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Kyle Gann

December 15, 2023

Kyle Eugene Gann (born November 21, 1955, in Dallas, Texas) is an American composer, professor of music, critic, analyst, and musicologist who has worked primarily in the New York City area. As a music critic for The Village Voice (from 1986 to 2005) and other publications, he has supported progressive music, including such "downtown" movements as postminimalism and totalism.

Kyle Gann
Background information
Birth nameKyle Eugene Gann
Born (1955-11-21) November 21, 1955 (age 68)
Dallas, Texas
Occupation(s)Music professor, music critic, composer

Biography edit

Gann was born in 1955 and raised in a musical family. He began composing at the age of 13. After graduating in 1973 from Dallas's Skyline High School, he attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he obtained a B.Mus. in 1977, and Northwestern University, where he received his M.Mus. and D.Mus. in 1981 and 1983, respectively. As well as studying composition with Randolph Coleman at Oberlin,[1] he also studied Renaissance counterpoint with Greg Proctor at the University of Texas at Austin.[2] He studied composition primarily with Ben Johnston (1984–86) and Peter Gena (1977–81), and briefly with Morton Feldman (1975). In 1981–82 he worked for the New Music America festival.

Gann has also worked on Dennis Johnson's once lost minimal compositions, November,[3][4] which was written for solo piano in 1959 and later revised. The creation of November was inspired by Johnson's UCLA college friend La Monte Young's Trio for Strings, written in 1958. Part of it was recorded by Johnson in 1962 on audio cassette. November was in return an inspiration for Young's later 1964 The Well-Tuned Piano work.[5] Young gave, from his archive, a cassette copy of November to Gann who made a new recording of it, as well as producing six pages of the original score.[6] Gann first performed a four-and-a-half-hour version in 2009 with Sarah Cahill and he has produced a new performance score based on the original material that R. Andrew Lee recorded in a five hour version released in 2013 by Irritable Hedgehog Music, after receiving good reviews.[7][8] In 2017 the Dutch pianist and composer Jeroen van Veen released November as part of his eight-disc Minimal Piano Collection, Vols. XXI–XXVIII.[9]

Gann also worked as a journalist at the Chicago Reader, Tribune, Sun-Times, and New York Times. In 1986, he was hired as music critic at The Village Voice, where he wrote a weekly column until 1997, and then less frequently until 2005. Gann taught part-time at Bucknell University from 1989 to 1997. Since 1997, he has taught music theory, history, and composition at Bard College.

Gann is married to Nancy Cook and is the father of Bernard Gann, a guitarist formerly with the New York "transcendental black metal" band Liturgy.

As composer edit

Gann's work as a composer can be classified generally into three categories:

Most of his music has expressed the concept of repeating loops, ostinati, or isorhythms of different lengths going out of phase with each other; the idea leads to simultaneous layers of different, mutually prime tempo relationships in his Disklavier and electronic works, and is used in a less obvious structural way in his live-ensemble music.[citation needed] This concept can be traced back to suggestions in the rhythmic chapter of Henry Cowell's book New Musical Resources. Gann has also said that he found inspiration in his studies of astrology, into which he was drawn by the writings of composer/astrologer Dane Rudhyar.[citation needed]

Another thread in his work has been the influence, both rhythmic and melodic, of Native American music, particularly that of the Hopi, Zuni, and other Southwest Pueblo tribes. Gann first learned about this music from reading a musical analysis of a Zuni buffalo dance published in the book Sonic Design by Robert Cogan and Pozzi Escot. According to Gann, "It was going back and forth between different tempos: triplet, quarter, dotted quarter, and quarters. So I started collecting American Indian music. [It] solved a rhythmic problem for me, because I was really interested in music with different tempos."[11]

Starting in 1984 with his political piece The Black Hills Belong to the Sioux, Gann adopted a method of switching between different tempos (usually between quarter-notes, dotted eighths, triplet quarters, and other values) as a more performable alternative to the simultaneous layers at contrasting tempos that he had sought earlier under the influence of Charles Ives.[citation needed] Other composers had arrived at a similar technique via other routes, coalescing into a New York style of the 1980s and '90s called Totalism.

A common Gann strategy is to set a rhythmic process in motion and use harmony (mostly triadic or seventh-chord-based, whether microtonal or conventional) to inflect the form and focus the listener's attention. Gann's microtonal music proceeds according to Harry Partch's technique of tonality flux, linking chords through tiny (less than a half-step) increments of voice-leading. In 2000, Gann studied jazz harmony with John Esposito, and began using bebop harmony as a basis for his non-microtonal music, even in contexts not reminiscent of jazz.[citation needed]

Selected bibliography edit

Gann's books include:

American Music in the 20th Century (1997), ISBN 0-02-864655-X
The Music of Conlon Nancarrow (1995), ISBN 0-521-46534-6
Music Downtown: Writings from the Village Voice (2006), ISBN 0-520-22982-7
No Such Thing As Silence: John Cage's 4'33" (2010), ISBN 0-300-13699-4
Robert Ashley (2012), ISBN 9780252094569
Charles Ives's Concord: Essays after a Sonata (2017), ISBN 9780252040856
The Arithmetic of Listening: Tuning Theory and History for the Impractical Musician (2019), ISBN 9780252084416

Major musical works edit

  • Hyperchromatica (2012; 2015-17; 2020-2021)
  • Busted Grooves (2017)
  • Space Cat (2017)
  • Andromeda Memories (2016-17)
  • Futility Row (2015)
  • Pavane for a Dead Planet (2016)
  • Orbital Resonance (2015)
  • Star Dance (2015-16)
  • The Planets (Astrological Studies: Sun, Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) for Relâche: flute, oboe, alto saxophone, bassoon, viola, contrabass, synthesizer, and percussion (tom-toms, cymbals, and vibraphone)(1994–2008)
  • Composure for four electric guitars (2008)
  • Olana for vibraphone (2007)
  • Kierkegaard, Walking for flute, clarinet, violin, cello (2007)
  • Sunken City (Concerto for piano and winds, in homage to New Orleans) for solo piano with flute, alto sax, tenor sax, baritone sax, three trumpets, horn, three trombones, and electric bass (2007)
  • Fugitive Objects for keyboard sampler (2007)
  • On Reading Emerson for piano (2006)
  • Implausible Sketches for piano four hands (2006)
  • my father moved through dooms of love for chorus, violin, and piano (2005-6)
  • The Day Revisited for flute, clarinet, keyboard sampler, synthesizer, and fretless bass (2005)
  • Unquiet Night for Disklavier (computer-driven acoustic piano) (2004)
  • Scenario for female voice and soundfile/orchestra (2003-4)
  • Private Dances for piano (2000/04)
  • The Watermelon Cargo, microtonal chamber opera for six singers, three synthesizers, flute, fretless bass, and drummer (2002-3)
  • Love Scene for string quartet (2003)
  • Petty Larceny for Disklavier (computer-driven acoustic piano) (2003)
  • Tango da Chiesa for Disklavier (computer-driven acoustic piano) (2003)
  • Cinderella's Bad Magic, microtonal chamber opera for six singers, three synthesizers, flute, and fretless bass (2001-2)
  • Transcendental Sonnets for chorus and orchestra (2001-2)
  • New World Coming for solo bassoon with flute (or oboe), violin (or viola), and piano (2001)
  • Hovenweep for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello (2000)
  • Time Does Not Exist for piano (2000)
  • "Last Chance" Sonata for clarinet and piano (1999)
  • Custer and Sitting Bull for speaker, synthesizer, and soundfile (1996–99)
  • The Disappearance of All Holy Things from this Once So Promising World for orchestra (1998)
  • Snake Dance No. 2 for five percussionists (1994)
  • Desert Sonata for piano (1994)
  • Chicago Spiral for flute, clarinet, saxophone (or three flutes), violin, viola, cello, synthesizer, and drums (1990–91)
  • Cyclic Aphorisms for violin and piano (1987)
  • I'itoi Variations for two pianos (1985)
  • Baptism for two flutes, synthesizer, and two drums (1983)
  • Long Night for three pianos (1980–81)

