Glenn Branca - Symphony No.1 (Tonal Plexus) [1983]

" Symphony No. 1 (Tonal Plexus) premiered at the Performing Garage that summer. It was Branca's largest piece yet employing 16 musicians including, horn, trumpet, sax, keyboards and in one movement a large oil drum played with a 2x4, as well as some guitars strung with untempered steel wire from a hardware store, and Branca's usual complement of octave tuned guitars sometimes stroked with drumsticks. The crude sound of the piece was thought of as a kind of punk rock noise music. Just two months later he would premiere another new piece "Indeterminate Activity of Resultant Masses" at Art on the Beach in lower Manhattan. This piece, for 10 guitars and drums, would become one of his most controversial when performed at The New Music America Festival 1982 in Chicago. Although the 35 minute piece had been a success John Cage had intensely disliked it and created a furor at the festival and in the press. A recording of Cage's inflammatory remarks has been released on Atavistic along with the first recording of the piece (which had gone unreleased for 25 years).

MySpace.com - Glenn Branca
Glenn Branca: The official web site

Symphony No.1 (Tonal Plexus) [1983]















+++++++++++
Glenn Branca with Paranoid Critical Revolution, ATP