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Peter Gordon (composer)

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Peter Gordon
Gordon performing at the 2012 Pop Conference at NYU
Background information
Birth namePeter Laurence Gordon
Born (1951-06-20) June 20, 1951 (age 73)
New York City, USA
Occupation(s)Composer, producer, orchestrator
Years active1970s – present
Websitepetergordon.com

Peter Gordon (born June 20, 1951, New York City) is an American experimental composer and musician, whose music has influences as diverse as jazz, opera, rock and world music. He has released several albums, and has also composed film and theatre scores.

Gordon earned a BA in composition at University of California, San Diego, where he studied with Kenneth Gaburo and Roger Reynolds; he earned an MFA at the Mills College Center for Contemporary Music, where he studied with Robert Ashley and Terry Riley.

In addition to his own work, and that with his Love of Life Orchestra, he has appeared on or composed music for albums by Laurie Anderson, Suzanne Vega, David Johansen, Elliott Murphy, The Flying Lizards, David Van Tieghem, Lawrence Weiner, and Arthur Russell.

In 2007, James Murphy and Pat Mahoney of LCD Soundsystem used Gordon's classic Downtown tracks "Beginning of the Heartbreak" and "Don't Don't" to open and close their highly acclaimed dance mix FabricLive.36.

In 2008 an excerpt of his opera (with artist Lawrence Weiner) "The Society Architect Ponders the Golden Gate Bridge" was issued on the compilation album Crosstalk: American Speech Music (Bridge Records) produced by Mendi + Keith Obadike. Gordon wrote the scores for the serial mystery drama "The Necklace", presented by The Talking Band. He also worked on the soundtrack to Desperate Housewives.

In 2010, DFA Records released remixes by Gordon of "Beginning of the Heartbreak/Don't Don't" and "That Hat," cowritten with Arthur Russell.

Peter Gordon currently resides in New York City, and is a professor of Music Technology at Bloomfield College.[1]

Selected discography

  • Hamburg Dankkert Live, 55 Minutes unofficial Livetape, sold by local record store "Unterm Durchschnitt", Hamburg
  • Deutsche Angst, with Lawrence Weiner (Les Disques du Crépuscule, 1982)
  • Westmusik, with Thomas Fehlmann (Zickzack Records, 1983)
  • Star Jaws (Lovely Music, 1978)
  • Innocent (CBS Masterworks, 1986)
  • Otello (ROIR cassettes, 1987)
  • Brooklyn (CBS Masterworks, 1987)
  • Leningrad Xpress (Newtone, 1990)
  • Geneva and Extended Niceties, with the Love of Life Orchestra (Newtone, 1992)
  • Still Life and the Deadman, with the Balanescu String Quartet (Newtone, 1994)
  • Love of Life Orchestra: Quartet (Newtone, 1995)

References