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A Delicate Road (2000-2001)
| composer |
John Morton (b. 1954) |
| performers |
John Morton, music boxes, sound processing, piano
Steve Hardwick, guitar |
| affiliation |
BMI |
| label |
innova Recordings 553http://www.innova.mu
|
| duration |
23:35 |
John Morton:
"A Delicate Road, commissioned by the Greenwall Foundation, began as a collaboration between myself and choreographer/dancer David Appel, and was first performed in September 2000 at The Kitchen in New York. This recording is a suite loosely based on that material.
"During the collaborative process, we focused on the relationship between the music box and the moving figure/dancer. While recognizing the nostalgia and power of memory associated with music boxes, we also played with the notion of fragmenting those sounds and images, multiplying, reconfiguring, and ornamenting [them]. In the original performance, we each did a 'solo': the strummed and plucked piano in Part 2 comprises the music solo, and the dance solo has been absorbed by the contributions from guitarist Steve Hardwick.
"The music [is] composed by altering and manipulating existing music boxes. Often, I work on a number of boxes simultaneously, designing them to overlap with one another. Because I cannot control where the music boxes start or stop, or even their speed (they tend to slow down as they wind down), a certain randomness must be embraced. Additionally, sound processing is used, both in the live performance and in this recording.
"It is my hope that the traditional music box, which is one of the first forms of recording technology, can be reinvented as an instrument of contemporary musical expression."
Over the last three years, John Morton (b. 1954) has developed a method for manipulating music box mechanisms in which multiple music boxes are altered, retuned, and overlapped. In collaboration with artist Jacqueline Shatz, he has built interactive music box constructions involving up to six moving sculptures and six independent music boxes.
Morton grew up in Los Angeles and studied at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia; he has been based in New York City since 1978. Morton's compositions have been performed throughout the United States and Germany, and he has presented concerts of his music at New York venues The Kitchen, Roulette, and St. Paul's Festival of Music in Nyack, New York. He has also participated in numerous dance and theater collaborations. Morton's work for music boxes has received support from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Craft Alliance of New York State, and the American Composers Forum. During the summer of 2001, Morton was invited to spend three months as an artist-in-residence in the Arts/Industry Program at the Kohler Factory in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. His music has been released on the Innova Recordings label.
Guitarist Steve Hardwick has performed with various groups of differing styles for over three decades. He is currently doing studio work in New York City, and performing and recording with two Connecticut-based groups, The DesBerardo Band and Ratso. His work has been featured on over 12 recordings.
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