ALVIN CURRAN

People often ask me what music I listen to. The answer is : "not very much." I don't own a record player, radio or television set; none the less, I have heard a modest quantity of music in 60 years.

From memory I have compiled a list of composers, compositions, places, and sounds (in no particular order) which have remained an integral part of me.

My father's trombone; my mother's stride piano; Spike Jones; old men humming and buzzing while dav'nin (praying) in the Synagogue; The hope st. Tunnel bus in Providence; Art Tatum in Newport; Kosugi in a bag in Rome; Steve Lacy; the MEV Studio (Rome); Cornelius Cardew; Cantor Jacob Hohenemser; Kontarski plays Franco Evangelisti; The Dagar Brothers; The Band of America; Amos 'n Andy; The Lone Ranger; The Green Hornet; Casablanca; Ed Norton; Clark Coolidge's first drum set (black and yellow); Boat Horns at night in the Port of Providence; Billie Holiday; "Easy Living"; Bartok; Memphis Slim; Elliott Carter; Duke Ellington; Josquin des Pres; Peanuts Hucko; Charles Ives; Gesualdo; Leroy Vinnegar; Prelude: Act III, Lohengrin; The Scratch Orchestra; Chopin; John Cage and David Tudor singing on the radio; Cage and Tudor singing on the streets of Rome; Thelonius Monk (at the Five Spot); "Sweet Betsy from Pike"; Bismallah Khan; Guy Lombardo; Aunt Adele playing the cornet from her porch on the 4th of July; the Providence Train Yard at night; The Beatles; Brahms; Louis Armstrong; Simone Forti singing an italian fishing song; Teddy Wilson; Webern; Monteverdi; Fats Waller; Alban Berg; Lester Lanin; Giuseppe Chiari performing "Maria" at the American Church in Rome; Terry Riley; Bud Powell; Guillame de Marchaut; Ellis Larkins; Maryanne Amacher listening to the Boston Harbour; Misja Mengelberg; Phil Napoleon; Clark Coolidge's poetry; Horace Silver; Frederic Rzewski; Fog Horns in the (Narragansett Bay); Ivan Vandor's tenor sax; Earl Hines; Phil Glass; John Coltrane; Giacinto Scelsi; Varese; Charlie Parker; Harold Arlen; Lee Konitz; late Beethoven; Clifford Brown; Stravinsky; Braxton; IND subway at 72nd st. NYC; T.R. Mahalingam; Cecil Taylor; Chinese New Years (NYC '79); Alan Bryant 's amplified rubber bands; The Living Theater; Temple Emanuel Choir-Martin Curran tenor soloist; "Darktown Strutters Ball"; "Giant Steps"; "As Time Goes By"; Schumann Lieder; George Gershwin; Tibetan Monks; Jimmy Hendrix; Lester Young; "Alterations" (Bim Huis); Loons in Maine; the Korean Court Orchestra; Ella Fitzgerald (Newport '52); Frescobaldi (on the radio '81); Lenny Tristano; Sardinian Goat Bells; George Lewis in a tent in Florence; Winter Woods in Vermont; Gunther "baby" Sommer; Pope Giovanni Paolo II saying "Merry Cristmas" in Swahili; Die Winterreise; Jack Teagarden; Garret List; Frank Sinatra; Nam June Paik; Johnny Cash; Conlon Nancarrow; Edith Schloss sings Ravel's "Bolero"; Yoko Ono; Ron Nelson; MEV perform for 3 minutes as the warm-up group for the Pink Floyd (London '68); Mozart C minor fantasy; "I Can't Get Started"; Pauline Oliveros' Sonic Meditations; Malcolm