Jacob Druckman, "Animus I"

-- LINER NOTES --

Animus I for trombone and tape was composed in 1966 in the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. The larger formal aspects of the work are concerned with the relationship between live player and the tape: man and the machine which he created in his own image. In concert performance the trombone player presents certain dramatic-theatrical elements. After the first splitting off of the tape and the ensuing dialogue the player sits while the electronic sounds move too quickly for him to compete. The man begins again with angrier, more animal-like material, the tape again enters in imitation but this time overwhelming him and driving him off the stage. The tape exhausts itself, the man reenters, the two finish in a tenuous balance.

Jacob Druckman was born in 1928 in Philadelphia. His musical studies were at Juilliard, at Tanglewood with Aaron Copland and at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris. In 1954 he received a Fulbright Grant for study in France and in 1956 a Guggenheim Grant in composition. Works have been commissioned by: Lado (String Quartet No. 2, for the Juilliard Quartet, 1966); Walter M. Naumburg Foundation (The Sound of Time, 1964); Juilliard (ballet music for Jose Limon, 1960); Berkshire Music Festival, Tanglewood (Violin Concerto, for Jascha Heifetz Award, 1955) and others. Mr. Druckman is the recipient of the 1967 publication award from the Society for the Publication of American Music for his Dark Upon The Harp which is recorded by C.R.I. He is a member of the faculty of the Juillard School of Music.

Animus I is published by MCA Music, New York.

Andre Smith, trombonist, was a member of Leopold Stokowski's American Symphony Orchestra for several seasons and is now with the Metropolitan Opera orchestra. He's a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music.