
Carl Stone performing at Cité de la Musique, Paris, November 1, 2003
'Carl Stone' (born 'Carl Joseph Stone',
February 10,
1953) is an American
composer, primarily working in the field of live
electronic music. His works have been performed in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and the Near East.
Stone studied composition at the
California Institute of the Arts with
Morton Subotnick and
James Tenney and has composed electro-acoustic music almost exclusively since
1972. In addition to his composition and performance schedule, he is a faculty member in the Department of Information Media, School of Information Science and Technology at
Chukyo University in
Japan.
Stone utilizes a laptop computer as his primary instrument and his works often feature very slowly developing manipulations of samples of acoustic music, speech, or other sounds. Because of this, as well as his preference for tonal melodic and harmonic materials similar to those used in popular musics, Stone's work has been associated with the movement known as
minimalism.
Prior to his settling on the laptop, in the 1980s, he created a number of electronic and collage works utilizing various electronic equipment as well as
turntables. Prominent works from this period include ''
Dong Il Jang'' (1982) and ''
Shibucho'' (1984), both of which subjected a wide variety of appropriated musical materials (e.g.
Okinawan folk song, European
Renaissance music, 1960s
Motown, etc.) to fragmentation and
looping. In this way his work paralleled innovations being made in the early days of
rap and
hip hop (e.g.
Grandmaster Flash, of whose work he was unaware at the time). It was during this period that he began naming many of his works after his favorite restaurants (often Asian ones).
His first residency in Japan, sponsored by the
Asian Cultural Council, was from November 1988 to April 1989. While living in
Tokyo he collected more than 50 hours of recordings of the city's urban soundscape, which he later used as the basis for his radio composition ''Kamiya Bar'', sponsored by
Tokyo FM radio, and released on a CD of the same name by the Italian label NewTone / Robi Droli.
Stone has collaborated frequently with Asian performers, including traditional instrumentalists such as
Min Xiao-Fen (
pipa), Yumiko Tanaka (
shamisen), Kazue Sawai (
koto), Michiko Akao (
ryuteki), and those working with modern instruments, such as
Otomo Yoshihide (turntables, guitar),
Kazuhisa Uchihashi (guitar,
daxophone),
Yuji Takahashi (computer, piano), and vocalists such as Reisu Saki and Haco. He has also collaborated on an album with
Hirohito Ihara's
Radicalfashion.
Beginning in the early years of the 21st century, Stone began to compose more frequently for acoustic instruments and ensembles, completing a new work for the
San Francisco Bay Area-based American Baroque.
Stone served as president of the
American Music Center from 1992 to 1995, and was director of
Meet the Composer/California from 1981 to 1997. He also served as music director of
KPFK-FM in
Los Angeles from 1978 to 1981.
For many years, Stone has divided his time between
San Francisco and
Japan.
Works
★ ''Dong Il Jang''
★ ''Kamiya Bar''
★ 1995 - ''Nyala''
★ ''Shibucho''
★ ''Shing Kee''
★ ''Wall Me Do''
★ ''Woo Lae Oak''
External links
★
Carl Stone official site
Listening
★
surround sound recording of ''Luong Hai Ky Mi Gia'', commissioned by Starkland
★
Excerpt from 2002 sound. at the Schindler House performance at SASSAS @ YouTube