Day 246: Lost Glass, found—Thank you, Vienna
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Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day
246 — Lost Glass, found—Thank you, Vienna
04-April-1972
(Dienstag–Tue.)
TRANSCRIPT
Typical day. Not so good on horn. A little progress
in electronic. No concert.
REFLECTIONS
1972.
As with
most of life, a typical day.
It’s
a miracle in 2009—Lost Glass, found.
The Vienna
Academy of Music responded to my email. I received a
very kind email from Prof. L.M. from the Institute of
Composition and Electroacoustic Media at the
University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. It
said the following:
“Sure we know who you are. We will send a digitized
copy of your tapes to your address…”
I couldn’t believe my good luck. The tapes of my
composition, Fantasy
on Broken Glass were still
in the Institute archives, even after 36+ years. And
they will digitize them and send them to me. I can’t
wait. I haven’t heard this work in probably 30 years.
Thank you Prof. L.M. If you give me permission, I
will mention your last name.
It was nice to know that they were so willing to help
me. They might occasionally use examples of my piece
to show what could be accomplished in musique
concrète with a single sound. Remember, this is not a
great piece of music. It was a great example and
exercise in using the available musique concrète
composing techniques of the time to manipulate a
single short acoustic sound—the sound of breaking
glass.
Institute
of Composition and Electroacoustic Media.
The
musique concrète/electronic music course that I took
with Prof. Kaufmann is now under the auspices of the
Institute of Composition and Electroacoustic Media at
the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna
(Hochschule für Musik und Dartstellende Kunst in
Vienna).
After more than 36 years, I would love to see and
hear how the new electronic music program and the
Institute have evolved since the early days of the
first studio that I participated in. Hopefully, I
will learn more of the Institute and perhaps get to
know some of the composers’ and students’ works that
have come out of the program. I imagine that the
studios are now totally different in their focus—from
musique concrète to complete electronic recording
studios, including new media such as video and film,
and perhaps popular and film recording as well. I
can’t wait to learn more of the Institute’s program.
If I can get back to Vienna one day, I would love to
take a tour of the school, once again. I also asked
if there was a way to reach Prof. Kaufmann.
A great day with great news.
John
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