Glenn Branca is a symphonist. In the last 27 years he has composed 13 symphonies: six for electric guitar ensemble (1, 2, 6, 8, 10, 12), three for harmonic series instrumentation (3, 4, 5), three for conventional symphony orchestra (7, 9, 11) and No. 13 (Hallucination City) for 100 guitars which premiered in NYC at the former WTC in 2001. Since 2006 a revised version of the 100 guitar piece in four movements has been performed in Rome (at Musica Per Roma), London (as part of the Frieze Art Fair), Dublin, Belgium, LA (sponsored by the LA Philharmonic) and New Jersey. In May there will be a performance in Seattle and In Nov. this year it will be in St. Louis on a program with the St. Louis Symphony. In the spring of 2009 it will be heard in Munich.
He has also composed many shorter pieces for a wide variety of Instrumentation as well as an unproduced opera, a film soundtrack, two ballets and numerous dance and theater pieces. Recent short compositions have been: “In Perpetuity” a special commission for MTV, “Compositional Recreations” for the Bang on a Can All Stars, a new performance of “Guitars d’Amour” by Fireworks, a string quartet version of “Light Field” for Kronos (commissioned by Carnegie Hall) and “Lesson No.3 (a tribute to Steve Reich)” which was commissioned by the Barbican Center and was recently performed at the ATP Festival.
Last year Atavistic released for the first time “Indeterminate Activity Of Resultant Masses (for 10 guitars and drums)”. Recorded in 1981, this is the piece of music that “disturbed” John Cage and has not been heard since the mid-80’s. He is also the inventor of the Harmonics Guitar and a founding member of the 70’s No Wave band Theoretical Girls.
Intense, frantic, NYC-based The Paranoid Critical Revolution self-released their debut CD “Death of the Cool” just in time to play All Tomorrow’s Parties, A Nightmare Before Christmas curated by Portishead in Minehead, England in December 2007. They’ve been described by IMPOSE magazine as “Seething with treble, technically formidable, and crashingly dissonant, The Paranoid Critical Revolution was another of those acts that create far more of a racket than would seem possible for a two piece.” Guitarist Reg Bloor and drummer Libby Fab met in 2005 and have been playing on the NYC club scene since the summer of 2006. They also curated the “Creating A Diversion” film festival in 2007.
In addition, Reg Bloor has been playing with Glenn Branca (to whom she is married) since 2000. She played in Branca’s Symphony No. 12, their rock band Branca/Bloor, in his trio, eventually becoming Concertmaster for his Symphony No. 13. In the late 90’s she was a founding member of the Boston-based band TWITCHER, who released the self-produced CD “Leg of Lamb of God” in 1999.
Libby Fab became part of the Glenn Branca crew in 2006 as technical director, rehearsal drummer and assistant engineer for Symphony No. 13. She has worked on Branca’s shows in New Jersey, Belgium, Dublin, London, Rome and Seattle. Prior to joining PCR, Libby studied electro-acoustic music and music composition at Trinity College Dublin, where she completed an M.Phil in Music and Media Technology.