Earle Brown

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Earle Brown (December 26, 1926 – July 2, 2002) was an American composer. Among his many innovations, he near-singlehandedly re-invigorated classical music with improvisation by establishing his own formal and notational systems. He was the creator of open form, a style of musical contruction that has influenced many waves of composers since — notably the downtown New York scene of the 1980s (see John Zorn). His most famous work is 'December 1952' with its use of a 'radical' (entirely graphic) score.

Open form

For a great deal of Brown's compositions the material is composed, but the order is left free to be decided during performance, by the conductor. The material is divided in numbered sequences. Along with the number of the page the sequence appears on, the conductor uses his hands to sign the players and inform them of the part to be played. Through this procedure, no two performances of an open form Brown score are the same. Brown relates his work in open form to Alexander Calder's mobile sculptures

December 1952

December 1952 is perhaps Brown's most famous and notorious score. It is part of a larger set of graphically represented music called Folio. Consisting purely of horizontal and vertical lines varying in width, spread out over the page, it is a landmark piece in the history of graphic notation of music. The role of the performer is to interpret the score visually and translate the graphical information to music.

External links

[Earle Brown Music Foundation]
[Art of the States: Earle Brown] three works by the composer
[Earle Brown interview]
[Del Sol Quartet: Tear] includes Brown's 1965 String Quartet performed by Del Sol Quartet

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