philip corner: italian air wind, water, & metal

Philip Corner (b. 1933) studied composition with Henry Cowell and Otto Luening and musical analysis with Oliver Messiaen. During the 1960s and 70s he was an active member of Fluxus, a founder (along with James Tenney and Malcolm Goldstein) of the Tone Roads Chamber ensemble, the resident musician and composer for the Judson Dance Theatre, and co-founder of Gamelan Son Of Lion (with Barbara Benary and Daniel Goode). Italian Air: Wind, Water & Metal presents three previously unpublished compositions by Philip Corner recorded in various locations. On side 1 'Ear Wave' (Venice, October 1994) is a long piece for Korean cymbal in water: an ecstatic composition recorded and played outdoors by Phil Corner; acousmatic interjections of metallic resonances and subtle water sounds; you can listen the distant sound of the midnight bell of San Marco in Venice. On the second side the track 'Gong/Ear,' recorded in June 1990 (S.Andrea di Rovereto, Italy). Phil Corner plays gong together with rain and thunder for an abstracted and strongly emotional track. It's followed by 'I Respiri/The Breaths,' an avant-garde composition for alphorn and gong recorded in 1992 (at Teatro Scandicci). In very few words, Philip Corner is one of the most important figures in the American avant-garde.