Glenn Branca
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Glenn Branca (born October 6, 1948 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) is an avant-garde composer and guitarist.
Overview
Branca studied theater at Emerson College in Boston in the early 1970s. While there, he began experimenting with sound as the founder of an experimental theater group called Bastard Theater. He moved to New York in 1976. He formed two bands in the late 1970s, first Theoretical Girls (in 1977 with composer/guitarist Jeffrey Lohn) and later The Static. He also performed Rhys Chatham's Guitar Trio in 1977, an experience that was very important in the development of his compositional voice (Branca 1979).In the early 1980s, he composed several medium-length compositions for electric guitar ensembles, including The Ascension (1981) and Indeterminate Activity of Resultant Masses (1981). He soon thereafter began composing symphonies for orchestras of electric guitars and percussion, which blended droning industrial cacophony and microtonality with quasi-mysticism and advanced mathematics. Starting with Symphony No. 3 ("Gloria") (1983), he began to systematically compose for the harmonic series, which he considered to be the structure underlying not only all music but most human endeavors. In this project, Branca was initially influenced by the writings of Dane Rudhyar, Hermann von Helmholtz, and Harry Partch. He also built several electrically amplified instruments of his own invention, expanding his ensemble beyond the guitar. Early members of his group included Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Page Hamilton of Helmet, and several members of Swans. Later on, on the early nineties David Baratier attempted to document Branca's teaching style in "They walked in line."
Beginning with Symphony No. 7, Branca began composing for traditional orchestra (although he never abandoned the electric guitar). Branca also plays duets for excessively amplified guitars with his wife, and conducted his 13th symphony for 100 electric guitars at the base of the World Trade Center in New York City in 2001. He recently finished his 14th symphony, which he has performed in France, Belgium, Germany, and in the US with a quartet that includes his wife Regina Bloor on guitar, Tony Cenicola on drums, and Ryan Walsh on bass guitar. More information on his music can be found on his webpage below.
Branca's music has finally begun to receive academic attention. Some scholars, most prominently Kyle Gann, consider him (and Chatham) to be a member of the totalist school of post-minimalism.
Discography
- Lesson #1 For Electric Guitar (99 Records, 1980)
- The Ascension (99 Records, 1981)
- Who Are You Staring At? with John Giorno (GPS, 1982)
- Chicago 82 - A Dip In The Lake (Crepuscule, 1983)
- Symphony #3 (Gloria) (Atavistic, 1983)
- Symphony #1 (Tonal Plexus) (ROIR, 1983)
- The Belly of an Architect (Crepuscule, 1987)
- Symphony #6 (Devil Choirs At The Gates Of Heaven) (Atavistic, 1989)
- Symphony #2 (The Peak of the Sacred) (Atavistic, 1992)
- The World Upside Down (Crepuscule, 1992)
- The Mysteries (Symphonies #8 & #10) (Atavistic, 1994)
- Century XXI USA 2-Electric/Acoustic (New Tone, 1994)
- Symphony #9 (L'eve Future) (Point, 1995)
- Just Another Asshole (Atavistic, 1995)
- Songs '77-'79 (Atavistic, 1996)
- Symphony #5 (Describing Planes Of An Expanding Hypersphere) (Atavistic, 1999)
- Empty Blue (In Between, 2000)
- Renegade Heaven (Cantaloupe, 2000)
External links
- [Edited monologue about Branca's career] as told to Alec Hanley Bemis
- [GlennBranca.com]
- [EST Interview] by and (c) Brian Duguid.
Listening
- [Glenn Branca interview]
- [Epitonic.com: Glenn Branca] featuring track from The Ascension
References
- Branca, Glenn (November 1979). New New York: Rhys Chatham. New York Rocker, 16.
- Cole Gagne: "Glenn Branca", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed January 1, 2006), [(subscription access)]
- John Rockwell: "All Americian Music" (Knopf, 1983)
- John Schaeffer: "New Sounds" (Harper and Row, 1987)
- Tom Johnson: "The Voice Of New Music" (Het Apollohuis, 1989)
- Cole Gagne: "Sonic Transports" (De Falco, 1990)
- Cole Gagne: "Soundpieces II" (Scarecrow Press, 1992)
- Alec Foege: "Confusion is Next" (St. Martins, 1994)
- Geoff Smith and Nicola Walker: "New Voices" (Amadeus Press, 1995)
- William Duckworth: "Talking Music" (Schirmer, 1995)
- Bart Hopkin: "Musical Instrument Design" (See Sharp Press, 1996)
- Kyle Gann: "American Music in The 20th Century" (Schirmer, 1997)
- Bill Milkowski: "Rockers, Jazzbos and Visionaries" (Billboard Books, 1998)
- Roni Sarig: "The Secret History Of Rock" (Billboard Books, 1998)
- Bill Martin: "Avant Rock" (Open Court, 2002)
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