It was Brown’s disinterest in the staple European approaches to electronic composition, namely synthesis and music “concrete”, that lead Brown to accept a commission for his 1963 Times Five. Brown choose instead to concentrate on the spacial qualities made possible by the arrangement of loudspeakers throughout the concert venue. This approach enables for the development of an array of formations, as determined by the live performers proximity to the speakers. In addition to Times Five, MISE-EN is to present Tracer (1985), which is later development of this approach for the inclusion of electronic elements in composition. “There has always been a layering and collage process in my work; the idea of 2 or more things transforming each other by being in “flexible” relationships to one another.” says Brown in his notes on Tracer. This transforming, mobile-like quality of his music is here exemplified through his reinterpretation of a 1963 painting by Robert Rauschenberg.
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Earle Brown’s graphic scores are known for being both unique in their mode of expression, and for the variety of arrangement made possible through his radical approach to visual composition. This music represents an approach to composition which has focused so intently on material that it has become deconstructed, as though a black hole had formed at the center of it’s inception, infinitely remaining relevant through constant reconstruction of its constituent elements. It is wondrous to behold this reformation of events and appreciate it not in cult-like splendor, but in a state of constant refinement, with the musicians of ENSEMBLE MISE-EN as its fine harbinger.

PROGRAM
String Quartet (1965)
Times Five (1963)
Tracer (1985)
Folio and 4 Systems (1954)