Richard Teitelbaum (1939-2020)

Blends (1977)

for shakuhachi and two synthesizers

electronic work

  • General information
    • Composition date: 1977
      Revision dates: 1977
    • Duration: 19 mn 51 s
Detailed formation
  • shakuhachi, 2 electronic/MIDI keyboards/synthesizers

Premiere information

  • Date: 1977
    Location:

    Japon, Tokyo


  • Date: 27 February 1979
    Location:

    États-Unis, New York, The Kitchen Center for Video, Dance and Music


    Performers:

    Reihi Sano, shakuhachi ; Richard Youngs, PolyMoog, MicroMoog et Moog modulaire.

Information on the electronics
Electronic device: autre dispositif électronique (PolyMoog, MicroMoog et Moog modulaire)

Observations

« BLENDS was written in Tokyo in 1977, in partial fulfillment of a commission from the National Endowment for the Arts. It is the second piece I’ve written for shakuhachi in traditional “Kinko” style, the first being the solo work Hi Kaeshi Hachi Mi Fu which was performed by Shudo Yamato at The Kitchen in 1974. In Blends, I attempted to combine the traditional Kinko School idiom with those of contemporary shakuhachi music, and also with my own interests in electro-acoustic interactions ». (R. Teitelbaum, program notes, concerts February 27, 28th, 1979, The Kitchen Center for Video, Dance & Music, New York, http://archive.thekitchen.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Program_Teitelbaum_Electro-Acoustic.pdf)

« Blends (1977) a kind of circumnavigation, is an exploration of the shakuhachi’s timbral world in an extended dialog with Moog synthesizers, a pairing that was quite controversial at the time » (Liner notes New Albion Records, Inc., 2002, n. NA118cd).