David Borden
Encyclopedia
David Borden is an American composer of minimalist music
.
In 1969, with the support of Robert Moog
, he founded the synthesizer ensemble, Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company
in Ithaca
New York. Mother Mallard performed pieces by Robert Ashley
, John Cage
, Terry Riley
, Philip Glass
, and Steve Reich
. In addition to his work with electronics and the Mother Mallard ensemble, Borden has written music for various chamber and vocal ensembles. He is also an accomplished jazz
pianist.
David Borden was educated at the Eastman School of Music
and Harvard University
. At Harvard he studied with Leon Kirchner
and Randall Thompson
, and at Eastman with Bernard Rogers
and Howard Hanson
. He was also a Fulbright student in Berlin Germany, where he studied at the Hochschule für Musik http://www.hfm-berlin.de.
Borden's compositions are similar to the repetitive minimalist style of Philip Glass
, Steve Reich
, and Terry Riley
. Borden is also very interested in counterpoint
, best demonstrated in his large scale series of works The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, Parts 1-12.
David Borden was commissioned to write the score to the 1973 film The Exorcist
by director William Friedkin
. However, less than a minute of Borden's music was actually used in the film (Mike Oldfield
's Tubular Bells
was prominently featured on the soundtrack instead.)
Borden participated in the many activities surrounding the 30th anniversary of the founding of Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company
in 1999, including several live performances and CD reissues on the Cuneiform
record label.
HisThe Continuing Story of Counterpoint, a twelve-part cycle of pieces for synthesizers, acoustic instruments and voice has been called the "Goldberg Variations of minimalism.'" John DiLiberto
Four books have cited and discussed his work. In keeping with his interdisciplinary approach to his life and work, two books deal with American music history, one with music technology and one with the paintings of George Deem:
Borden's music is recorded by the Cuneiform, New World Records, Lameduck and Arbiter labels.
His first composition teachers were jazz musicians Jimmy Giuffre
and Jaki Byard
. He collaborates and performs with his son, Gabriel Borden and stepson, Sam Godin. Borden resides in Ithaca, NY with his wife, Rebecca Godin. He is the retired founder and Director of the Digital Music Program (now the Cornell Electroacoustic Music Center) at Cornell University
.
More info on all films at http://www.imdb.com
Minimalist music
Minimal music is a style of music associated with the work of American composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. It originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School....
.
In 1969, with the support of Robert Moog
Robert Moog
Robert Arthur Moog , commonly called Bob Moog was an American pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer.-Life:...
, he founded the synthesizer ensemble, Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company
Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company
Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company, formed in 1969 by David Borden, was the world's first synthesizer ensemble, predating groups like Tonto's Expanding Head Band and Tangerine Dream. David Borden was in close contact with Dr. Robert Moog and was one of the first musicians to use his...
in Ithaca
Ithaca
Ithaca or Ithaka is an island located in the Ionian Sea, in Greece, with an area of and a little more than three thousand inhabitants. It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and the only municipality of the regional unit. It lies off the northeast coast of Kefalonia and...
New York. Mother Mallard performed pieces by Robert Ashley
Robert Ashley
Robert Ashley , is a contemporary American composer, best known for his operas and other theatrical works, many of which incorporate electronics and extended techniques. Along with Gordon Mumma, Ashley was also a major pioneer of audio synthesis.Ashley was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan...
, John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, Terry Riley
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...
, Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
, and Steve Reich
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
. In addition to his work with electronics and the Mother Mallard ensemble, Borden has written music for various chamber and vocal ensembles. He is also an accomplished jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
pianist.
David Borden was educated at the Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
and Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. At Harvard he studied with Leon Kirchner
Leon Kirchner
Leon Kirchner was an American composer of contemporary classical music. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his String Quartet No. 3.Kirchner was born in Brooklyn, New York...
and Randall Thompson
Randall Thompson
Randall Thompson was an American composer, particularly noted for his choral works.-Career:He attended Harvard University, became assistant professor of music and choir director at Wellesley College, and received a doctorate in music from the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music...
, and at Eastman with Bernard Rogers
Bernard Rogers
Bernard Rogers was an American composer.Rogers was born in New York City. He studied with Arthur Farwell, Ernest Bloch, Percy Goetschius, and Nadia Boulanger. He taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music, The Hartt School, and the Eastman School of Music...
and Howard Hanson
Howard Hanson
Howard Harold Hanson was an American composer, conductor, educator, music theorist, and champion of American classical music. As director for 40 years of the Eastman School of Music, he built a high-quality school and provided opportunities for commissioning and performing American music...
. He was also a Fulbright student in Berlin Germany, where he studied at the Hochschule für Musik http://www.hfm-berlin.de.
Borden's compositions are similar to the repetitive minimalist style of Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
, Steve Reich
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
, and Terry Riley
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...
. Borden is also very interested in counterpoint
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
, best demonstrated in his large scale series of works The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, Parts 1-12.
David Borden was commissioned to write the score to the 1973 film The Exorcist
The Exorcist (film)
The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
by director William Friedkin
William Friedkin
William Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director...
. However, less than a minute of Borden's music was actually used in the film (Mike Oldfield
Mike Oldfield
Michael Gordon Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...
's Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells is the debut record album of English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1973. It was the first album released by Virgin Records and an early cornerstone of the company's success...
was prominently featured on the soundtrack instead.)
Borden participated in the many activities surrounding the 30th anniversary of the founding of Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company
Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company
Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company, formed in 1969 by David Borden, was the world's first synthesizer ensemble, predating groups like Tonto's Expanding Head Band and Tangerine Dream. David Borden was in close contact with Dr. Robert Moog and was one of the first musicians to use his...
in 1999, including several live performances and CD reissues on the Cuneiform
Cuneiform
Cuneiform can refer to:*Cuneiform script, an ancient writing system originating in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC*Cuneiform , three bones in the human foot*Cuneiform Records, a music record label...
record label.
HisThe Continuing Story of Counterpoint, a twelve-part cycle of pieces for synthesizers, acoustic instruments and voice has been called the "Goldberg Variations of minimalism.'" John DiLiberto
Four books have cited and discussed his work. In keeping with his interdisciplinary approach to his life and work, two books deal with American music history, one with music technology and one with the paintings of George Deem:
- America's Music in the Twentieth Century by Kyle Gann (Schirmer Books, New York, 1997)
- America's Musical Life: A History by Richard Crawford (W. W, Norton & Company, New York, London, 2001)
- Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer by Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England, 2002)
- How to Paint a Vermeer by George Deem (Thames & Hudson, N.Y., 2004)
Borden's music is recorded by the Cuneiform, New World Records, Lameduck and Arbiter labels.
His first composition teachers were jazz musicians Jimmy Giuffre
Jimmy Giuffre
James Peter Giuffre was an American jazz clarinet and saxophone player, composer and arranger. He is notable for his development of forms of jazz which allowed for free interplay between the musicians, anticipating forms of free improvisation.-Biography:Born in Dallas, Texas, of Italian ancestry,...
and Jaki Byard
Jaki Byard
Jaki Byard was an American jazz pianist and composer who also played trumpet and saxophone, among several other instruments. He was noteworthy for his eclectic style, incorporating everything from ragtime and stride to free jazz...
. He collaborates and performs with his son, Gabriel Borden and stepson, Sam Godin. Borden resides in Ithaca, NY with his wife, Rebecca Godin. He is the retired founder and Director of the Digital Music Program (now the Cornell Electroacoustic Music Center) at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
.
Selected works
- 1959 Dialogues for trombone and trumpet
- 1967 All-American, Teenage, Lovesongs for wind ensemble and tape, commissioned by Ithaca High School
- 1970 Cloudscape for Peggy
- 1970 Easter for Mother Mallard ensemble
- 1972 (?) C-A-G-E, Part I for Mother Mallard ensemble
- 1974 C-A-G-E, Part II for Mother Mallard ensemble
- 1975 C-A-G-E, Part III for Mother Mallard ensemble
- 1976-1987 The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, Parts 1-12 for Mother Mallard ensemble
- 1976 Part 1
- 1976 Part 3
- 1977 Part 5
- 1978 Part 6
- 1978 Part 7
- 1979 Part 8, Part 8A, Part 8B, Part 8C
- 1980 Part 9
- 1982 Part 2
- 1983 Part 4
- 1986 Part 11
- 1987 Part 10
- 1987 Part 12A, Part 12B, Part 12C
- 1978 Enfield in Summer
- 1987 Double Portrait for two pianos
- 1989 Angels for vocal ensemble and Mother Mallard ensemble
- 1994 Notes From Vienna for solo electric guitar and wind ensemble (or synthesizers)
- 1995 Infinity Variations for two fortepianos and chamber orchestra
- 2002 Naked American (anagram of Diane Ackerman)
- 2003 K216.01a for solo electric violin and synthesizers
- 2005 A Tin Haiku (anagram of Kia-Hui Tan)
- 2006 Smart Hubris (anagram of Ritsu Brahm)
- 2007 Heaven-Kept Soul (anagram of Kathleen Supové)
- 2007 Tribute to Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn
- 1990-2010 Earth Journeys by David Borden numerous Birthday Variations
- 2009 Viola Farber in 7 Movements
- 2010 Remembering Jimmy
- 2010 ESP 9461 NY
Discography (Mother Mallard and David Borden)
- 1973 Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company [Earthquack]
- 1999 Reissued as 1970-1973 with previously unissued recordings [Cuneiform]
- 1976 Like A Duck To Water [Earthquack]
- 1999 Reissued with previously unissued recordsings [Cuneiform]
- 1981 Music For Amplified Keyboard Instruments [Red Music]
- 1983 Anatidae [Cuneiform: LP only]
- 1988 Migration [Cuneiform: LP only]
- 1988 The Continuing Story of Counterpoint Parts 9-12 [Cuneiform]
- 1990 The Continuing Story of Counterpoint Parts 5-8 [Cuneiform]
- 1990 The Continuing Story of Counterpoint Parts 1-4+8 [Cuneiform]
- 1992 Double Portrait (1987) included in collection U.S. Choice by Double Edge piano duo [CRI]
- 1995 Cayuga Night Music [Lameduck]
- 1995 Places, Times, and People [Cuneiform]
- 2003 Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co., music by David Borden (previously unissued 1976-77 recordings of "Counterpoint" Parts 1 & 3 and "C-A-G-E" part 3) [Arbiter]
- 2005 Waterwheel (by Steve Drews) (excerpt: Film by Edin Velez, Music by Mother Mallard) included in collection Ohm+ [DVD, Ellipsis Arts]
Films David Borden
Composer:- Marathon (1965)
- Flatland (1965)
- Branches (1970)
- They Made Movies in Ithaca (1975)
- It's Tough To Make It In This League (1977) CBS Sports
- Louisville (1998)
- The Exorcist (1973)
More info on all films at http://www.imdb.com
External links
- http://www.mothermallard.com/ Mother Mallard http://www.mothermallard.com
- http://www.davidborden.org/ David Borden http://www.davidborden.org
- Cuneiform Records David Borden/Mother Mallard page