Alvin Lucier

Material Press publishes the scores of Alvin Lucier.

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Each link connects to a recording of that work in the discography.

Piper (2000) for solo bagpipe

Fruits and Vegetables (2000) for baritone voice and piano

On a carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon (2000) for koto with pure wave oscillator

What Day Is Today? (1999) eight short works on tape, based on natural radio waves and other date from the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn

Heavier Than Air (1999) for any number of players with carbon dioxide filled balloons

Diamonds, for One, Two or Three Orchestras (1999)

Cassiopeia, Five Stars in the Shape of a "W" (1999) for orchestra

Wave Painting Songs (1998) for soprano

Rare Books (1997) dedicated to Elizabeth Swaim

Opera with Objects (1997) for performer(s) with resonant objects, composed for Sam Ashley

Small Waves (1997) for string quartet, trombone and piano, 2 dancers with 6 partially filled water containers

Sweepers (1997) for orchestra

I Remember (1997) for chorus with resonant objects

Sizzles (1997) for organ and drums with fine strewn material

Two Twenty-Two (1996) for violin, clarinet, trombone, cello and double bass, a birthday memo for Jean Shaw

40 Rooms (1996) for quintet and LARES System.

Q (1996), for quintet and pure wave oscillators.

Theme (1994) for voices and sonorous vessels, on poems of John Ashbery

Hands (1994) for organ with one or more players

Sierpinski Lines (1994) for alto saxophone and twelve strings

Night Sounds with Flame (1994) for recorded bird calls and sensitive flame

UNAMUNO (1994) for four equal voices

Two Stones (1994) for performer with two pieces of basalt

Spider Paths (1994) for extended lute

Spira Mirabilis (1994) for bass sustaining instrument and electric light

The Sacred Fox (1994) for voice with gourds, bowls, boxes and other resonant vessels

Disappearances (1994) for string quartet

Music for Gamelan Instruments, Microphones, Amplifiers and Loudspeakers (1994)

Distant Drums (1994) for amplified percussion

Wind Shadows (1994) for solo trombone with closely tuned pure wave oscillators

Serenade (1994) sound installation in collaboration with the sculptor Trimpin

Music for Accordion with Slow Sweep Pure Wave Oscillators (1993)

Panorama (1993) for trombone and piano

Indian Summer (1993) for electronic cello

Music for Soprano with Slow Sweep Pure Wave Oscillators (1993)

Music for Baritone with Slow Sweep Pure Wave Oscillators (1993)

Serenade (1993) for oboe and string quartet

In Memoriam Stuart Marshall (1993) for bass clarinet and pure wave oscillator

Music for Piano with Half-closed Lid (1993) sound installation or performance with dancers

Stacks (1993) site-specific work for solo trombone and sculpture by Richard Serra, Yale Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

Three Wall Drawings (1993) work-in-progress for string trio

Music for Cello with One or More Amplified Vases (1992)

Six Geometries (1992) for chorus with slow sweep pure wave oscillators

Music for Piano with Slow Sweep Pure Wave Oscillators (1992)

Music for Piano with One or More Snare Drums (1992)

Letters (1992) for clarinet, violin, cello and piano

Navigations for Strings (1992) for string quartet

Possible Time and Motion Reversals (1991) work-in-progress for five players, two pure wave oscillators

Amplifier and Reflector One (1991) for open umbrella, roasting pan, and amplified clock

Music for Piano with Amplified Sonorous Vessels (1991)

Berlin is a Resonant City (1991) sound installation

Nothing is Real (Strawberry Fields Forever) (1990) for piano, amplified teapot, tape recorder and miniature sound system

Music for Snare Drum, Pure Wave Oscillator, and One or More Reflective Surfaces (1990)

Self-Portrait (1989) for solo flute and wind anemometer

Clackers and Swoopers (1989) for three fire engine sirens and dancers with blocks of wood

Carbon Copies (1989) for saxophone, piano, percussion and environmental recordings

Attaché Case (1988) audio tape, Metro North, New Haven to and from New York

Silver Streetcar for the Orchestra (1988) for amplified triangle

Fideliotrio (1987) for viola, cello and piano

RPM's (1987) for Kenneth Levy on his 60th birthday

Kettles (1987) for five timpani and two pure wave oscillators

A Tribute to James Tenney (1986) for solo double bass and pure wave oscillators

Sound on Paper (1985) sound installation or performance for framed paper, loudspeakers and audio oscillator

Precious Metals (1985) work-in-progress for brass and pure wave oscillators

Septet (1985) for three winds, four strings and pure wave oscillators

Serenade (1985) for thirteen winds and pure wave oscillators

In Memoriam Jon Higgins (1984) for clarinet and pure wave oscillator

Spinner (1984) sound installation for six closely tuned pure wave oscillators

Eleven Solos and a Duet (1984) for female voice, clarinet, flute, horn, mallet instruments and a string quartet

