Marshall, Ingram D(ouglass)

Marshall, Ingram D(ouglass), American composer; b. Mount Vernon, N.Y, May 10, 1942. He studied at Lake Forest (III.) Coll. (B.A., 1964). After studies in musicology with Lang and in electronic music with Ussachevsky at Columbia Univ. (1964–66), he pursued training with Subotnick at N.Y.’s School of the Arts (1969–70). He then continued his studies with Subotnick and with K.R.T. Wasitodipura (traditional Indonesian music) at the Calif. Inst. of the Arts in Valencia (M.F.A., 1971), where he subsequently taught (until 1974). He was active as both a composer and a music critic, receiving various grants and commissions, including 2 NEA grants (1979, 1981) and a Rockefeller Foundation grant (1982). In 1990–91 he was a visiting prof. and senior fellow at Brooklyn Coll.’s Inst. for Studies in American Music. Marshall’s compositions reflect his extensive travels, as well as an artful incorporation of non-traditional instruments, live electronics, and improvisation. His highly successful Fog Tropes (1982) makes use of electronically manipulated taped sounds gathered around the San Francisco Bay that include not only foghorns but the falsetto keenings of seagulls and the lowing of a gambuh (a Balinese flute). His lavish Kingdom Come (1997) utilizes recordings made in Yugoslavia including a Croatian hymn, a liturgy from a Serbian church in Dubrovnik, and a song fragment sung by a Bosnian Muslim. It was written in memory of Marshall’s brother-in-law, Francis Tomasic, a journalist who was killed in Bosnia.

Works

Transmogrification for Tape (1966); 3 Buchla Studies for Synthesizer (1968–69); The East is Red, variations for Tape (1971–72); Cortez, text-sound piece (1973); Ricebowlthundersock for Prepared Piano, Percussion, and Electronics (1973); Augmented Triad Ascending for Piano, 2 Marimbas, Vibraphone, and Glockenspiel (1974); The Emperor’s Birthday, text-sound piece (1974); Weather Report for Tape (1974); Tourist Songs I-II for Tape (1975); Vibrosuperball for 4 Amplified Percussion (1975); Ikon: Ayiasma, text-sound piece for Tape, Reciter, and Live Electronics (1976); The Fragility Cycles for Voice, Gambuh, Live Electronics, and Tape (1976); Non confundar for String Sextet, Alto Flute, Clarinet, and Electronics (1977); Landscape Parts for Voice, Gambuhs, Tape, and Live Electronics (1978) and II for Viola, Flute, Clarinet, Percussion, Piano, Voice, and Live Electronics (1979); Fillmore for Gambuh, Tape, Slides, and Live Electronics (1978); Adendum: In aeternum for Clarinet, Flute, and String Sextet (1979); Gradual Requiem for Synthesizer, Mandolin, Piano, Voice, Gambuh, Tape, and Live Electronics (1980); Magnificat Strophes for Synclavier (1981); Spiritus for 6 Strings, 4 Flutes, Harpsichord, and Vibraphone (1981; rev. for String Orch., 1983); Fog Tropes for Brass Sextet, Tape, and Live Electronics (1982); Woodstone for Gamelan (1982); Alcatraz for Keyboards, Tapes, Slides, and Electronics (1983–84; in collab. with J. Bengston); Entrada (As the River) for String Quartet with Electronic Delays (1984); Voces resonae, string quartet, with live electronics (1984); Piano Quartet (In My Beginning is My End) for String Trio (1986–87; rev. 1995 for String Quartet); Hidden Voices for Digitally Sampled Voices, Soprano, and Orch. (1989); A Peaceable Kingdom for Chamber Orch. and Tape (1990); Kingdom Come for Orch. and Tape (1997).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire