Riley, Terry (Mitchell)
Riley, Terry (Mitchell)
Riley, Terry (Mitchell) , significant American composer and performer; b. Colfax, Calif., June 24, 1935. He studied piano with Duane Hampton at San Francisco State Coll. (1955–57) and composition with Seymour Shifrin and William Denny at the Univ. of Calif, at Berkeley (M.A., 1961). In 1967 he was a creative assoc. at the Center for Creative and Performing Arts at the State Univ. of N.Y. in Buffalo. From 1971 to 1980 he was assoc. prof. at Mills Coll. in Oakland, Calif. In 1979 he held a Guggenheim fellowship. In 1970 Riley was initiated in San Francisco as a disciple of Pandit Pran Nath, the North Indian singer, and followed him to India. He subsequently appeared frequently with him in concert as tampura, tabla, and vocal accompanist until the master’s death in 1996. From 1993 Riley has served as co-director along with Sufi Murshid, Shabda Kahn of the Chisti Sabri India music study tours. From 1989 to 1993 he formed and led the ensemble Khayal; he also performed regularly in solo piano concerts of his works, and appeared often in duo concerts with Indian sitarist Krishna Bhatt, saxophonist George Brooks, and Italian bassist Stefano Scodanibbio. In 1992 he formed a small theater company, The Travelling-Avantt-Gaard, to perform his chamber opera, The Saint Adolf Ring, based on the drawings, poetry, Writings, and mathematical calculations of Adolf Wölfli, an early 20th century Swiss artist who suffered from schizophrenia and whose entire output was created while he was confined in a mental institution. Riley’s contribution to and influence upon the music of the last half of the 20th century is likely incalculable, his In C for Variable Ensemble notated in fragments to be played any number of times at will in the spirit of aleatory latitudinarianism, all within the key of C major, with an occasional F sharp providing a trompe l’oreille effect (1964; San Francisco, May 21, 1965) now being ;de rigeur at concerts attempting serious historical overview. His Concerto for String Quartet and Orch., The Sands (1991; N.Y., May 3, 1992), was the first-ever new music commission from the Salzburg Festival, his recording of Cadenza on the Night Plain for String Quartet (1983) was critically lauded as one of the best classical albums of the year, and his epic 5-quartet cycle, Salome Dances for Peace for String Quartet (1985–87), was nominated for a Grammy Award. In 1990–91 he composed his first orch. work, Jade Palace, for the centenary celebration at N.Y.’s Carnegie Hall, which was performed there by Leonard Siatkin and the Saint Louis Sym. Orch. (Feb. 4, 1991). Riley is currently at work on a set of 24 pieces for guitar and guitar ensemble, The Book of Abbeyozzud, as well as 2 fairy tales for String Orch. and a new piano concerto to feature himself as pianist with the Paul Dresher Ensemble.
Works
DRAMATIC: Chamber Opera: The Saint Adolf Ring (1992). Tape And Instrumental: Trio for Violin, Clarinet, and Cello (1957); Spectra for 3 Winds and 3 Strings (1959); Concert for 2 Pianos and Tape (1960); Earpiece for 2 Pianos and Tape (1960); String Quartet (1960); String Trio (1961); I Can’t Stop No, Mescalin Mix, and She Moves for Tape (1962–63); In C for Variable Ensemble (1964; San Francisco, May 21, 1965); Tread on the Trail for Jazz Musicians (1965); Olson III for Any Instruments and Voices (1966); G-Song for String Quartet (1980); Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector for String Quartet (1980); Cadenza on the Night Plain for String Quartet (1983); The Medicine Wheel for String Quartet (1983); Salome Dances for Peace for String Quartet (1985–87); Chanting the Light of Foresight for Saxophone Quartet (1987); The Room of Remembrance for Vibraphone, Marimba, Piano, and Soprano Saxophone (1987); Chanting the Light of Foresight for Saxophone Quartet (1987); The Crows Rosary for Keyboard and String Quartet (1988); Cactus Rosary for Chamber Ensemble (1990); The Sands, concerto for String Quartet and Orch. (1991; N.Y., May 3, 1992); June Buddhas, concerto for Chorus and Orch., after Jack Kerouac’s Mexico City Blues (N.Y., Nov. 9, 1991); Wölfli Portraits for Flute, Clarinet, Piano, 2 Percussion, Violin, and Cello (1992); Ascension for Guitar (1993); El Hombre, piano quintet (1993); Ritmos and Melos for Violin, Piano, and Percussion (1993); Night Music for Piano (1996); Remember This…loi Voice and 10 Instruments (1997); DeepChandi for String Orch., Dancer, and Tape (1998); MissiGono for Mixed Instruments (1998); 3 Requiem Quartets for String Quartet (1998); Vieux Chateaux for Piano (1998). WITH SYNTHESIZERS: Poppy Nogoods Phantom Band (1966); A Rainbow in Curved Air (1968); Genesis ’70, ballet (1970); Chorale of the Blessed Day for Voice and 2 Synthesizers or Piano and Sitar (1980); Eastern Man for Voice and 2 Synthesizers (1970); ChoraleoftheBlessedDay for Voice and 2 Synthesizers or Piano, Synthesizer, Sitar, Tabla, and Alto Saxophone (1980); Song from the Old Country for Voice, Piano, Sitar, Tabla, String Quartet, and Synthesizer (1980); The Ethereal Time Shadow for Voice and 2 Synthesizers (1982); Offering to Chief Crazy Horse for Voice and 2 Synthesizers (1982); Song of the Emerald Runner for Voice, Piano, String Quartet, Sitar, Tabla, and Synthesizer (1983); Jade Palace for Orch. and Synthesizers (1990–91; N.Y., Feb. 4, 1991); Diamond Fiddle Language for Synthesizer and String Bass (1998; in collaboration with S. Scodanibbio); Shiv-Ji-Ki-Rung for Synthesizer and String Bass (1998; in collaboration with S. Scodanibbio). Other: Various improvisational pieces.
Bibliography
W. Mertens, American Minimal Music: La Monte Young, T. R., Steve Reich, Philip Glass (London, 1991).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire