In a groundbreaking career spanning more than half a century, American composer and musician David Borden helped pave the way for Electronic Music – via both analogue synthesizers and digital instruments – to be integrated into New Music/ Creative/ Classical composition and live performance. In 1969, he founded the world’s first synthesizer ensemble – Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Co. – in Bob Moog‘s Trumansburg Studio, working with Moog‘s prototypes and analogue equipment, and he later founded (1987) and headed Cornell University’s Digital Music Department, inspiring new generations with digital music via Apple desktop and laptop computers. Simultaneous with his work at Cornell, Borden was a prolific composer, creating countless Classical, Experimental and ‘beyond genre‘ works often performed with his ensemble. His work includes one of the most important documents of American classical minimalism: “The Continuing Story of Counterpoint,” a 12-part cycle that Cuneiform Records released on three CDs between 1989-1991. This 2-disc Cuneiform Records release, “Make Way for Mother Mallard: 50 Years of Music,” features one disc of early (1970s) and one disc of recent (2019) Mother Mallard performances of several key Borden pieces.
Stream “The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, Pt. 1” through the SoundCloud player below:
“David Borden and Cuneiform’s relationship go back to even before Cuneiform, as I was a partner in a short-lived record label called Atmosphere that was meant to focus on electronic music and managed to put out two releases (Darren Kearns and The Nightcrawlers) before calling it a day. If my long-term memory serves me correctly, David Borden’s Anatidae was scheduled as Atmosphere’s third release, but when that label folded and as I had recently established Cuneiform on my own, it became Cuneiform’s fourth release, coming out on vinyl in 1985.
David Borden is a woefully under-valued pioneer of electronic music and a marvelous composer. We’ve been proud to work with him on numerous projects, including releasing his minimalist masterwork, The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, in Cuneiform’s early years. Besides Borden’s pioneering work in Bob Moog’s Trumansburg studio, his establishing the world’s first synthesizer ensemble, and his hugely important recordings, compositions and performances, Borden’s remarkable accomplishments include founding and heading Cornell University’s Digital Music Program. He’s had a hugely active career and I’m personally thrilled to be able to work with Dave again on a release for Cuneiform Records‘ 40th year!” – Steve Feigenbaum, 2024
“I founded Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Co. in the spring of 1969. I was Composer-Pianist for Dance at Cornell University but I had also been working nights for two years at the Moog Company in Trumansburg, NY, a short drive from Ithaca, trying to understand the then-in-development Moog Synthesizer for making music and possibly to use it in live performance.
At first I used Mother Mallard to perform new music at Cornell because no one else was doing it. Steve Drews was the first member of my band. I was 30 and he was 23.
Our first few concerts involved asking other musicians to help and gathering amplification and sound system gear, which was new at the time for classical music. Some of the composers we presented on these early concerts were Robert Ashley, Morton Feldman, Daniel Lentz, Jon Hassell, Terry Riley, John Cage, Philip Glass, Steve Reich and others.
By 1970 Steve and I started performing with synthesizers while the MiniMoog was being invented. Bob Moog was an early supporter of the band and made sure we had the synthesizers we needed. We used the Model A Mini as well as a few portable modular models. It soon became obvious that we needed another keyboardist because all of the Moogs were monophonic (one could not play more than one note at a time) We soon found Linda Fisher; intrigued by the synthesizers, she decided to join our ensemble. By 1970, Mother Mallard became a synthesizer ensemble playing our own compositions. All the pieces on disc one are previously unreleased recordings from the 70s era band…
In 2000 I returned to my live synthesizer music and founded a new band. In 2006 I changed the live performance setup. Using Reason and Samplit software, we became a laptop-with-attached-keyboard-controllers ensemble—a computer ensemble. This made it much easier to travel. Sometimes the sponsor supplied the keyboards and we simply showed up with our laptops. But for our last concerts and recordings in 2019, which is what is represented here on disc two, we reverted back to analog, using many of the same instruments as the original 1970s band. After these concerts I retired from public performing.
This double CD recording is our last one. We have been with Cuneiform since the 1980s. It’s been a great 50 years with various ups and downs but it has always been fulfilling and continuously enlightening to be working with so many hard-working, beautiful and generous people.” – David Borden, 2023
Pre-Order on Bandcamp: https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/make-way-for-mother-mallard-50-years-of-music-2
Tracklist:
01. Endocrine Dot Patterns
02. C-A-G-E I
03. Anatidae / C-A-G-E III
04. The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, part 1
05. The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, part 3
06. The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, part 5
07. The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, part 6
08. The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, part 7
09. The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, part 8
10. The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, part 11
11. The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, part 12B
“We extend special thanks to Gino Wong and Edward Haber. Gino found the recordings made of “Anatidae”/“CAGE III” from a concert in Philadelphia in 1978. Edward supplied two studio recordings, “Endocrine Dot Patterns” from 1970 and “CAGE I” from 1973.“