During the compilation of this journal devoted to the life and work of American composer Earle Appleton Brown, Junior (26 December 1926 – 2 July 2002), it became rather clear that I should curtail any comments and allow the man and his art to speak for themselves. In lieu of a traditional biography, this journal presents three different interviews with Earle, each one showing that any artist—indeed any man—is a jewel who reveals different facets at different times and in different places. Earle tells his own story, or at least most of it. I could mention his prizes and commissions, his teaching posts, his illustrious friendships, his passion for cars, his duties as an administrator, advocate, conductor, mentor, organiser, provocateur, record producer, etc., but he himself would have wished for the focus to be on his achievement, the significance of which long ago receded into music history and was subsequently obscured by a focus on his contemporaries, but is now once again manifest—as it should be.
The journal will also make clear that there is no shortage of approaches to Earle and his incredibly rich and varied scores. I have aimed to present as many diverse views as possible, alongside a few personal remembrances. Not included, alas, are thoughts from some of Earle's colleagues and friends from the visual world, perspectives which would have fallen beyond the realm of a music publication.
There will also be no catalogue or discography, both of which require some explanations, however summary. The answer is that both are works-in-progress and the projects are the responsibility of my dear collaborators on this endeavour, the Earle Brown Music Foundation. Rather than commit to print a version of either which is inchoate, I suggest that readers visit the foundation website (http://www.earle-brown.org/) to keep abreast of these data, and to learn much more about Earle Brown. I should also note that American spellings are used only when the source is American; otherwise British spelling prevails.
I will take a moment only to give special gratitude to all of the contributors and to Thomas Fichter, Marla Mekjian, Micah Silver, and especially Earle's widow Susan Sollins-Brown at the Earle Brown Music Foundation for their tremendous efforts and for kindly allowing so many photographs, scores and other materials to be reproduced here. I also thank David Arden, Dore Ashton, David Behrman, David Bernstein, Gabriele Bonomo, Joel Chadabe, Luciano Chessa, Mié Coquempot, Christoph Cox, Alvin Curran, Paul Lustig Dunkel, Peter Frank, Betty Freeman, James Fulkerson, Anne Guthrie, Rob Haskins, Geoffrey Hendricks, Jon Hendricks, Hannah Higgins, D. J. Hoek, Betsy Jolas, Douglas Kahn, Carson Kievman, Petr Kotík, Helmut Lachenmann, Dante Oei, Melvyn Poore, Henri Pousseur, Matthew Raimondi, Steffen Schleiermacher, Nuria Schoenberg Nono, David Soyer, Jonathan Stockhammer, Morton Subotnick, Taylan Susam, Yūji Takahashi, John Tilbury, Ed Tomney, Richard Toop, Samuel Vriezen, Alban Wesly, Jan Williams, William Winant, Christian Wolff, and John Zorn for comments, encouragement, help, or any combination thereof.
I dedicate both journals to my late friend Jonathan D. Kramer, without whom I may never have had such stocks of ambition, and to Gerianne Albertson, Richard Albertson, Donald and Patricia Cullen, Arlene Dudgeon, and Gustavo Gómez—and further to the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, in total solidarity with its otra campaña.