Rush, Loren

Rush, Loren , American composer; b. Fullerton, Calif., Aug. 23, 1935. He studied piano, bassoon, and double bass, and played bassoon in the Oakland Sym. Orch. and double bass in the Richmond Sym. Orch.; also was a drummer. He studied composition with Erickson at San Francisco State Coll. (B.A., 1957); upon graduation, organized the Loren Rush Jazz Quartet; enrolled at the Univ. of Calif, at Berkeley, studying composition with Imbrie, Shifrin, Denny, and Cushing (M.A., 1960), and completed his training at Stanford Univ. (D.M.A., 1960). He was active in various new-music ventures; was chairman of the composition dept. at the San Francisco Cons. (1967–69); taught at Stanford Univ. (from 1967), where he served as assoc. director of the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (from 1975). In his works, he applies a whole spectrum of modern techniques, including serialism, spatial distribution, controlled improvisation, and pointillistic exoticism. He is married to Janis Mattox.

Works

5 Japanese Poems for Soprano, Flute, Clarinet, Viola, and Piano (1959); Serenade for Violin and Viola (1960); String Quartet (1960–61); Mandala Music, improvisation for a group, inspired by the oriental geometrization of the cosmos and an important symbol in Jungian psychology (1962); Hexahedron for Piano, notated on all 6 surfaces of a large cube (1964); Nexus 16 for Chamber Orch. (1964); Dans le sable for Soprano, Narrator, 4 Altos, and Chamber Orch. (1967–68; also for Large Orch., 1970); Soft Music, Hard Music for 3 Amplified Pianos (1969–70); The Cloud Messenger for Orch. (1966–70); Oh, Susanna for Piano (1970); A Little Traveling Music for Amplified Piano and 4-track Tape (1971–73); I’ll See You in My Dreams for Amplified Orch. and Tape (1973); Song and Dance for Orch. and 4-track Tape (1975); The Digital Domain for Tape (1983; in collaboration with J. Mattox).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire