pianist and radio maker
Recorded under the supervision of John Cage in 1991, and directed by Stephen Drury, with the Caluthumpian Consort: we recorded for Mode Records at Jordan Hall (New England Conservatory), Boston. Pianists include Alanna Battat, Guy Livingston (arrangement) and Joanna Kovitz…
“Daring to be New” —Allan Kozinn, The New York Times
“All about risk” —Sports Illustrated
“Bravura emblematic of the richness than one minute can
hold… A postmodern fantasy.. Superbly shows off Guy
Livingston’s vocal and fingerwork virtuosity.”
—Le Monde
“The composers create radical and independent worlds, full of charm or anguish.” Coup de Coeur Award —Piano Magazine
“Cutting Edge”—Paris Free Voice
“Taking Excess to Extremes” —Bernard Holland, The New York Times
The CD mixes a wide range of new music styles ranging from jazzy and neo-classical works through virtuosic- serialism and unsettling performance-art. Dutch minimalist Louis Andriessen, Rome Prize winner Derek Bermel, agent provocateur Atsushi Yoshinaka, multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp, Guggenheim Fellow and genre-bender Donal Fox, and Pulitzer-prize winner William Bolcom lead off a list of talented composers. This is a brilliant new CD on Wergo Records (Germany) created by American pianist Guy Livingston to showcase the endless possibilities of new turn-of-the-century music: This is not your father’s piano recital.
Speed Study 1, by Dan Warburton
WENDIGO, by Jonathan Katz
Losing it again, by Daniel Landau
What if I just said…, by Carl Faia
Step out of the Car, by Roger Kleier
The Scream, by Donal Fox
Database of Desire, by James Baiye
“scendi un minuto”, by Roberto Andreoni
Mason and Dixon, by Brian Escriv
Brooklyn, October 5, 1941, by Annie Gosfield
re: dance (PNMR), by Paul Beaudoin
Ex tempore, by Marek Zebrowski
not [an] anfang, by Louis Andriessen
Spangles, by Christopher Culpo
42 Second Piano, by Isak Goldschneider
Conflict of Interest, by Richard Brooks
Joke, by Danielle Baas
Cowboy Song, by Charles Shadle
Who asked you?, by Sophie de Wit
EIGHT 8, by Pepe-Tonino Caravaggio
Watermelon Revisited, by T.J. Anderson
The Kodaly Method, by Paul Von Hippel
NA’OU’RA (the Wedding Dance), by Eilon Aviram
59” of Piano, by Jonathan Norton
cold springs branch, 10 p.m., by Alan Frederick Shockley
Hammerklavier XI, by Moritz Eggert
MEDITATION, by Derek Bermel
Tonal Imagery, by Tuyet A. Tran
Slusha, for C.E., by Fritz Lauer
A 60-second Ballet (for chickens), by William Bolcom
Two-Chord Warp, by Joshua Cody
GIRO 1, by Joanna Bailie
1’ de Tonio Kröger, by Martial Robert
Absolutis-s, by Patricia Elizabeth Martinez
PASSATEMPO, by Riccardo Vaglini
im afraid you might ask for a fragment of my soul, by Gene Pritsker
Nakano-ku (à S.D.), by Newt Hinton
Moondrunk, by Ketty Nez
xxx.rhapsody, by Patrick Callahan
prelude 1, by Yoichi Togawa
Punch and Judy’s Waltz, by Barbara Engel
Miro Sketch: Mostly Yellow, by Joseph (Butch) Rovan
Sonata Moirai, by Frederick Frahm
Jenseits des Guten und des Bösen, by Victor Ekimovsky
Verschiebung, by Alper Maral
Piano Piece for Guy, by Stéphane Leach
piece for paws, by Ketzel Cotel
DD (Double D), by Vanessa Lann
Minute Rice, by Walter Haven
Saltarello for Guy, by Giovanni Mancuso
Polis, by Sergio Pallante
réveil, by D. Andrew Stewart
Snaps, by Elliott Sharp
Specks, by Robert Eidschun
Prelude, by Lionel Sainsbury
Tight, by Rick Carrick
Thinking, by Walter Sanchez
HARU NO YOI-Miyabi no Uta, by Atsushi Yoshinaka
Parce-que je le vaux bien, by Atanasio Khyrsh
Theft, by Lansing D. McLoskey
Paris is a moveable feast
Ernest Hemingway
It is hard not to be intrigued by the period between the two wars, in which Paris flourished, and artists thrived. Montparnasse became legendary for its café life, as expats and locals fought their fights, argued over cubism, fashion, and politics, and lived their love affairs dramatically in the public eye. Key american figures were Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, and George Antheil. From the French side, Kiki of Montparnasse, Erik Satie, and Jean Cocteau fueled the passions and artisitic explorations of a generation. Stravinsky, Picasso, and Diaghilev were their heros.
Guy Livingston lived in Paris for 25 years, and is creating this program (detais to be announced) based on artists and writers from the parisian avant-garde ‘entre les deux guerres’…
“George Antheil certainly has genius. I do not believe that he has arrived at the definitive formulation of his art. What he is presently giving us are rather his studies, his researches, which are very close to those of Picasso: without concession, as far as he can in a domain that is often arid. However, I have already been permitted to enjoy the absolutely new pathos of it, the uprooting rhythm, a joyful drunkenness of contradiction, a private discovery such as children sing to themselves— it drives out demons and fixes gods without asking them for their opinion.”
Adrienne Monnier, poet and bookstore owner on the rue de l’Odéon, Paris, in the 1920’s
Radio Show produced by Guy Livingston:
In Search of Henry Cowell for Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Into the Music)
two episodes about this maverick American composer and inventor who, despite many personal challenges (including 4 years in San Quentin prison) managed to create a fascinating and powerful body of work, ranging from magisterial American symphonies to quirky avant-garde piano works.
I’m involved in several projects related to music, sound, silence, and space travel. Aside from the lecture below, I’ve also recently participated in a show at the Leiden Observatory. This is related to my contribution to a conceptual Moon Gallery which could be launched and landed on the Moon as early as 2022.
“the comic talent of a Buster Keaton”
—Het Parool, Netherlands
media art/installations
in his new series, “listen (to) the untitled 6.3”, multimedia artist Guy Livingston explores the cityscape via sound. In New York, nearly everyone is walking down the street, lost in their own sonic world – listening to their own soundtrack on their own headphones; or talking to their own family or friends.
But what if you listened to someone else’s life or music? This is the challenge Livingston takes on with his listen to the untitled series.
Random residents stop on their way to work or play, and listen to the urban furniture: traffic cones, mailboxes, lampposts.
Each object tells a story; alternating with music inspired by the streetscape. No two objects are alike.