References edit

  1. ^ Kyle Gann. "Completion of an Earlier Thought". PostClassic.
  2. ^ a b Jeff London. "An interview with Kyle Gann," Vocal Area Network, February 12, 2007. Retrieved Aug. 6, 2007.
  3. ^ Kozinn, Allan (January 9, 2019). "Dennis Johnson, 80, Creator of a Rediscovered Minimalist Score, Dies". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 10, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
  4. ^ Walls, Seth Colter (29 July 2015). "as if to each other .. – R. Andrew Lee". Pitchfork (review of R. Andrew Lee's recording of Jay Batzner's piano composition). Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  5. ^ Bell, Clive (March 2013). "Dennis Johnson: Maths, Mars landings and minimalism". The Wire. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  6. ^ Gann, Kyle. "Reconstructing November". Irritable Hedgehog. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  7. ^ Smith, Steve (10 March 2013). "R. Andrew Lee rewrites the history books with November". Time Out New York. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  8. ^ Kirk McElhearn (25 July 2014). "Music Review: November, by Dennis Johnson". kirkville.com. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  9. ^ "Minimal Piano Collection, Vols. XXI–XXVIII", Van Veen Productions
  10. ^ Max Limpag. "American Festival of Microtonal Music," 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine (on the 27th Annual Festival) New Music Connoisseur. Undated. Retrieved Aug. 6, 2007.
  11. ^ Kyle Gann (March 1, 2010). "On Both Sides of the Fence". NewMusicBox (Interview). Interviewed by Frank J. Oteri (published April 1, 2010).

Further reading edit

  • "Gann, Kyle" in Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Music & Musicians
  • "Gann, Kyle" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music

External links edit

  • Kyle Gann's Homepage
  • Postclassic, Kyle Gann's blog
  • Interview with Kyle Gann by Daniel Varela
  • Making Marx in the Music: A HyperHistory of New Music and Politics by Kyle Gann, NewMusicBox
  • Minimal Music, Maximal Impact 2011-08-04 at the Wayback Machine by Kyle Gan, NewMusicBox
Listening
  • GannAudio from Gann's homepage

