The Music of Alvin Curran and MEV

A selection of recordings and live performances by Alvin Curran and the electronic improvisational group Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV). MEV was originally founded in Rome in 1966 by Curran, Richard Teitelbaum, Frederic Rzewski, Allan Bryant and others. It has since gone through several personnel changes and these later formations are sometimes referred to as MEV2. This program demonstrates the classic avant-garde, electro-acoustic music style that defined the MEV sound during the 1960s and early 70s. Using hand-built electronics and amplifying various household objects MEV concerts during this period were highly improvisational and occasionally quite loud. Anybody interested in the early electronic music of composers such as John Cage, David Tudor, and others should find these live concert recordings a fascinating window into those first days of experimentation with electronic and amplified sounds.