How to Make a Happening
Historic release. Originally released as an LP in 1966 by Mass Art, this is Allen Kaprow, father of The Happening explaining how to do it, and what is - and is not - a Happening. Simple in construction, yet profound in context, How to Make a Happening is Allan Kaprow delivering 11 rules on how, and how not, to make a Happening, an movement begun by Kaprow in the late fifties that is known for its unpredictability, open scores, and constantly-evolving form. On the first track, Kaprow speaks plain…
Pictures of Pictures from Pictures of Pictures (1975-1979)
Rare and long out of print LP...This album, featuring solo piano compositions, was released in 1983. The work draws inspiration from Modest Moussorgsky's 1874 composition "Pictures at an Exhibition," which was based on ten etchings. Klaus Peter Brehmer reissued these etchings, while Philip Corner contributed his own interpretation. The repetitive melodies and rhythms reflect Russian folklore and minimalism, while the spatial arrangement resembles Japanese interiors. The succession of images in p…
Fluxus Anthology Volume 1
2004 release; essential overview of the various fluxus artists’ dabblings w/ sound, covering work recorded between 1961 and 1995. Highlights include: Dick Higgins’ 1961 “in memorian” (”the piece was made by assembling loops of a dub of a phonograph record of 16th century dance music. the dance is heard, simultaneously, up the 16 times as slow as the original, backwards as well as forwards, giving a sort of cinematic effect”). Robert Watts’s 1969 “string record composition” (simply astounding ear…
A Fluxus Elegy
One-sided LP in an edition of 345 copies. "The new Ben Patterson piece, issued on Alga Marghen's VocSon series, is based on the basic principles of the polyphonic music of the Bantu tribes of West and Central Africa. First principle: the practice of interlocking individual pitches or tones performed by one person into spaces between other pitches or tones performed by another person, thus alternating pitches or tones of one part with those of another part to create a whole. Second principle: use…
Early Works
2002 release. Alga Marghen proudly presents the first record ever produced by Ben Patterson: "This is not only my first CD, but also the first recordings of these works available to the general public." Starting as a virtuoso double-bass performer of classical music, Ben Patterson was one of the very first founders of the Fluxus Group in Wiesban. This digipak CD will introduce you to some American neo-avant garde music classics, a crossover between John Cage's exploding influences and the experi…
More from the Judson years Vol. 2
2004 release. Excerpts from the liner notes of More from the Judson Years (Early 60s) Instrumental-Vocal Works Vol. 2, written by Philip Corner: "Everything Max Has" (1964), Max Neuhaus solo, recorded at the ONCE Festival, 1965. "A performance of Max's taking down all of his stuff; tons of equipment filling entire stages." "Big Trombone" (1963), Jim Fulkerson improvisation over tape collage. "Homage to Revere" (1962) for ensemble of copper-bottom kitchen utensils. "Punkt" (1961) for ensemble of …