People often ask me what music I listen to. The answer is : "not very much." I don't own a record player, radio or television set; none the less, I have heard a modest quantity of music in 60 years.

From memory I have compiled a list of composers, compositions, places, and sounds (in no particular order) which have remained an integral part of me.
My father's trombone; my mother's stride piano; Spike Jones; old men humming and buzzing while dav'nin (praying) in the Synagogue; The hope st. Tunnel bus in Providence; Art Tatum in Newport; Kosugi in a bag in Rome; Steve Lacy; the MEV Studio (Rome); Cornelius Cardew; Cantor Jacob Hohenemser; Kontarski plays Franco Evangelisti; The Dagar Brothers; The Band of America; Amos 'n Andy; The Lone Ranger; The Green Hornet; Casablanca; Ed Norton; Clark Coolidge's first drum set (black and yellow); Boat Horns at night in the Port of Providence; Billie Holiday; "Easy Living"; Bartok; Memphis Slim; Elliott Carter; Duke Ellington; Josquin des Pres; Peanuts Hucko; Charles Ives; Gesualdo; Leroy Vinnegar; Prelude: Act III, Lohengrin; The Scratch Orchestra; Chopin; John Cage and David Tudor singing on the radio; Cage and Tudor singing on the streets of Rome; Thelonius Monk (at the Five Spot); "Sweet Betsy from Pike"; Bismallah Khan; Guy Lombardo; Aunt Adele playing the cornet from her porch on the 4th of July; the Providence Train Yard at night; The Beatles; Brahms; Louis Armstrong; Simone Forti singing an italian fishing song; Teddy Wilson; Webern; Monteverdi; Fats Waller; Alban Berg; Lester Lanin; Giuseppe Chiari performing "Maria" at the American Church in Rome; Terry Riley; Bud Powell; Guillame de Marchaut; Ellis Larkins; Maryanne Amacher listening to the Boston Harbour; Misja Mengelberg; Phil Napoleon; Clark Coolidge's poetry; Horace Silver; Frederic Rzewski; Fog Horns in the (Narragansett Bay); Ivan Vandor's tenor sax; Earl Hines; Phil Glass; John Coltrane; Giacinto Scelsi; Varese; Charlie Parker; Harold Arlen; Lee Konitz; late Beethoven; Clifford Brown; Stravinsky; Braxton; IND subway at 72nd st. NYC; T.R. Mahalingam; Cecil Taylor; Chinese New Years (NYC '79); Alan Bryant 's amplified rubber bands; The Living Theater; Temple Emanuel Choir-Martin Curran tenor soloist; "Darktown Strutters Ball"; "Giant Steps"; "As Time Goes By"; Schumann Lieder; George Gershwin; Tibetan Monks; Jimmy Hendrix; Lester Young; "Alterations" (Bim Huis); Loons in Maine; the Korean Court Orchestra; Ella Fitzgerald (Newport '52); Frescobaldi (on the radio '81); Lenny Tristano; Sardinian Goat Bells; George Lewis in a tent in Florence; Winter Woods in Vermont; Gunther "baby" Sommer; Pope Giovanni Paolo II saying "Merry Cristmas" in Swahili; Die Winterreise; Jack Teagarden; Garret List; Frank Sinatra; Nam June Paik; Johnny Cash; Conlon Nancarrow; Edith Schloss sings Ravel's "Bolero"; Yoko Ono; Ron Nelson; MEV perform for 3 minutes as the warm-up group for the Pink Floyd (London '68); Mozart C minor fantasy; "I Can't Get Started"; Pauline Oliveros' Sonic Meditations; Malcolm Goldstein's nomadic violin; Joannie Mitchell; The Brown University Band; Robert Ashley's "Wolfman"; Charlie Morrow; Michiko Hirayama; Evan Parker; Harry Carney; Steve Reich; Annea Lockwood's "Glass Music"; Roswell Rudd; "Georgia On My Mind"; the Amsterdam Zoo; Carl Orff; Charlemagne Palestine; Archie Shepp; Joan La Barbara; Chet Baker; Nono; Berio; Nuova Consonanza; Gerry Mulligan; a Starling Migration (Rome '81); Cicadas in Maremma; Laurie Anderson; Leroy Anderson; Phil Niblock; Phil Corner; Don Cherry; Earle Brown; Cardini; Verdi-Othello; Morton Feldman at the Rome Opera; Miles Davis at Storeyville; New Years in Gabon; Serge Chaloff; Pete Seeger; Max Eastley; "Red River Valley"; Shenendoah; Billy Boy; Il Barbiere Di Siviglia; Carl Maria von Weber; Prima Materia; "I am Sitting in a Room" by Alvin Lucier; Mahler; "Moonlight in Vermont"; the Malagasy Republic (Madagascar); Nunzio Zambello, Neopolitan puppeteer; Kindertotenlieder; Altenberglieder; Lou Cedrone, Band and Accordian; Marty Curran Orchestra-Music for Every Occasion;   A Grange Hall in Wickford, R.I.; Eddie Wittstein Orchestra; The Catskills; Train Couplings in the Southern Railway yard, Winston Salem N.C. "Out of This World"; "Come Rain or Come Shine"; "When Sunny Gets Blue"; "Sophisticated Lady"; "Woodn'You?"; "Mood Indigo"; "I Got It Bad"; "Ida Lupino"; "Joy Spring"; "I Should Care"; "Body and Soul"; "Foggy Day; "Darn That Dream"; "Green Dolphin St.Naima"; "God Bless the Child"; "The Duke"; "Don't Get Around Much Anymore"; "Daahoud"; "Con Alma"; "Angel Eyes"; "Alone Together"; "All The Things You Are"; "The Fantastiks"; AMM with Tilbury and Cardew, Ed and Lou; Satie; Yves Montand; Debussy; Ravel; Tamia; Edith Piaf; Salvation Army Band; Sardinian Launeddas; Louis Andriessen; Paul Rutherford; Jon Phetteplace; Lotte Lenya; Kurt Weil; Darmstadt; "Der Blaue Engel"; John Philip Souza; Haendel; FIG-Feminist Improvisation Group; The People Band; The Spontaneous Music Ensemble; Chief Rabbi of Peking; Court Singers of Niger; A Roman street musician playing a bay-leaf; The Chicago Arts Ensemble nude in Amougies; Richard Teitelbaum in a Javanese Gamelan Orchestra; Harry Partch;Mary Lou Williams; Marlene Dietrich; Frans Bruggen; Fischer-Dieskau; Jimmy Garrison; Jon Gibson; Dave McKenna; Oscar Pettiford; Albert Ayler; Broadus Earle; Charlie Mingus; The Inkspots; John Adams; The Tink's Lost Haftorah; The Soft Machine; Meredith Monk; Velvet Undergrond; Cappuchin Monks (Ara Coeli-Rome); Sylvano Bussotti; Carla Bley; Vittorio Gelmetti's Deserto Rosso; Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Einstein-first piano teachers; James Johnson-second piano teacher; Caspar-my dog who sang; Kagel; Donatoni; Castiglioni; The Classical/ Central High School Band -Eddie McCabe dir.