# The New York School



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Ages ago I created a thread where people discussed New Complexity, a musical style which emerged in the 1980s. Well, this thread is the same deal but this time it's about the New York School composers.

Wikipedia's turn...



The Great Wiki God said:


> The New York School (synonymous with abstract expressionist painting) was an informal group of American poets, painters, dancers, and musicians active in the 1950s, 1960s in New York City. The poets, painters, composers, dancers, and musicians often drew inspiration from Surrealism and the contemporary avant-garde art movements, in particular action painting, abstract expressionism, Jazz, improvisational theater, experimental music, and the interaction of friends in the New York City art world's vanguard circle.
> 
> The term also refers to a circle of composers in the 1950s which included John Cage, Morton Feldman, Earle Brown and Christian Wolff. Their music paralleled the music and events of the Fluxus group, and drew its name from the Abstract Expressionist painters above.


So, I only know two of the composers mentioned above and I am a great fan of Morton Feldman, my favourite work of his being "For Philip Guston" (which I am proud to say I have listened to the whole thing in one go). Which composers do you know? What music do you like of the New York School? Share your experiences and knowledge of this school of composition that I wish to delve into for a period of time. :tiphat:


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## Guest (Jan 4, 2014)

Earle put out a stunning set of LPs documenting the avant garde as it was going on. Those have now all been reissued by Wergo on 18 CDs. I think that that is one CD per LP. I'm pretty sure there were 18 LPs. I had at one time five of those LPs, and that was a real feat just to have found those.

And now they're all out in beautifully remastered CDs. Delightful!!

(I only had 15 of the CDs. I guess I still have them, virtually, as sound files. As soon as my life settles down a little, I should get the other three and rip those puppies as well.)

Christian Wolff is still composing and performing. I've run into him in Vilnius and in Utrecht. Sweet, sweet man. And a brilliantly inventive composer. The most famous anecdote about Christian is probably the one about him performing a very soft piano piece of his in a little hall with windows open to some very noisy city sounds, including jet planes. After he was done, someone asked if he would mind playing his piece again with the windows shut. He said that that would not be necessary.



And speaking of sweet human beings, Cage was one of the sweetest. The kindest and gentlest person I've ever met, anyway. Wicked smart and exceptionally humble at one and the same time. Dunno quite how he pulled that off. I've only ever been able to manage one of those, myself.

My favorite anecdote about Morty is the one where he's in the back seat of a car going back to Black Mountain after a long concert somewhere else. Suddenly, he rears up, fully awake, and says "Now that everything is so easy, there's so much to do." 

And then, just as suddenly, he leans back and goes right to sleep again.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Great anecdotes!


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