MEREDITH MONK 1ST LP DICK HIGGINS-PHILIP GLASS-JOAN LA BARBARA-AVANT-JOHN CAGE

$

105

MEREDITH MONK

 KEY LP

Increase Records 

w/insert

Original 1971 first pressing on Increase. Landmark debut recording of Meredith Monk's earliest compositions for voice. The songs that make up Key were composed and performed in a 3-year period between 1967 and 1970.

Some info on the release:  See Broken Music, page 183. Incredibly rare original (not the Lovely re-issue) pressing of the debut Meredith Monk album and definetely the most experimental one. Released in 1971 by Increase Records, this album makes one remember the best moments of Joan la Barbara, Diamanda Galas or Demetrio Stratos, not easy to imagine that you're listening is indeed human voice (no electronic manipulations used!). Features Monk except from her beautiful voice on Jews Harp and Electric Organ. Also features voices from Collin Walcott (also on percussion), Daniel Ira Sverdlik, Dick Higgins, Lanny Harrison, Mark Monstermaker.

"Some time in late 1965 I suddenly had a revelation that the voice could have the same flexibility and range of movement as a spine or a foot, and that one could find and build a personal vocabulary for the voice just as one makes movement based on a particular body. I realized then that within the voice are myriad characters, landscapes, colors and textures. From that time on, I began working with my own instrument-trying to discover the voices within it." - Meredith Monk

Composer, singer, director/choreographer and creator of new opera, music theater works, films and installations. A pioneer in what is now called "extended vocal technique" and "interdisciplinary performance," Monk creates works that thrive at the intersection of music and movement, image and object, light and sound in an effort to discover and weave together new modes of perception. Her groundbreaking exploration of the voice as an instrument, as an eloquent language in and of itself, expands the boundaries of musical composition, creating landscapes of sound that unearth feelings, energies, and memories for which we have no words. She has alternately been proclaimed as a "magician of the voice" and "one of America's coolest composers." During a career that spans more than 35 years she has been acclaimed by audiences and critics as a major creative force in the performing arts...

Monk's performances have influenced many artists, including Bruce Nauman, whom she met in San Francisco in 1968. In 1978 Monk formed Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble (modelled after similar ensembles of musical colleagues such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass) to explore new and wider vocal textures and forms which often were contrasted with minimal instrumental textures. Monk then began a long-standing relationship with the Walker Art Center, which continues to showcase her work to this day. Pieces from this time include Dolmen Music (1979), which also was recorded for her first album released at Manfred Eicher's record label ECM in 1981.

In the 1980s, Monk wrote and directed two films, Ellis Island (1981), and Book of Days (1988), which developed from a single idea; "One day during summer of 1984, as I was sweeping the floor of my house in the country, the image of a young girl (in black and white) and a medieval street in the Jewish community (also in black and white) came to me", as Monk recounts in the liner notes of the ECM-recording. Apart from the film, different versions exist of this piece; two for the concert hall, and an album, produced by Meredith Monk and Manfred Eicher as "a film for the ears."

Her first symphonic works were Possible Sky (2003) and Stringsongs (2004), which was commissioned by the Kronos Quartet. In 2005, events all over the world were held in celebration of the 40th anniversary of her career, including a concert in Carnegie Hall featuring Björk, Terry Riley, DJ Spooky (who sampled Monk on his album Drums of Death), John Zorn, and the new music ensembles Alarm Will Sound and Bang on a Can All-Stars, along with the Pacific Mozart Ensemble. In 2007, she received the Demetrio Stratos International Award for musical experimentation. Her music was used in films by the Coen Brothers (The Big Lebowski, 1998) and Jean-Luc Godard (Nouvelle Vague, 1990 and Notre musique, 2004). In a recent interview she said that her favourite music includes Brazilian music, especially Caetano Veloso's recordings, the music by Mildred Bailey ("the great jazz singer from the ‘30s and ‘40s"), and Bartók's cycle for piano Mikrokosmos. Pieces of Monk appear on compilations like Airwaves (One Ten Records), Giorno Poetry Systems and Wergo.

Condition: Vinyl lies in excellent- condition, looks clean with some signs of being played and plays nicely, while cover lies in excellent- shape, with slight age wear & minor corner creasings (see picture).

Tracklist

• Composed By, Voice [Travelling], Jew's Harp, Organ [Electric] – Meredith Monk
• Engineer – Daniel Nagrin, Peter Pilafian, Tom Clack
• Engineer, Mixed By – John Horton
• Executive Producer – Ron Jacobs
• Other [Art Direction] – Paul Gruwell
• Photography – Peter Moore
• Producer [Production Supervisor], Translated By, Mridangam [Mrdingam] – Collin Walcott
• Technician [Technical Consultant] – Gary Harris
• Voice [Companion] – Collin Walcott, Daniel Ira Sverdlik, Dick Higgins
• Voice [Vision] – Lanny Harrison, Mark Monstermaker

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