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Synchronisms No. 9 (1988)
Mario Davidovsky:
"The Synchronisms are a series of pieces for instruments and prerecorded sounds, composed during the last three decades. One of the central ideas of these pieces is the search to find ways of embedding both the acoustic and electronic into a single coherent musical and aesthetic space."
Mario Davidovsky (b. 1934) is widely recognized for his pioneering work in electroacoustic music. His Synchronisms are early examples of successful integration of acoustic instruments with electronic sound; Davidovsky received the Pulitzer Prize in 1971 for his Synchronisms No. 6 for piano and tape. Since the 1970's the bulk of Davidovsky's output has consisted of chamber, orchestral, and vocal works.
Davidovsky was born in Médanos, Argentina into a family of 11 children, all of whom were musicians; he studied violin as a child and began to compose at the age of 13. His formal musical training began with Guillermo Graetzer in Buenos Aires, with whom he studied theory and composition. In 1958 he was invited by Aaron Copland to study at the Berkshire Music Center (now Tanglewood) in Lenox, Massachusetts; two years later he settled in New York City and began a long association with the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. Davidovsky has since taught at a number of educational institutions: University of Michigan, Instituto Torcuato Di Tella of Buenos Aires, Manhattan School of Music, Yale University, City College of New York, and Harvard University. He has served as director of the CRI record label, Fromm and Koussevitzky Foundations, and for many years the Composers Conference at Wellesley College, Massachusetts.
Davidovsky has received commissions from a wide range of chamber ensembles and orchestras from across the US. Recordings of his work can be found on the Albany, Artek, Bis, Bridge, Capstone, Centaur, CRI, Decca, Delos, Deutsche Grammophon, and New World labels.
A versatile soloist and chamber musician, violinist Curtis Macomber has appeared as soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra, Musica Aeterna Orchestra, Vermont Symphony, Westchester Philharmonic, and at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy. He performed in the United States and Europe with the New World String Quartet for eleven years; the quartet also served as artists-in-residence at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1982 to 1990. Macomber is active in the New York music scene as a performer and founding member of many ensembles. He has recorded for the Arabesque, CRI, Koch International, Musical Heritage, Nonesuch, Pickwick, and Vanguard labels. Macomber studied with Joseph Fuchs at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City; he is currently on faculty there and at the Manhattan School of Music.
related websites
http://www.msmnyc.edu/catalog/facbio.asp?fid=1008173141
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