In June 2020 I was invited to speak about the late Mario Davidovsky’s series of Synchronisms for instruments or instrumental ensembles with electronics. Together with Seth Knopp, Director of Yellow Barn, and Curtis Macomber, violinist and faculty member, my presentation and the conversation that followed introduced a new generation of performers about the background which informed these unique pieces. The students were already into Davidovsky. Yellow Barn’s pandemic-perfect project was that the student chamber music players had each been assigned, with coaching, to learn a Synchronism, and then to submit a recording. Fully exploratory and new– futuristic as they seemed in the 1970s– a lyrical and challenging work like the 1988 Synchronism No. 9, for violin and electronic sounds, brings with it the roots of the European musical tradition and the experiences of growing up South. As music, it will surely last. Congratulations to the students, and to Curt Macomber who made a wonderful recording on Bridge.
Mario Davidovsky 1934- 2019.
