Dean Drummond

Dean Drummond (born January 22, 1949 in Los Angeles , † April 13, 2013 in Princeton ) was an American composer , arranger , trumpeter and orchestra conductor. His work included microtonal and electronic music . From 1990 until his death he was the curator for Harry Partch's instruments .

Life

Drummond attended the University of Southern California and the California Institute of the Arts , where he received trumpet training from Don Ellis and John Clyman , and studied composition with Arnold Schönberg's assistant, Leonard Stein . As a student he became a member of Partch's ensemble and was at the world premiere of some of his works such as “Daphne of the Dunes”, “And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell in Petaluma” or “Delusion of the Fury” as well as the recordings for Columbia Records involved.

In 1976 Drummond moved to New York, where the following year he and his temporary wife, the flautist Stefani Starin, founded the new band , which dealt with microtonal music. Most of the works he composed were written for this ensemble; with him he also recorded some of these works. Then he began to revive Partch's instruments, which he was able to bring from San Diego to New York in 1991, and which was kept at Montclair State University from 1999 , where he held an associate professorship. He was also the director of the New York Consortium for New Music from 2002 and was involved in the production of the Sonic Boom Festival . With the zoomoozophone and the juststrokerods , he himself developed instruments that fit into the sound cosmos of Partch.

Works

Solo and duo works for instrumentalists

• Suite for Clarinet (1970)
• Organ Toccata (1971)
• Cloud Garden II (1974)
• Post Rigabop Mix (1977)
• Copégoro (1978)
• Columbus Fullmoon (1979/1985)
• Different Drums for Different Strokes (1988)
• Mars Face (1997) - violin and microtonally programmed synthesizer
• Four Miniatures (1997): Syncopation in Glass and Talking Bowls , Bow, Chords and Zoom and Three Dream Fragments
• Two Short Zoomoozophone Duos (1997)
• Two Short Solos for Cloud Chamber Bowls (1997)
• Precious Metals (1997)

Vocal compositions

• Bertrans de Born (1971)
• My Data's Gone (1997)
• It Must Be Time (1997)
• Congressional Record (1999)
• Café Buffé (2006) - opera

Works for several instrumentalists

• Ni Kioku (1971) - flute, celeste, harp, violin, cello, two percussionists
• Dedication (1972) - oboe, harp, string quartet, double bass, three percussionists
• Fission (1972) - flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, harp, vibraphone, violin, viola, cello
• Ghost Tangents (1973/1975) - piano, three percussionists
• Cloud Garden I (1974/9) - flute, piano, four percussionists
• Zurrjir (1976) - flute, clarinet, piano / celeste, three percussionists
• Dirty Ferdie (Quartet Version) (1976) - four percussionists
• Little Columbus (1979) (Part 1 of Columbus ) (1980) - two percussionists
• Columbus (1980) - flute, three percussionists
• Dirty Ferdie (Octet Version) (1981) - eight percussionists
• Mysteries (Octet Version) (1982/6) - flute, violin, cello, five percussionists
• Mysteries (Quintet Version) (1983) - five percussionists
• Mysteries (Septet Version) (1983) - flute, bass trombone, five percussionists
• Then or Never (1984) - flute, viola, double bass, three percussionists
• Ruby Half Moon (1987) - 2 trumpets, trombone, bass trombone, four percussionists
• Incredible Time (to live and die) (1988) - amplified flute, microtonally programmed synthesizer, three percussionists
• Dance of the Seven Veils (1992) - flute, cello, chromelodeon, microtonally programmed synthesizer, three percussionists
• The Day the Sun Stood Still (1994) - flute, trumpet, cello, microtonally programmed synthesizer, harmonic canons, four percussionists
• Before the Last Laugh (1995) - flute, cello, microtonally programmed synthesizer, three harmonic canons, two percussionists
• The Last Laugh (The Last Man) (1996) - live film score for the 1924 silent film by FW Murnau - flutes, cello, trumpet, chromelodeon, microtonally programmed synthesizer, four harmonic canons, four percussionists
• For the Last Laugh (1998) - suite from the film score - flutes, cello, trumpet, chromelodeon, microtonally programmed synthesizer, four harmonic canons, four percussionists
• MS Genitron (2001) - ten percussionists
• Phil Harmonic (2002) - 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, alto saxophone, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, chromelodeon, zoomoozophone, timpani, percussion, strings

Film music

• 1995 - Musical Outsiders: An American Legacy - Harry Partch, Lou Harrison, and Terry Riley . Directed by Michael Blackwood .

Discographic notes

• Newband Play Microtonal Work (Mode, 1994)
• Newband: Dance of the Seven Veils (Music and Arts, 1996)
• Newband: Harry Partch, Dean Drummond (Innova, 2002)

Web links

• Web presence ( memento of August 26, 2000 in the Internet Archive )
• Dean Drummond, Musician and Instrument Maker, Dies at 64 , New York Times , April 18, 2013
• Dean Drummond at Allmusic (English)