December 15, 2023
kyle, gann, kyle, eugene, gann, born, november, 1955, dallas, texas, american, composer, professor, music, critic, analyst, musicologist, worked, primarily, york, city, area, music, critic, village, voice, from, 1986, 2005, other, publications, supported, prog. Kyle Eugene Gann born November 21 1955 in Dallas Texas is an American composer professor of music critic analyst and musicologist who has worked primarily in the New York City area As a music critic for The Village Voice from 1986 to 2005 and other publications he has supported progressive music including such downtown movements as postminimalism and totalism Kyle GannBackground informationBirth nameKyle Eugene GannBorn 1955 11 21 November 21 1955 age 68 Dallas TexasOccupation s Music professor music critic composer Contents 1 Biography 2 As composer 3 Selected bibliography 4 Major musical works 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksBiography editGann was born in 1955 and raised in a musical family He began composing at the age of 13 After graduating in 1973 from Dallas s Skyline High School he attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he obtained a B Mus in 1977 and Northwestern University where he received his M Mus and D Mus in 1981 and 1983 respectively As well as studying composition with Randolph Coleman at Oberlin 1 he also studied Renaissance counterpoint with Greg Proctor at the University of Texas at Austin 2 He studied composition primarily with Ben Johnston 1984 86 and Peter Gena 1977 81 and briefly with Morton Feldman 1975 In 1981 82 he worked for the New Music America festival Gann has also worked on Dennis Johnson s once lost minimal compositions November 3 4 which was written for solo piano in 1959 and later revised The creation of November was inspired by Johnson s UCLA college friend La Monte Young s Trio for Strings written in 1958 Part of it was recorded by Johnson in 1962 on audio cassette November was in return an inspiration for Young s later 1964 The Well Tuned Piano work 5 Young gave from his archive a cassette copy of November to Gann who made a new recording of it as well as producing six pages of the original score 6 Gann first performed a four and a half hour version in 2009 with Sarah Cahill and he has produced a new performance score based on the original material that R Andrew Lee recorded in a five hour version released in 2013 by Irritable Hedgehog Music after receiving good reviews 7 8 In 2017 the Dutch pianist and composer Jeroen van Veen released November as part of his eight disc Minimal Piano Collection Vols XXI XXVIII 9 Gann also worked as a journalist at the Chicago Reader Tribune Sun Times and New York Times In 1986 he was hired as music critic at The Village Voice where he wrote a weekly column until 1997 and then less frequently until 2005 Gann taught part time at Bucknell University from 1989 to 1997 Since 1997 he has taught music theory history and composition at Bard College Gann is married to Nancy Cook and is the father of Bernard Gann a guitarist formerly with the New York transcendental black metal band Liturgy As composer editGann s work as a composer can be classified generally into three categories microtonal works in just intonation involving electronics 10 2 rhythmically complex works for Disklavier computer driven acoustic piano and piano and ensemble music whose rhythmic complexity tends to be milder and within a single tempo framework citation needed Most of his music has expressed the concept of repeating loops ostinati or isorhythms of different lengths going out of phase with each other the idea leads to simultaneous layers of different mutually prime tempo relationships in his Disklavier and electronic works and is used in a less obvious structural way in his live ensemble music citation needed This concept can be traced back to suggestions in the rhythmic chapter of Henry Cowell s book New Musical Resources Gann has also said that he found inspiration in his studies of astrology into which he was drawn by the writings of composer astrologer Dane Rudhyar citation needed Another thread in his work has been the influence both rhythmic and melodic of Native American music particularly that of the Hopi Zuni and other Southwest Pueblo tribes Gann first learned about this music from reading a musical analysis of a Zuni buffalo dance published in the book Sonic Design by Robert Cogan and Pozzi Escot According to Gann It was going back and forth between different tempos triplet quarter dotted quarter and quarters So I started collecting American Indian music It solved a rhythmic problem for me because I was really interested in music with different tempos 11 Starting in 1984 with his political piece The Black Hills Belong to the Sioux Gann adopted a method of switching between different tempos usually between quarter notes dotted eighths triplet quarters and other values as a more performable alternative to the simultaneous layers at contrasting tempos that he had sought earlier under the influence of Charles Ives citation needed Other composers had arrived at a similar technique via other routes coalescing into a New York style of the 1980s and 90s called Totalism A common Gann strategy is to set a rhythmic process in motion and use harmony mostly triadic or seventh chord