Prime Source 17 by Tony Gnazzo

January 17, 1973

Dear Anne,

Here is a set of a reduction of the score to Prime Source 17. Lest you consider me frivolous, allow me to explain in part the notation and the representation. The piece is essentially a voice/tape piece which exists in two versions.

Version 1 is for the tape alone. The tape is about 13 minutes long and is a 4-channel thing. The voice/tape version uses a somewhat sparser two-channel tape with live voices paired (it can use 2-, 4-, 6-, etc. parts). The symbols on the sheets are (were) all derived from normal english usage, however they were for the most part chosen because they are a bit unusual when viewed alone. That is most of the dyads or triads are connective and in usual usage the vowels preceding and following make up the salient sounds of the words.

I chose these particular dyads because when viewed alone many of them are subject to very novel sonic interpretations. The performer on the tape was given a basic script of things such as dynamics, articulations, densities, etc. and was then asked to run through the series of sounds (which at that time was in a linear order). The tape was then rewound and the second, third and fourth layers were recorded with the same basic guidelines.

The three sheets represent the three "movements" of the work. The initial "Minus 4" being quiet, a bit brittle and relatively dense. The middle movement is adagio with longer articulations a rather sparse texture and very quiet. The "Plus 4" is the grand finale being the fastest of the movements. The piece doesn't mean anything other than in terms of the relationships of the various sheets.

This is the 17th of a series of very different word-tape pieces which I have been working on since August 71. I hope you don't mind my having run off on the analytic side. I hate to do so normally but I seem to have done so.

Peace Tony