EXTRAIT > 1. Styx: Excerpt 02:50
« From 1956 to 1962 Nikolais [1910-1993] composed eleven major scores for his theater pieces using such techniques. These included Kaleidoscope (1956), Allegory (1959), and Totem (1960). In 1963, James Seawright, who at the time was assisting Nik in his productions and also working at the Columbia-Princeton Center for Electronic Music, recorded a sound bank for the production Imago (1963). With this material, Nikolais created his first synthesizer score. Imago won the Paris Grand Prix in 1968 and launched the Nikolais Dance Theater towards its national and primarily international acclaim.
During the same period, Seawright came to Nik and told him of a young man who had invented and constructed a simplified synthesizer and insisted that Nik visit the electronic fair currently being held in New York. Nik did so and met Robert Moog. He was completely taken by the new machine and after making some suggestions to Moog, (which Moog made), Nik bought the inventor’s first machine, through aid of a Guggenheim Fellowship. All of the Nikolais’s scores from 1963 to 1975 found their sources primarily from that synthesizer.
"The Luscious Tent" (1968), "Haunting Echo" (1969), the wild and hysterical "Scenario" (1971), and the lighting masterpiece "Crossfade" (1974) all were derived from the Moog. Moog himself was astonished by what his machine could produce for Nik. This machine was later acquired by the Museum of Musical Instruments at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor as the first Moog synthesizer.
The Synclavier was Nik’s next source of sound and since the mid-1970s has remained the major instrument in the Nikolais soundroom. "Guignol" (1977), "Arporisms" (1977), "Gallery" (1978), "Pond" (1982), "Crucible" (1985), "Blank on Blank" (1987), all were created using the Synclavier.
Alwin Nikolais has been honored and awarded throughout the world. He has received the French Legion of Honor, the Kennedy Center Honors, National Medal of the Arts, two Guggenheim Fellowships, as well as Mellon, Ford, and Rockefeller grants. He has been a recipient of NEA grants since 1966, been awarded five honorary doctorates, all for his remarkable achievements in Dance Theater. His genius has influenced several generations of artists. »
— Murray Louis [1926-2016] souligné par Espaces Magnétiques
(1er janvier 1993)
Produced by Murray Louis
Digitally remastered from the original analog tapes by Murray Louis and Ellen Fitton, engineer at Sony Classical Productions, Inc., NYC, 1992.
This project was made possible through the generous support of the Virgil Thomson Foundation and the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation.
© 1993 Composers Recordings, Inc.
© 2020 Anthology of Recorded Music, Inc.
