Borges Music – Roger Reynolds

Roger Reynolds
(b. 1934)

Born in Detroit, Roger Reynolds is an American composer who holds a degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Michigan. An eclectic and experimental artist whose work explores the boundaries of space, perception, and technology, Reynolds music is influenced by the Second Viennese School and experimentalists such as Edgard Varèse and John Cage. Many of his compositions are built around texts derived from mythology and Modernist literature, and his impressive catalog covers a wide range of musical territory from intimate string quartets to multimedia productions involving computers, video, dance and theater.

Among numerous other awards and commissions, Reynolds won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Whispers Out of Time, a piece written for string orchestra and inspired by John Ashbery’s Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror. Literature is a frequent inspiration for Reynolds, and his work has employed the texts of Jorge Luis Borges, James Joyce, Gabriel García Márquez, Herman Melville, and many others. Reynolds is currently professor of music at the University of California at San Diego, which he helped establish as a modern pioneer of technologically-enhanced composition, a sister institution to France’s famous IRCAM.

Borges-Related Works

Each of Roger Reynold’s Borges-related works has its own page with information, reviews, liner notes, and off-site music samples.

Compass (1973)
For tenor, bass, cello, and double-bass, this is a setting of the poem “Compass,” from El otro, el mismo.

Voicespace III, “Eclipse” (1979)
For voice and tape, with texts by Borges, Joyce, García Márquez, Issa, Melville, and Stevens.

Voicespace IV, “The Palace” (1980)
For voice and pre-recorded materials; a “setting” of the poem “The Palace” from El oro de los tigres.

Additional Information

Roger Reynolds Homepage
Roger Reynolds maintains comprehensive web site.

Wikipedia Reynolds Page
Wikipedia’s page on Robert Reynolds is fairly detailed.

Library of Congress
The Library of Congress has a Reynolds collection.

Mode Reynolds Page
The Roger Reynolds profile at Mode Records.

Reynolds Interview
Bruce Duffie conducted an interview with Roger Reynolds in December 1989.

Author: Allen B. Ruch
Last Modified: 30 August 2024
Borges Music Page: Borges Music
Main Borges Page: The Garden of Forking Paths
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