Avant-garde pianist in the Fifties, David Tudor gradually turned to experiments and electroacoustics performances. In addition to its famous collaboration with John Cage, he also committed several installations of which the most outstanding is undoubtedly Rainforest: a series of sculptures, mostly ready-mades, suspended and connected one to the other by microswitches, amplified and being used themselves as amplifiers. According to the adjustments and the position of the spectator, the power and amplification differ, each one tracing its own acoustic course. Two versions are proposed here, the first, composed for Merce Cunningham is a live performance where inflated giant helium cushions (an Andy Warhol’s creation) which floated among the dancers standed as the amplifiers, the second is a recording of the installation.
Rainforest
Mode records - 64
• Rainforest Version I
(1968).mp3
• Sliding pitches in the Rainforest in the field:
Rainforest Version IV (1973).mp3