The MEV group was formed in September 1966 by Alvin Curran, Richard Teitelbaum, Frederic Rzewski, Allan Bryant, Carol Plantamura, Ivan Vandor, and Jon Phetteplace. In the beginning they performed compositions by themselves and others which involved the use of electronic sound produced in real time, or “live” electronic music. In the summer of 1967 they began to work more with improvisation and less with determinate structures. MEV focus more on interpreting the moment, rather than constructing repeatable programs; creating meaningful rituals, not images; becoming involved with the process, the operation, and not with the result of it, or its effects on people. MEV music is highly eclectic, resisting ready classification by combining elements of improvised music, computer music, world music, jazz and classical composition, without being clearly definable as any one of them. For the realization of “Spacecraft”, recorded in Koln in 1967, MEV were Frederic Rzewski (amplified glass and springs), Alvin Curran (electric percussion, trumpet, voice), Richard Teitelbaum (moog synthesizer), Allen Bryant (homemade synthesizer), Ivan Vandor (alto saxophone). In the collective work of MEV “Spacecraft” it was stereotypes that formed the material for the improvisation. The player imagined himself as trapped within a labyrinth, whose corridors were lined with images, learned formulas, taken from the past. This was the space which he occupied, and it was indeed a trap, but then it was also all that he had. It was occupied space, he was in it, but didn’t identify with it, and the work was to transform it into created space,
to make it his. He had to penetrate through the walls of the labyrinth, through the images, whether by magic, all at once, or over a longer duration, by work, in order to come out into the open, to discover a new space which was neither his nor another’s, but everybody’s. The secret of the labyrinth is that the way out is not left, right, forwards, or backwards, but up: to get free one must fly. To fly is to risk falling, to acept this risk. As long as you are afraid to take this risk, you’ll never get off the ground, you’ll run around bashing into walls and going through the movements of flight, uselessly flapping and flopping. You will fall into stereotypes. If you accept this, however, if you open yourself to whatever is happening, suspend judgement and fall into it completely and with grace, then you will fly, and it will be transformed. “Spacecraft” is a composition, in the sense that it is based on a particular combination of ideas. In order to play “Spacecraft” it was necessary to be more or less familiar with these ideas. The performers all knew each other. Every performance was the moment of a continuous process. This process then came to an end, as it were, and the rather esoteric techniques used in the maintaining it were abandoned in favour of others which were more open, more accessible to the casual visitor or listener. This CD also includes ” Unified Patchwork Theory “, recorded in
Zurich at Rote Frabrik by MEV including Frederic Rzewski (piano), Alvin Curran (sampler, synths), Richard Teitelbaum (synths), Steve Lacy (soprano sax), Garrett List (trombone, voice, electronics). This CD is included in a beatiful digipack black and white sleeve with photos and liner notes. Also included is a 8 page booklet with an essay by Frederic Rzewski titled “Plan for Spacecraft”, as well as “Some MEV Memories” by Richard Teitelbaum and the chronology the “Spacecraft” performances in Europe in 1967. New edition remastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.