Related Composer Links by Kyle Gann

Michael Robinson with 16 composers featured at Kyle Gann website from 1998-2010

 

La Monte Young, master of minimalism and perfectly tuned drones, now with his own authorized web page 

Robert Ashley, the leading opera composer of the late 20th century, an amazing, visionary composer 

William Duckworth, the leading postminimalist and a composer of enchanting piano and chamber works 

Rhys Chatham, a seminal figure in Downtown music and composer of works for 100 electric guitars 

Pauline Oliveros, pioneer of meditation music, and one of the great organizers for new music 

Philip Glass, the minimalist whose early rhythms and harmonies Kyle Gann was most influenced by 

Glenn Branca, creator of symphonies for electric guitars 

Diamanda Galas, spine-tingling songstress of the avant-garde 

Doctor Nerve, Nick Didkovsky's New York ensemble for hot computer-written rock/jazz/classical fusion 

Harry Partch Lives in Corporeal, a spirited debate forum for hard- and soft-core Partchians 

Salvatore Martirano, one of the great Midwest originals 

Michael Robinson, a west-coast live-electronics composer of wild imagination 

Anthony De Ritis, a computer music whiz and Kyle Gann's most famous and thriving composition student, now on faculty at Northeastern University

Kaikhosru Sorabji, acerbic critic and Parsi composer of gargantuan piano works 

Giacinto Sclesi, Italian mystic composer with a "one-tone" philosophy of music 

Ivan Wyschnegradsky, amazing Russian-born composer whose mystical vision impelled him to write music in quarter-tones and sixth-tones

 

June 9, 2002 screenshot of Related Links page featured from 1998-2010 at kylegann.com

 

Among the composers included here, La Monte Young excitedly telephoned me in Manhattan after hearing a radio interview on WBAI FM in 1991 featuring my first album, Trembling Flowers. Like favorable strong trade winds blowing, we conversed for over three hours touching upon myriad musical topics. During our talk we discovered how both of us studied privately with Lee Konitz; La Monte in the fifties, and myself in the seventies.

Diamanda Galas gave important encouragement for my musical aspirations after meeting her in 1981 as a visiting artist while I was in the graduate composition program at CalArts. Diamanda advised me to disregard naysayers she was certain were envious while noting, "Something very sincere and breathtaking is owned by you."

Salvatore Martirano invited me to meet with him when he was a visiting artist at CalArts in 1992, stating with enthusiasm, "Whatever you're doing keep it up!" after listening to recordings of various compositions while confessing he had no idea how my music was conceived and executed. Sal was especially taken by what became the title track of Fire Monkey, and Tumult, later included on Robinson Gardens.

I met Philip Glass briefly following a 1994 concert he gave in Brooklyn, the reason being my friend, Ray Manzarek, had earlier done an album with Philip featuring Carmina Burana.

I also met Rhys Chatham briefly at the Kitchen in 1978, both of us knowing Leonard Altman, who later asked Steve Reich to mentor me in 1983.

Either William Duckworth or Philip Corner, I regretfully don't recall, was in the studio with me at WBAI FM in 1991, each of us having half of the program. I recall a surprised look on his face upon hearing Haunted Trees from the Trembling Flowers album.

I once met Robert Ashley briefly at Roulette in 1989 during a concert featuring the music of Salvatore Martirano. Joan La Barbara congratulated me in 1991 for my first album, Trembling Flowers, saying she heard it at Robert Ashley's home.

Kyle Gann gave what I later learned is his highest compliment for a composer, describing me as "an original" while writing about Fire Monkey for the Village Voice in September 1994. In July 2015, following a spontaneously arranged riveting and delightful three-hour outdoor cafe lunch in Rhinebeck, New York covering a wide range of musical subjects, Kyle invited me to lecture about my music at Bard College, doing so in October 2016.

- Michael Robinson, February 2021, Los Angeles

 

© 2021 Michael Robinson All rights reserved

 

Michael Robinson is a Los Angeles-based composer, programmer, pianist and musicologist. His 199 albums include 152 albums for meruvina and 47 albums of piano improvisations. Robinson has been a lecturer at UCLA, Bard College and California State University Long Beach and Dominguez Hills.