-; Martin Fischer; Arlan Coolidge; Yuji Takahashi; E.E. Cummings; The Narragansett Indians (in spirit); Philly-Joe Jones; "Orfeo Negro"; Slam Stewart; "Four"; "I Remember Clifford"; "Bernie's Tune"; "Blue Monk"; "Round Midnight"; K and J; Kenton; Gil Evans; David Behrman; Joe Celli; Milford Graves; Pete Rugolo; Sun Ra; Paul Desmond; Antonello Salis; Pierre Boulez; Leo Smith; Wolves in the Abruzzi Mountains; Nina Simone; Roscoe Mitchell; Eugenio Colombo; Shelley Mann; Ezra Pound reading at his home in Venice; Akio Suzuki; Giorgio Battistelli; Bill Smith at the american academy in Rome; Joe Morello; Michael Nyman; Giancarlo Menotti; MEV2; MJQ; Stravinsky shaking my hand; Varèse saying "hello"; "Celito Lindo"; "Tennessee Waltz"; "Goodnight Irene"; Scelsi's Om Konk Pax; Derek Bailey; Linton Kwesi Johnson; Purcell; Dowland; Morley; Michael Parsons; "Der Rosenkavalier"; Dallapiccola; Ralph Shapey; Buel Neidlinger; Steve Potts; " Stockhausen's Gesang der Junglinge"; the Brooklyn Bridge; B.B. King; Ray Charles; "The Original Amateur Hour"; Berlioz; Aaron Copland; Ferde Grofe; George Antheil; Venice at night; Jed Curtis at the Red Garter in Florence; Hugh Davies; Jerry Hunt; Maria Monti; Robert Moran; Antonello Neri; Willem de Ridder; Annie Sprinkle; Snoop Doggy Dog; Beck; Nick Cave; John Rose and the Roumanian Gypsy Band; Moondog; Elk in Yellowstone Park; 12 million bats in Texas; Canadian Geese in Minnesota; Julius; Kristina Kubisch; Hildegard von Bingen; Barbara Heller plays Fanny Mendelsohn thru my computer; Dr. Dre; William Winant; Zorn; Charley Morrow 's conch shell band; Charles Amirkhanian; Rova Sax Quartet; The Golem; Julius; Denis Russel Davies play Mozart; Carles Santos; Walter Zimmerman; Zap Mama; Dieter Schnebel; Christian Wolff; Peter Kowald; the Tuvan singers from Mongolia; Globe Unity; the Kronos; Bang on a Can ensemble; Ethyl Smyth; Kaya Sarajaaho; Lois Vierk; Mary Jane Leach; Michel Waisvisz; Moniek Toebosch; Bessie Smith; Sofia Gubaidulina; Salimat Ali Khan; Orlando di Lasso; New Years at Battery Park; Arnold Dreyblatt; Salomone Rossi; Leonard Bernstein; Count Basie; Benedetto Marcello; Purcell; Schnittke; Carlos Zingaro; Messiaen; Honegger; Tristan Honsinger; Katie Duck; Sean Bergin; "Just a Closer Walk with Thee"; "Sweet Lorraine"; "Ida"; "After You've Gone"; "Come Rain or Come shine"; Bob Brookmeyer; Big Bill Broonzy; "On Top of Old Smokey"; Cole Porter; Hoepoes, peacocks, nightingales, mockingbirds, orioles, and the London Zoo; Jerome Kern; Elvis Presley; Maggie Nichols; The Beatles; Ille Strazza; Coleman Hawkins; Fog Horns on Governor's Island; Wilson Pickett; Pierre Schaeffer; Murray Schafer; Han Bennink; Ligeti; Muhal Abrams; Ornette; Roberto Laneri; Sidney Bechet; Leoncavallo; Ansermet; Prokofiev; Murolo; Maderna; Giovanni Gabrielli; Dufay; Barbara Strozzi; Myra Hess; Astor Piazzola; John Sebastian; George M. Cohan; Pandit Pranath singing at Sargentini's house in Rome; Harold Budd; New Phonics Art Ensemble; Salvatore Martirano; La Serra di Lerici; The Bay of La Spezia; The R.I. Philarmonic Orchestra; Roberto Leydi; Mel Powell; The Nantucket Lightship II; "Canti di Capricorno" by Scelsi; "Shenandoah"; Pergolesi; Hoagy Carmichael; Carol Plantamura; Bauhaus; The Hichiriki ensemble; Christian Wolff; Crawling with Tarts; Sonic Youth; Paul Lovens; Mike Sahl; Tony Scott; Demetrio Stratos /Area; The Percussion Ensemble of Rebibbia Prison (Rome) led by Toni Esposito; The Town Band of Bomarzo. Diamanda Galas; Die Einstuerztenden Neubauten; Die Toedliche Doris; Fireworks by Pierre-Alain Hubert; Yuji Takahashi plays Xenakis; Xenakis at the World's Fair in Brussels l958; Bison mating in Wind Cave Park North Dakota; Peter Garland; The Harbour, Sydney Australia; The terrorist attack and explosion at La Belle Discotec in Berlin l986. Yvar Mikhashoff plays wall to wall everything; random Gunfire in Oakland; The Hub; Ellis Larkins at the Carnegie Tavern; Max Neuhaus at little carnegie hall; Tom Johnson; Esther Ferrer; Joelle Leandre; Joe Celli; Jon Gibson; Robert Dick; Barbara Monk Feldman; Hans Peter Kuhn; Aki Takahashi; David Moss; Miya Masaoka; Victor Cavallo; Ivan Vandor's tenor sax; Erick Samakh in Linz; Orazio Vaggione; Serge Tcherepnin; Eliane Radigue; Joan Jonas; Pauline Oliveros; Pierre Clementi plays the saw; Trisha Brown laugh; A tufo quarry in Matera; Petr Kotik; Phill Niblock; Ben Neil; Phil Corner; Guy Klusevsek; Allison Knowles beans; Ursula Oppens; Laurie Spiegel; George Brecht's caged violin; Llorenc Barber; Limpe Fuchs; Judith Malina and Julian Beck in living anarchy; Chris Newman sing his own Lieder; Rhys Chatham kill a gong; Glenn Branca makes Cage faint in Chicago; Paul Klerr's "Magic Carpet"; David Hammon's "Charlie Parker" at PS 1; Leo Kupper's Klangkuppel; The School of Hard Knocks of Jacob and Yoshiko at the Venice Biennale; Trevor Wishart; Arditti Quartet; Harry Partch; Lilly Boulanger; Fela Kuti; Oum Kalsoum; Tito Puente; Jimmy Hendrix; Souza; George M Cohan; Carl Stallings; John Tilbury play Feldman; Cardew, Neiman and Bryars play Reich's "Drumming"; Clarence Barlow play a Turkish bus on the computer; Logos Duo; Cicadas in Tuscany; The marble quarries of Carrara; Nicola Bernardini; Douglas Ewart with bells on his ankles; Emmet Williams and Annie in Warsaw; Stefan Tiedje; Sun Ra at Symphony Space; Il Teatro Beat 72; Antonello Salis; Webern; the destruction of the Berlin Wall; Rome/Napoli soccer match; Maria Tipo play the Goldberg Variations; Miles and Coltrane at Storyville in Boston; Betty Carter in Rome; David Toop in London; MEV Sound Pool, at La Musee d'Art Moderne de Paris; Horizontal Radio 1995; A building demolition in Frankfurt; a man snoring in a Wagon Lits; Children singing at the Jewish orphanage in Rome; Inuit throat singers; Melissa's backward Austrian Yodeling tape; Mego's America the Beautiful over the telephone; Making a cobblestone pavement in Warsaw; a Sardinian peasant woman singing in a courtyard in Rome; High tension wires in Sardinia; Loons in Maine; Bullfrogs in Texas; The London Zoo; Maryanne Amacher at Harmony Ranch. Bjork; Der Klangturm in St. Poelten; Lightning that blew up my Computer in Genzano; Henry Cowell plays an Irish pub. All the muezzin in Istanbul. Jim O'Rourke in Pietralata. Susan Levenstein playing the nineteenth century on the Tiber River. John Cage laughing through it all.

Alvin Curran, 1982/1998

Prima Materia (Roberto Laneri, Maria Monti, Gianni Nebbiosi, Susan Hendricks, Claudio Ricciardi)