A Conversation with
Elizabeth
2016
Isao Tomita
From:
Elizabeth
To:
Larry
Sent:
Friday, May 13, 2016 9:09 AM
Subject: Isao Tomita Dies at
84; Combined Electronic and Classical Music
Do you remember him? I still have a couple of his albums. Elizabeth
Isao Tomita Dies at 84; Combined Electronic and Classical Music
BY MARGALIT FOX
Mr. Tomita’s work was reported to have influenced musicians around the
world, among them Stevie Wonder and the Japanese techno-pop group Yellow
Magic Orchestra.
Do I remember Tomita…
* F * L * A * S * H * B * A * C * K *
It’s 1975, I’m working full time at the University of Florida’s North East Regional Data Center, or just NERDC. Yes, I was a NERD. I was working on my computer science degree part time taking two courses a quarter which I got for take for free since I was an employee. I met Elizabeth at the University going on the first day of Zoology class the year before and even with our of and on relationship she greatly influenced my taste in music. She, older than me, seem so cultured, her taste in music more sophisticated than the top 40 that was on the radio. She introduced me to classical music. The story about Beethoven Fifth Piano Concerto is classic.
My
taste ran a little different, being a total nerd, I had been
interested in electronics since childhood and liked, even made some
of my own, electronic music, several years before it became vogue.
Early electronic music was like totally weird, all electronic, like
something you would hear on some sci-fi movie. The 1971 movie
Clockwork Orange changed all that with it’s all electronic music
by the then Walter Carlos (now
Wendy Carlos), it was just fantastic with its electronic
rendition of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. One of my favorite albums
at the time.
The Moog Synthesizer had come of age. Isao Tomita, a contemporary of Carlos, in 1944 came out with an all-electronic version of Debussy classical pieces on the album Snowflakes Are Dancing, further blurring the lines between classical and electronic music. But it was his 1975 Pictures at Exhibition album that really captivated me. Tomita rendition was a Moog Synthesized version of Modest Mussorgsky’s classical piece of the same name. It was amazing. In following years I bought several more renditions by orchestra and piano.
At the time I felt that Elizabeth looked down on me, considering my taste in electronic music inferior to her more sophisticated taste in classical music. I was total surprised to hear that she had Tomito’s albums.
Ok, this wasn’t fair, just when I thought I was letting her go she reaches back to old memories . Ok be casual and calm about it, don’t let he know all of this, play it cool.
Some old wounds never heal.
Updated: 11-07-2024