Top 100 Composers: William Kraft
As I seem to be saying so often in these "Top 100 Composers" notes, here's another composer that I choose not because I think he's a great innovator but because everything I've heard by him impresses me as 'solid' - a word choice of dubious usefulness because it's a metaphor. What I mean is is that I find each piece thoroughly & thoughtfully composed, there's nothing sloppy or lazy about them.
Of course, Kraft is 1st & foremost, but far from exclusively, a percussion music composer. The blossoming outward of '20th century' 'western' music heavily relied on the expansion of timbre that percussion & electronics enabled. There've been many composers working deeply with percussion since the early days of Varèse's "Ionisation" & Roldan's "Ritmicas" but few have composed as many percussion pieces as Kraft.
Kraft was the timpanist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Roger Bobo was the solo tubaist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Kraft composed "Encounters II" (for Unaccompanied Tuba) specifically for Bobo. Thomas Stevens was the co-principle trumpeter with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He was another virtuoso instrumentalist with a taste for (what was then) new music. If every orchestra had musicians who produced recordings with such substantial repertoire then every orchestra would have much to be proud of. William Kraft does the Philharmonic proud.
- January 4, 2018 note from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Volume 1:
side 1 of a 90 minute tape:
01. "Encounters II" - 1966 - 6:00 (from the "Roger Bobo & tuba play" LP, Crystal Records S125 stereo)
02. "Momentum" - 1967 - 5:05 (from the "Percussion by Wiliam Kraft" LP, Crystal Records/Stereo/S104 - also on the "Percussion by William Kraft" CD, Crystal Records CD124)
03. "Triangles" - 1965-1968 - 18:00 (from the "Percussion by Wiliam Kraft" LP, Crystal Records/Stereo/S104 - also on the "Percussion by William Kraft" CD, Crystal Records CD124)
04. "Theme & Variations" - I'm guessing 1969 (the LP appears to've been issued in 1970) - 8:10 (from the "Percussion by Wiliam Kraft" LP, Crystal Records/Stereo/S104 - also on the "Percussion by William Kraft" CD, Crystal Records CD124)
side 2 of a 90 minute tape:
05. "Cadenze" - pre-1973 - 22:00 (from the "Three West Coast Composers" LP, Desto DC 7166)
06. "Des Imagistes" - 1974 - 23:41 (from the "William Kraft" LP, CRI SD 547 - also on the "William Kraft" CD, CRI CD 639)
Volume 2:
sides 1 & 2 of a 90 minute tape:
07. soundtrack to "Avalanche" - 1978 - 1:31:00
Volume 3:
sides 1 of a 90 minute tape:
08. "Soliloquy: Encounters I" - premiered in 1975 - 13:45 (from the "Percussion by William Kraft" CD, Crystal Records CD124)
09. "Translucences" - 1979 - 11:16 (from the "Contrasts" LP, CRS Society 8739)
10. "The Sublime and the Beautiful" - 1979 - 15:10 (from the "William Kraft" LP, CRI SD 547 - also on the "William Kraft" CD, CRI CD 639)
side 2 of a 90 minute tape:
11. "Gallery '83" - 1983 - 13:01 (from the "William Kraft" LP, CRI SD 547 - also on the "William Kraft" CD, CRI CD 639)
12. "Interplay" - 1982-1984 - 16:56 (from the "William Kraft" CD, first edition music FECD-0044)
Volume 4:
side 1 of a 90 minute tape:
13. "Contextures II: The Final Beast" - 1985-1986 - 33:06 (from the "William Kraft" CD, first edition music FECD-0044)
side 2 of a 90 minute tape:
14. "Of Ceremonies, Pageants, and Celebrations" - 1986-1987 - 12:03 (from the "William Kraft" CD, first edition music FECD-0044)
15. "Quartet for the Love of Time" - 1987 - 11:05 (from the "William Kraft" CD, CRI CD 639)
16. "Quartet for Percussion" - premiered November 7, 1988 - 14:51 (from the "Percussion by William Kraft" CD, Crystal Records CD124)
In my copy of the score, pages 14 & 15 were in the wrong order so I've corrected that here:
idioideo at verizon dot net
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Anti-Neoism page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Audiography page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Bibliography page
to my "Blaster" Al Ackerman index
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Books page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE BYOC page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Censored or Rejected page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Collaborations page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE (d) compositions page
to Amir-ul Kafirs' Facebook page
to the "FLICKER" home-page for the alternative cinematic experience
to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's GoodReads profile
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Haircuts page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Home Tapers page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE index page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Instagram Poetry page
to a listing of tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's manifestations on the Internet Archive
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE as Interviewee index
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE as Interviewer index
to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE'S Linked-In profile
to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's Mail Art page
to the mm index
to see an underdeveloped site re the N.A.A.M.C.P. (National Association for the Advancement of Multi-Colored Peoples)
to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's Neoism page
to the DEFINITIVE Neoism/Anti-Neoism website
to the Philosopher's Union website
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE movie-making "Press: Criticism, Interviews, Reviews" home-page
to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's Score Movies
to SMILEs
to find out more about why the S.P.C.S.M.E.F. (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Sea Monkeys by Experimental Filmmakers) is so important
to the "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - Sprocket Scientist" home-page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Top 100s page
to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's Top 100 Composers index
to Psychic Weed's Twitter page
to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's Vimeo index
to Vine movies relevant to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE made by Ryan Broughman
to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's presence in the Visual Music Village
for info on tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's tape/CD publishing label: WIdémoUTH
to a very small selection of tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's Writing