Branca's next symphony was "The Peak Of The Sacred", a longer and more ambitious piece than the first. Branca's desire to work with a new sound he had developed caused him to design and build most of the instruments for the piece. Calling them "mallet guitars" he had created a dulcimer like instrument which when played resonated with a sustained fluid timbre.
Although the instruments used guitar strings and guitar pickups the only actual conventional guitar used in the piece was a bass. Luckily Branca's musicians were willing to learn how to play these "guitars" which sat on tables and were played with sticks. This was also one of the few pieces in which Branca also used tape electronics. Although the piece had a rich resonant sound it was difficult to capture in a recording, a problem that Branca has had throughout his career. A studio recording was never made and the only document that exists is a crude live recording. This had also been the case with Symphony No. 1. Although Branca's audience had grown quite large by this time record labels saw no commercial potential for this sort of thing. And the cost of professionally recording these larger pieces would have been beyond the scope of what a small label could hope to recoup. By this time the music could no longer be seen as rock at the same time that it couldn't be embraced as classical music. And after having been rejected by Cage even "new music" was no longer an entirely safe haven. Luckily it happened that the music did appeal to modern dancers and in 1982 Branca got his first major commission from the Twyla Tharp Co. This would be one of many in a string of commissions from dance and later experimental theater companies.
Throughout these early years Glenn had never received a single grant or even a credit card and all of the work was done with little or no money. His reliance on cheap used guitars had been a matter of necessity not choice.
Although the instruments used guitar strings and guitar pickups the only actual conventional guitar used in the piece was a bass. Luckily Branca's musicians were willing to learn how to play these "guitars" which sat on tables and were played with sticks. This was also one of the few pieces in which Branca also used tape electronics. Although the piece had a rich resonant sound it was difficult to capture in a recording, a problem that Branca has had throughout his career. A studio recording was never made and the only document that exists is a crude live recording. This had also been the case with Symphony No. 1. Although Branca's audience had grown quite large by this time record labels saw no commercial potential for this sort of thing. And the cost of professionally recording these larger pieces would have been beyond the scope of what a small label could hope to recoup. By this time the music could no longer be seen as rock at the same time that it couldn't be embraced as classical music. And after having been rejected by Cage even "new music" was no longer an entirely safe haven. Luckily it happened that the music did appeal to modern dancers and in 1982 Branca got his first major commission from the Twyla Tharp Co. This would be one of many in a string of commissions from dance and later experimental theater companies.
Throughout these early years Glenn had never received a single grant or even a credit card and all of the work was done with little or no money. His reliance on cheap used guitars had been a matter of necessity not choice.
By the way the pronunciation of Glenn's name is "Brang-ka" not "Bron-ka".
MySpace.com - Glenn Branca
Glenn Branca: The official web site
Symphony No. 2 (The Peak of the Sacred)
Symphony No. 3 (Gloria)
Music for the first 127 intervals of the harmonic series [1983]
Symphony No. 5 (Describing Planes of an Expanding Hypersphere) [1986]
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Glenn Branca - Symphony No. 5: Sixth Movement