MEV (Musica Elettronica Viva)
Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV) is a live acoustic/electronic improvisational group formed in Rome in 1966 by Alvin Curran, Richard Teitelbaum, Frederic Rzewski, Allan Bryant, Carol Plantamura, Ivan Vandor, and Jon Phetteplace. They were early experimenters with the use of synthesizers to transform sounds: a 1967 concert in Berlin included a performance of John Cage's Solo for Voice 2 with Plantamura's voice transformed through a Moog synthesizer. They also used such "non-musical" objects as amplified panes of glass and olive oil cans, and their performances achieved notoriety in Italy for their ability to generate riots.
Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV) is a live acoustic/electronic improvisational group formed in Rome in 1966 by Alvin Curran, Richard Teitelbaum, Frederic Rzewski, Allan Bryant, Carol Plantamura, Ivan Vandor, and Jon Phetteplace. They were early experimenters with the use of synthesizers to transform sounds: a 1967 concert in Berlin included a performance of John Cage's Solo for Voice 2 with Plantamura's voice transformed through a Moog synthesizer. They also used such "non-musical" objects as amplified panes of glass and olive oil cans, and their performances achieved notoriety in Italy for their ability to generate riots.
Member of: Allan Bryant
Spacecraft
Temporary Super Offer! * Limited edition LP Translucent green vinyl* Musica Elettronica Viva, or MEV for short, was formed in 1966 in Rome by Allan Bryant, Alvin Curran, Jon Phetteplace, Carol Plantamura, Frederic Rzweski, Richard Teitelbaum and Ivan Vandor. From the very beginning the group was based on musical freedom and the shunning of convention. Using contact microphones to record and manipulate sound wherever it could be found – from box springs to vibrators – and improvisationally combin…
Symphony No. 107 - The Bard
Black Truffle is pleased to announce Symphony No. 107 –The Bard, a previously unheard archival recording of the legendary improvising ensemble MEV (Musica Elettronica Viva), captured in concert at Bard College, New York in 2012. Formed by a group of American expat composers in Rome in 1966, the MEV ensemble played an important role in the development of free improvisation, bridging the live electronics tradition begun by John Cage and David Tudor and the high-energy squall of free jazz. Early re…
The Sound Pool
Pioneers of live electronics, found sound and urban environment-as-instrument, Musica Elettronica Viva created suites that were as imaginary as imaginative.
Beautiful Young Generation
* Limited Edition 180-Gram white vinyl. Comes in a deluxe matte laminate gatefold sleeve * Newly mastered from original BYG tapes. BYG were a pioneering independant record compagny, one of the first labels to actively promote diversity and support black African-American musicians and multi-cultural artists worldwide during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Launched in the late ’60s in Paris, a city then in the throes of great social upheaval, BYG became the home of music that was uncompromisingly new. The…
Space Guitars
**2020 stock** I was born in Detroit (1931), studied chemistry and music at Princeton (1949–53), and after the army, pro-baseball, and working as a chemist at Cape Canaveral, I went to “Koln State” (Music School) in Germany on the GI Bill, (1959-63) and spent a lot of time watching Karlheinz Stockhausen work. I then “visited” Rome (1964–87) where Frederic Rzewski, Alvin Curran, Jon Phetteplace and I put together a group, “Musica Elettronica Viva” (MEV), to create electronic- sounding music in co…
United Patchwork
One of the most mythical experimental groups of all time, Musica Elettronica Viva was formed in 1966 by a group of American composers in Rome, its nucleus comprised of pianist Frederic Rzewski, sound improviser Alvin Curran and the improvisatory keyboardist Richard Teitelbaum. Taking cues from John Cage and David Tudor, MEV employed open, limitless structures, using found instruments, toys, a homemade synthesizer and the first Moog to reach mainland Europe. Improv and critical listening practice…
Source: Music Of The Avant Garde - Source Records 1-6, 1968-1971
Astoundingly great collection of some of the classic pieces from the 60s avant-garde / live electronic music wave presented here as originally issued (in chronological order) by larry austin & stanley lunetta via their “source: music of the avant garde” magazine & 10” record series between 1967 and 1973 .... Source Records 1 and 2 with Robert Ashley: The Wolfman (1964). David Behrman: Wave Train (1966). Larry Austin: Accidents (1967). Allan Bryant: Pitch Out (1967). Source Records 3 and 4 with A…
7 2 Berlz
A MEV "theater piece", performed by Alan Bryant (or "Al B" as shown on the cover in "fnetc speling"). Alan Byrant was a founding member of MEV, but this is newly recorded & full of mystery. Not sure of the content, it's supposed to be some kind of conceptual work dedicated to (or inspired by) Samuel Beckett's classic 1957 play "Endgame". The sound is based around solo string ambiance, in a style akin to Alan's classic solo work Space Guitars. Abstract and thrilling.
