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## tortkis

Some of La Monte Young's recordings are available from Just Dreams on bandcamp.
https://justdreamsnyc.bandcamp.com/music

The Well - Tuned Piano in the Magenta Lights "87 V 10 6 : 43 : 00 PM - 87 V 11 1 : 07 : 45 AM NYC"
The Tamburas of Pandit Pran Nath
Just Stompin'
The Second Dream of The High - Tension Line Stepdown Transformer from The Four Dreams of China (1962)

Also from Just Dreams
Pandit Pran Nath - Ragas of Morning and Night, Midnight, Raga Malkauns
Jung Hee Choi - The Tone - field: Perceptible Arithmetical Relations, Sunset on the Summer Solstice, New York


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## tortkis

Trio for Strings (4LP Box)








release: early 2022

_"This vinyl box set is the first-ever official release of La Monte Young's Trio for Strings (1958), recorded live from the Dream House, a legendary sound-and-light installation by Young, Marian Zazeela, and Jung Hee Choi, and performed by The Theatre of Eternal Music String Ensemble led by Charles Curtis and featuring Curtis, cello; Reynard Rott, cello; Erik Carlson, violin, viola; and Christopher Otto, violin, viola, at Dia:Chelsea in 2015. Featuring a box cover designed by Choi with calligraphy by Zazeela, the collection includes four discs and a 32-page set of liner notes with essays by Young, Zazeela, and Choi."_

I will not purchase this (expensive, and I don't have a turntable) but I wish a digital album will be released in the future.


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