Goldstein's nomadic violin; Joannie Mitchell; The Brown University Band; Robert Ashley's "Wolfman"; Charlie Morrow; Michiko Hirayama; Evan Parker; Harry Carney; Steve Reich; Annea Lockwood's "Glass Music"; Roswell Rudd; "Georgia On My Mind"; the Amsterdam Zoo; Carl Orff; Charlemagne Palestine; Archie Shepp; Joan La Barbara; Chet Baker; Nono; Berio; Nuova Consonanza; Gerry Mulligan; a Starling Migration (Rome '81); Cicadas in Maremma; Laurie Anderson; Leroy Anderson; Phil Niblock; Phil Corner; Don Cherry; Earle Brown; Cardini; Verdi-Othello; Morton Feldman at the Rome Opera; Miles Davis at Storeyville; New Years in Gabon; Serge Chaloff; Pete Seeger; Max Eastley; "Red River Valley"; Shenendoah; Billy Boy; Il Barbiere Di Siviglia; Carl Maria von Weber; Prima Materia; "I am Sitting in a Room" by Alvin Lucier; Mahler; "Moonlight in Vermont"; the Malagasy Republic (Madagascar); Nunzio Zambello, Neopolitan puppeteer; Kindertotenlieder; Altenberglieder; Lou Cedrone, Band and Accordian; Marty Curran Orchestra-Music for Every Occasion; A Grange Hall in Wickford, R.I.; Eddie Wittstein Orchestra; The Catskills; Train Couplings in the Southern Railway yard, Winston Salem N.C. "Out of This World"; "Come Rain or Come Shine"; "When Sunny Gets Blue"; "Sophisticated Lady"; "Woodn'You?"; "Mood Indigo"; "I Got It Bad"; "Ida Lupino"; "Joy Spring"; "I Should Care"; "Body and Soul"; "Foggy Day; "Darn That Dream"; "Green Dolphin St.Naima"; "God Bless the Child"; "The Duke"; "Don't Get Around Much Anymore"; "Daahoud"; "Con Alma"; "Angel Eyes"; "Alone Together"; "All The Things You Are"; "The Fantastiks"; AMM with Tilbury and Cardew, Ed and Lou; Satie; Yves Montand; Debussy; Ravel; Tamia; Edith Piaf; Salvation Army Band; Sardinian Launeddas; Louis Andriessen; Paul Rutherford; Jon Phetteplace; Lotte Lenya; Kurt Weil; Darmstadt; "Der Blaue Engel"; John Philip Souza; Haendel; FIG-Feminist Improvisation Group; The People Band; The Spontaneous Music Ensemble; Chief Rabbi of Peking; Court Singers of Niger; A Roman street musician playing a bay-leaf; The Chicago Arts Ensemble nude in Amougies; Richard Teitelbaum in a Javanese Gamelan Orchestra; Harry Partch;Mary Lou Williams; Marlene Dietrich; Frans Bruggen; Fischer-Dieskau; Jimmy Garrison; Jon Gibson; Dave McKenna; Oscar Pettiford; Albert Ayler; Broadus Earle; Charlie Mingus; The Inkspots; John Adams; The Tink's Lost Haftorah; The Soft Machine; Meredith Monk; Velvet Undergrond; Cappuchin Monks (Ara Coeli-Rome); Sylvano Bussotti; Carla Bley; Vittorio Gelmetti's Deserto Rosso; Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Einstein-first piano teachers; James Johnson-second piano teacher; Caspar-my dog who sang; Kagel; Donatoni; Castiglioni; The Classical/ Central High School Band -Eddie McCabe dir.