Alvin Curran, Oeuvres
AC arranged recorded-in-world sounds in an exquisitely musical way, structured like a classical four-parts sonata or sinfonia. "I"m a composer. I arrange sounds and to me it doesn"t matter if I use piano or ship-horns and fireworks or recorded environmental sounds. They"re the instruments. The music is what you hear and what you feel".The sounds he uses in his tape compositions are clearly identifiable as coming from our daily acoustical surroundings. They are not intended to be musical in the first place.
Impliing radio: On January 1st 1985, AC carried out a wide-ranging project, bringing together in a live broadcast, music and environments sounds from various locations in Italy, West Germany and Holland. Independent, Uncoordinated contributions -without any question of conscious collaboration between the location- formed a sea of sound that flooded much of Western Europe.The only cooperation consisted in the intention of all the contributors, whether as individuals or groups, to make something beautiful, on the basis of a score by AC. As the title "Piece for Peace", indicates this attitude implied for the composer a political idea; the ideal of people of good will.However, the cynic could point out that, after all, the artwork was guided by a supreme being: the artist-technician directing everything from behind the mixing board.
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