Mev 40
Utterly fantastic and indispensable overview on 4 CDs. "Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV) was begun one evening in the spring of 1966 by Allan Bryant, Alvin Curran, Jon Phetteplace, Carol Plantamura, Frederic Rzweski, Richard Teitelbaum and Ivan Vandor in a room in Rome overlooking the Pantheon. MEV’s music right from the start was also totally open, allowing all and everything to come in and seeking in every way to get out beyond the heartless conventions of contemporary music. Taking its cue from …
Spacecraft / Unified Patchwork Theory
Originally released in 2001. In the fall of 1966 a group of composers that included Frederic Rzewski, Alvin Curran, Allen Bryant, Jon Phetteplace, Giuseppe Chiari and Richard Teitelbaum organized "Avanguardia Musicale I," a festival of several consecutive nights at the Accademia Filarmonica Romana. The program included tape music, Fluxus performance art pieces, and live electronic works. It was also the beginning of the group MEV.
One year later, the group was in Rome, Italy, but also involved i…
Friday
Brand new re-release of this MEV masterpiece. For the realization of "Friday", recorded in London in May 1969, MEV were Frederic Rzewski (piano, electronics, etc.), Alvin Curran (flugelhorn, etc.), Richard Teitelbaum (moog synthesizer), Franco Cataldi (trombone, etc.), Gunther Carius (saxophone, etc.). The main theme around this MEV piece is communication. Communication by means of music can be a very efficient means of reaching quick agreement among large numbers of people, because when you cal…
pieces
Third archival MEV release on Allan Bryant's label. The first track, 'Quadrupl Play', is a piece for rubberbands recorded in 1966 by Allen Bryant. It can be described as 'variations on melody' and was played at the first MEV concerts in St. Paul du Vence, France and at Teatro Argentina in Rome. The second track, 'Pich Out' (or 'Rocket Take Off)', for 4 guitars, is loud and thundering, played by 4 musicians through 4 speakers at Sala Beloch, Rome in March 1967. Features Rzewski, Phetteplace, Curr…
untitled (1968)
A previously unreleased document of MEV -- four sections of an improvisation recorded in London, 1968, spread out over 43 minutes. The line up was Bryant (synthesizer), Alvin Curran (trumpet, percussion), Frederick Rzewski (amplified percussion, singing), Jon Phetteplace (amplified cello). Powerful, historic noise and the first easily available MEV music on CD. Also comes with a Bryant solo synth wig-out piece at the end. Both of these IRML CDs come in regular jewel cases, and endearingly primit…
Leave The City
The music we find here is an extremely experimental form of electronic jazz which is not a million miles away from the styles of early German Krautrock bands such as Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. Originally issued in 1970. This was the second of 2 MEV albums to released by BYG in 1970, following The Sound Pool (which featured Alvin Curran, Richard Teitelbaum & Frederic Rzewski amongst others). It features floating, droning free music freakouts of the finest cosmic quality and this reissue is a …
Rome 1968
The original MEV (Allan Bryant, Alvin Curran, Frederic Rzewski, Joh Phetteplace), recorded in the spring of 1968 in Rome. "Vault find recordings of a MEV concert from Spring of 1968, featuring the original lineup of Allan Bryant (synthesizers), Alvin Curran (percussion, trumpet), Frederic Rzewski (percussion), and Jon Phetteplace (cello, percussion). Booklet reprints prime Bryant rants on church/state separation ('TH' 10 GRAETST AMERICNZ WR AGENST ORGANYZD RLIJN (OR)'), questionable medical prac…
Apogee
Restocked, reduced price. 2CD Edition. In 1968 Mainstream released an LP with AMM on one side and MEV (Musica Electronica Viva, then based in Italy) on the other. In 2004 the two groups re-convened in London. Two of the five original AMM (Eddie Prevost and Keith Rowe), and three of the original five MEV (Alvin Curran, Frederick Rzewski and Richard Teitelbaum) still in place. The only new boy on this CD is their contemporary John Tilbury; since 1980 he has been the stable third AMMusician. On CD …