based whether microtonal or conventional to inflect the form and focus the listener s attention Gann s microtonal music proceeds according to Harry Partch s technique of tonality flux linking chords through tiny less than a half step increments of voice leading In 2000 Gann studied jazz harmony with John Esposito and began using bebop harmony as a basis for his non microtonal music even in contexts not reminiscent of jazz citation needed Selected bibliography editGann s books include American Music in the 20th Century 1997 ISBN 0 02 864655 X The Music of Conlon Nancarrow 1995 ISBN 0 521 46534 6 Music Downtown Writings from the Village Voice 2006 ISBN 0 520 22982 7 No Such Thing As Silence John Cage s 4 33 2010 ISBN 0 300 13699 4 Robert Ashley 2012 ISBN 9780252094569 Charles Ives s Concord Essays after a Sonata 2017 ISBN 9780252040856 The Arithmetic of Listening Tuning Theory and History for the Impractical Musician 2019 ISBN 9780252084416Major musical works editHyperchromatica 2012 2015 17 2020 2021 Busted Grooves 2017 Space Cat 2017 Andromeda Memories 2016 17 Futility Row 2015 Pavane for a Dead Planet 2016 Orbital Resonance 2015 Star Dance 2015 16 The Planets Astrological Studies Sun Moon Venus Mars Jupiter Mercury Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto for Relache flute oboe alto saxophone bassoon viola contrabass synthesizer and percussion tom toms cymbals and vibraphone 1994 2008 Composure for four electric guitars 2008 Olana for vibraphone 2007 Kierkegaard Walking for flute clarinet violin cello 2007 Sunken City Concerto for piano and winds in homage to New Orleans for solo piano with flute alto sax tenor sax baritone sax three trumpets horn three trombones and electric bass 2007 Fugitive Objects for keyboard sampler 2007 On Reading Emerson for piano 2006 Implausible Sketches for piano four hands 2006 my father moved through dooms of love for chorus violin and piano 2005 6 The Day Revisited for flute clarinet keyboard sampler synthesizer and fretless bass 2005 Unquiet Night for Disklavier computer driven acoustic piano 2004 Scenario for female voice and soundfile orchestra 2003 4 Private Dances for piano 2000 04 The Watermelon Cargo microtonal chamber opera for six singers three synthesizers flute fretless bass and drummer 2002 3 Love Scene for string quartet 2003 Petty Larceny for Disklavier computer driven acoustic piano 2003 Tango da Chiesa for Disklavier computer driven acoustic piano 2003 Cinderella s Bad Magic microtonal chamber opera for six singers three synthesizers flute and fretless bass 2001 2 Transcendental Sonnets for chorus and orchestra 2001 2 New World Coming for solo bassoon with flute or oboe violin or viola and piano 2001 Hovenweep for flute clarinet violin viola cello 2000 Time Does Not Exist for piano 2000 Last Chance Sonata for clarinet and piano 1999 Custer and Sitting Bull for speaker synthesizer and soundfile 1996 99 The Disappearance of All Holy Things from this Once So Promising World for orchestra 1998 Snake Dance No 2 for five percussionists 1994 Desert Sonata for piano 1994 Chicago Spiral for flute clarinet saxophone or three flutes violin viola cello synthesizer and drums 1990 91 Cyclic Aphorisms for violin and piano 1987 I itoi Variations for two pianos 1985 Baptism for two flutes synthesizer and two drums 1983 Long Night for three pianos 1980 81 References edit Kyle Gann Completion of an Earlier Thought PostClassic a b Jeff London An interview with Kyle Gann Vocal Area Network February 12 2007 Retrieved Aug 6 2007 Kozinn Allan January 9 2019 Dennis Johnson 80 Creator of a Rediscovered Minimalist Score Dies The New York Times Archived from the original on January 10 2019 Retrieved January 10 2019 Walls Seth Colter 29 July 2015 as if to each other R Andrew Lee Pitchfork review of R Andrew Lee s recording of Jay Batzner s piano composition Retrieved February 7 2023 Bell Clive March 2013 Dennis Johnson Maths Mars landings and minimalism The Wire Retrieved 25 February 2017 Gann Kyle Reconstructing November Irritable Hedgehog Retrieved 25 February 2017 Smith Steve 10 March 2013 R Andrew Lee rewrites the history books with November Time Out New York Retrieved 25 February 2017 Kirk McElhearn 25 July 2014 Music Review November by Dennis Johnson kirkville com Retrieved 7 February 2023 Minimal Piano Collection Vols XXI XXVIII Van Veen Productions Max Limpag American Festival of Microtonal Music Archived 2007 09 28 at the Wayback Machine on the 27th Annual Festival New Music Connoisseur Undated Retrieved Aug 6 2007 Kyle Gann March 1 2010 On Both Sides of the Fence NewMusicBox Interview Interviewed by Frank J Oteri published April 1 2010 Further reading edit Gann Kyle in Baker s Biographical Dictionary of Music amp Musicians Gann Kyle in The New Grove Dictionary of MusicExternal links editKyle Gann s Homepage Postclassic Kyle Gann s blog Interview with Kyle Gann by Daniel Varela Making Marx in the Music A HyperHistory of New Music and Politics by Kyle Gann NewMusicBox Minimal Music Maximal Impact Archived 2011 08 04 at the Wayback Machine by Kyle Gan NewMusicBoxListeningGannAudio from Gann s homepage Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Kyle Gann amp oldid 1145456260, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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