Seesaw (1983) sound installation for one fixed and one slow sweep pure wave oscillator

Intervals (1983) for chorus and sound-sensitive lights

Crossings (1982) for small orchestra with slow sweep pure wave oscillator

Music for Alpha Waves, Assorted Percussion, and Automated Coded Relays (1982)

Risonanza (1982) for three players and resonant object

Sferics (1981) sound installation and recordings of ionospheric disturbances, for large-loop antennas, tape recorder and playback system

Reflections of Sound from the Wall (1981) for audio oscillator and moving wall

Music for Pure Waves, Bass Drums and Acoustic Pendulums (1980) sound installation and performance for slow sweep oscillator, loudspeakers, bass drums and suspended ping pong balls

Words on Windy Corners (1980) for voices, tape delay system and moving loudspeakers

Lullaby (for Amanda) (1980) for solo voice, unamplified or amplified

Job's Coffin (1980) for amplified chest of drawers

Shapes of the Sounds from the Board (1979) for piano

Solar Sounder I (1979) sound installation powered and controlled by sunlight. In collaboration with electronic designer John Fullemann

Clocker (1978) for performer with galvanic skin response sensor, audio digital delay system, amplified clock and small loudspeakers

Ghosts (1978) for audio oscillator, loudspeakers, and performer with sound-sensitive light

Directions of Sounds from the Bridge (1978) sound installation and performance for stringed instrument, audio oscillator and sound-sensitive lights

Music on a Long Thin Wire (1977) sound installation for audio oscillator and electronic monochord

Tyndall Orchestrations (1976) for female voice, sensitive flame, players with bunsen burners and glass tubes, and recorded birdcalls

Bird and Person Dyning (1975) for performer with microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers and electronic birdcall

Outlines of Persons and Things (1975) for microphones, loudspeakers and electronic sounds

Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas (1973-1974) for singers, players, dancers and unattended percussion; new version for female voice, clarinet, flute, horn, mallet instruments, string quartet and pure wave oscillators (1984)

The Fires in the Minds of the Dancers (1974) movement of eight sound effects in a quadrophonic playback environment

World Music System (1972) for bowed string instruments

RMSIM 1, The Bird of Bremen Flies Through the Houses of the Burghers (1972) computer-controlled sound environment

The Queen of the South (1972) for players, responsive surfaces, strewn material and closed-circuit television systems

Gentle Fire (1971) for any number of synthesizers

The Duke of York (1971) for voices and synthesizers

Quasimodo the Great Lover (1970) for relays of amplification systems

"I am sitting in a room" (1970) for voice and electromagnetic tape

(Hartford) Memory Space (1970) for any number of instrumental players with recordings of environmental sounds

Hymn (1970) amplification of live sculptural activities

The Only Talking Machine of Its Kind in the World (1969) for speaker and tape delay system

Vespers (1968) acoustic orientation by means of echolocation, for players with hand-held echolocation devices

Chambers (1968) moving large and small resonant environments

North American Time Capsule (1967) for voices and vocoder

Shelter (1967) for vibration pickups, amplification system and enclosed space

Whistlers (1967, withdrawn) for recordings of ionospheric disturbances and electronics

Music for Solo Performer (1965) for enormously amplified brain waves and percussion

Mafia (1964) for pianist and four assistants

Composition for Pianist and Mother (1964)

Poem (1963) for string quartet

That the Night Come (1962, unfinished sketch) for five voices

Song (1962) for soprano

Action Music (1962) for piano, book one

Elegy for Albert Anastasia (1962-1965) electromagnetic tape - very low sounds mostly below human audibility

The Witch (1961) for female voice and three percussion players

Fragments for strings (1961) for string quartet

I Sing of a Maiden (1958) for soprano and instrumental ensemble

Sonata da camera (1956) for brass and percussion

Arioso and Allegro (1955) for piano

Partita (1954, withdrawn) for soprano and string trio

Concertino (1953) for oboe and string orchestra

Sonatina (1953) for piano

Kyrie (1952) for young women's voices with organ accompaniment

 

Theatre Music

"Skin, Meat, Bone" the Wesleyan Project (1994) in collaboration with actor Keith McDermott and director Robert Wilson

"Chinese Space" (1994) in collaboration with poet Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge and sculptor Richard Tuttle

"Childrens' Games" by Dick Wheeler (1993)

"King Henry V" by Shakespeare (1969)

"fire!" by John Roc (1969)

"Antigone" by Sophocles (1967)

"The Waters of Babylon" by John Arden (1965)

"The Maids" by Jean Genet (1959)

"Dr. Faustus" by Christopher Marlowe (1958)

 

Film Music

"Circles" by Takahiko Iimura (1969)

"White Calligraphy" by Takahiko Iimura (1968)

"Shelter 9999" by Takahiko Iimura (1967)

 

Television Music

"Philoctetes" by Sophocles (1967) WGBH-Television