-; Martin Fischer; Arlan Coolidge; Yuji Takahashi; E.E. Cummings; The Narragansett Indians (in spirit); Philly-Joe Jones; "Orfeo Negro"; Slam Stewart; "Four"; "I Remember Clifford"; "Bernie's Tune"; "Blue Monk"; "Round Midnight"; K and J; Kenton; Gil Evans; David Behrman; Joe Celli; Milford Graves; Pete Rugolo; Sun Ra; Paul Desmond; Antonello Salis; Pierre Boulez; Leo Smith; Wolves in the Abruzzi Mountains; Nina Simone; Roscoe Mitchell; Eugenio Colombo; Shelley Mann; Ezra Pound reading at his home in Venice; Akio Suzuki; Giorgio Battistelli; Bill Smith at the american academy in Rome; Joe Morello; Michael Nyman; Giancarlo Menotti; MEV2; MJQ; Stravinsky shaking my hand; Varèse saying "hello"; "Celito Lindo"; "Tennessee Waltz"; "Goodnight Irene"; Scelsi's Om Konk Pax; Derek Bailey; Linton Kwesi Johnson; Purcell; Dowland; Morley; Michael Parsons; "Der Rosenkavalier"; Dallapiccola; Ralph Shapey; Buel Neidlinger; Steve Potts; " Stockhausen's Gesang der Junglinge"; the Brooklyn Bridge; B.B. King; Ray Charles; "The Original Amateur Hour"; Berlioz; Aaron Copland; Ferde Grofe; George Antheil; Venice at night; Jed Curtis at the Red Garter in Florence; Hugh Davies; Jerry Hunt; Maria Monti; Robert Moran; Antonello Neri; Willem de Ridder; Annie Sprinkle; Snoop Doggy Dog; Beck; Nick Cave; John Rose and the Roumanian Gypsy Band; Moondog; Elk in Yellowstone Park; 12 million bats in Texas; Canadian Geese in Minnesota; Julius; Kristina Kubisch; Hildegard von Bingen; Barbara Heller plays Fanny Mendelsohn thru my computer; Dr. Dre; William Winant; Zorn; Charley Morrow 's conch shell band; Charles Amirkhanian; Rova Sax Quartet; The Golem; Julius; Denis Russel Davies play Mozart; Carles Santos; Walter Zimmerman; Zap Mama; Dieter Schnebel; Christian Wolff; Peter Kowald; the Tuvan singers from Mongolia; Globe Unity; the Kronos; Bang on a Can ensemble; Ethyl Smyth; Kaya Sarajaaho; Lois Vierk; Mary Jane Leach; Michel Waisvisz; Moniek Toebosch; Bessie Smith; Sofia Gubaidulina; Salimat Ali Khan; Orlando di Lasso; New Years at Battery Park; Arnold Dreyblatt; Salomone Rossi; Leonard Bernstein; Count Basie; Benedetto Marcello; Purcell; Schnittke; Carlos Zingaro; Messiaen; Honegger; Tristan Honsinger; Katie Duck; Sean Bergin; "Just a Closer Walk with Thee"; "Sweet Lorraine"; "Ida"; "After You've Gone"; "Come Rain or Come shine"; Bob Brookmeyer; Big Bill Broonzy; "On Top of Old Smokey"; Cole Porter; Hoepoes, peacocks, nightingales, mockingbirds, orioles, and the London Zoo; Jerome Kern; Elvis Presley; Maggie Nichols; The Beatles; Ille Strazza; Coleman Hawkins; Fog Horns on Governor's Island; Wilson Pickett; Pierre Schaeffer; Murray Schafer; Han Bennink; Ligeti; Muhal Abrams; Ornette; Roberto Laneri; Sidney Bechet; Leoncavallo; Ansermet; Prokofiev; Murolo; Maderna; Giovanni Gabrielli; Dufay; Barbara Strozzi; Myra Hess; Astor Piazzola; John Sebastian; George M. Cohan; Pandit Pranath singing at Sargentini's house in Rome; Harold Budd; New Phonics Art Ensemble; Salvatore Martirano; La Serra di Lerici; The Bay of La Spezia; The R.I. Philarmonic Orchestra; Roberto Leydi; Mel Powell; The Nantucket Lightship II; "Canti di Capricorno" by Scelsi; "Shenandoah"; Pergolesi; Hoagy Carmichael; Carol Plantamura; Bauhaus; The Hichiriki ensemble; Christian Wolff; Crawling with Tarts; Sonic Youth; Paul Lovens; Mike Sahl; Tony Scott; Demetrio Stratos /Area; The Percussion Ensemble of Rebibbia Prison (Rome) led by Toni Esposito; The Town Band of Bomarzo; Diamanda Galas; Die Einstuerztenden Neubauten; Die Toedliche Doris; Fireworks by Pierre-Alain Hubert; Yuji Takahashi plays Xenakis; Xenakis at the World's Fair in Brussels l958; Bison mating in Wind Cave Park North Dakota; Peter Garland; The Harbour, Sydney Australia; The terrorist attack and explosion at La Belle Discotec in Berlin l986; Yvar Mikhashoff plays wall to wall everything; random Gunfire in Oakland; The Hub; Ellis Larkins at the Carnegie Tavern; Max Neuhaus at little carnegie hall; Tom Johnson; Esther Ferrer; Joelle Leandre; Joe Celli; Jon Gibson; Robert Dick; Barbara Monk Feldman; Hans Peter Kuhn; Aki Takahashi; David Moss; Miya Masaoka; Victor Cavallo; Ivan Vandor's tenor sax; Erick Samakh in Linz; Orazio Vaggione; Serge Tcherepnin; Eliane Radigue; Joan Jonas; Pauline Oliveros; Pierre Clementi plays the saw; Trisha Brown laugh; A tufo quarry in Matera; Petr Kotik; Phill Niblock; Ben Neil; Phil Corner; Guy Klusevsek; Allison Knowles beans; Ursula Oppens; Laurie Spiegel; George Brecht's caged violin; Llorenc Barber; Limpe Fuchs; Judith Malina and Julian Beck in living anarchy; Chris Newman sing his own Lieder; Rhys Chatham kill a gong; Glenn Branca makes Cage faint in Chicago; Paul Klerr's "Magic Carpet"; David Hammon's "Charlie Parker" at PS 1; Leo Kupper's Klangkuppel; The School of Hard Knocks of Jacob and Yoshiko at the Venice Biennale; Trevor Wishart; Arditti Quartet; Harry Partch; Lilly Boulanger; Fela Kuti; Oum Kalsoum; Tito Puente; Jimmy Hendrix; Souza; George M Cohan; Carl Stalling; John Tilbury play Feldman; Cardew, Neiman and Bryars play Reich's "Drumming"; Clarence Barlow play a Turkish bus on the computer; Logos Duo; Cicadas in Tuscany; The marble quarries of Carrara; Nicola Bernardini; Douglas Ewart with bells on his ankles; Emmet Williams and Annie in Warsaw; Stefan Tiedje; Sun Ra at Symphony Space; Il Teatro Beat 72; Antonello Salis; Webern; the destruction of the Berlin Wall; Rome/Napoli soccer match; Maria Tipo play the Goldberg Variations; Miles and Coltrane at Storyville in Boston; Betty Carter in Rome; David Toop in London; MEV Sound Pool, at La Musee d'Art Moderne de Paris; Horizontal Radio 1995; A building demolition in Frankfurt; a man snoring in a Wagon Lits; Children singing at the Jewish orphanage in Rome; Inuit throat singers; Melissa's backward Austrian Yodeling tape; Mego's America the Beautiful over the telephone; Making a cobblestone pavement in Warsaw; a Sardinian peasant woman singing in a courtyard in Rome; High tension wires in Sardinia; Loons in Maine; Bullfrogs in Texas; The London Zoo; Maryanne Amacher at Harmony Ranch; Bjork; Der Klangturm in St. Poelten; Lightning that blew up my Computer in Genzano; Henry Cowell plays an Irish pub; All the muezzin in Istanbul; Jim O'Rourke in Pietralata; Susan Levenstein playing the nineteenth century on the Tiber River; John Cage laughing through it all.

Alvin Curran, 1982/1998