Diamond Music

Five Bagatelles

ELECTRIC DIAMOND is one of the longest-lived electronic performance ensembles - 35 years plus and going strong. The ensemble first performed in 1979 playing concerts at Carnegie Recital Hall, Symphony Space, the Guggenheim Museum and other venues of the New York 1970s new music scene. ELECTRIC DIAMOND's performances are truly "live", without the use of any computer sequencing or multi tracking techniques. The results are performances of immediacy, power, and authentic feeling.

In our early days - mid 1980s to mid 200s or so - our instruments were analog. I played a Computone Lyricon Wind Driver that controlled an Oberheim Monophonic Synth that was routed through an original Roland Tape Echo. Don Slepian used a customized Mirage Keyboard modified and controlled with his own array of foot pedals that acted primarily as his mixing board. And Karen Bentley Pollick rounds out the ensemble with acoustic violin.

Diamond · Electric Diamond

KONZERTO

KONZERTO is a four movement concerto for solo violin and electronic orchestra. Karen Bentley Pollick is the violinist. Engineered and Mastered by Kurt Kurasaki.

"KONZERTO is the reinvention of the great romantic violin concertos of the 19th century. Combining the virtuoso solo violin playing of Karen Bentley with Stuart Diamond's contemporary electronics, synthesizers and midi sequencing, KONZERTO creates a new and lyric music that simultaneously looks back to the past as well as daringly to the future.

Rigorous in its compositional structure, yet endlessly inventive, KONZERTO features both written and improvised passages for the solo violin that soar over a rich and dramatic soundscape to find a spontaneous and original musical language all its own. Symphonic in its 4-movement scope and emotional depth, KONZERTO is a fiery and passionate journey into a new musical world."

Diamond · KONZERTO

Tyme's Escape

"Tyme's Escape" is improvisation with mad genius organist Paul Fejko. The premise: Paul and I had never played together before. So the plan was to meet in All Saints Episcopal Church in Worcester, Massachusetts that features a famous organ with over 7000 pipes. Turn on the tape recorder and play for an hour. 2 AM in the morning (to avoid daytime car traffic noise), freezing cold night, playing in our winter coats. No recording or description can capture the reality of what happened. The Lyricon wind synth controlling an OB-1 analog synth soars over 7500 organ pipes coming from 360 degrees. And when the massive 32 foot Contra Bombarde pipes come in sync with the Lyricon bass notes - the stone floors and walls of the cathedral vibrating in resonance – they create a colossal sound surpassing even the power of the largest symphony orchestras or rock band. No Youtube video or CD or any other recording can come close to capturing the sheer magnitude of sound. Outside of this recording (a pale reflection of the sonic truth) the only ones to testify to do it all were myself, Paul, the producer, the audio engineer, and an assistant.

Diamond · Tyme's Escape

Succubus

SUCCUBUS is a term that dates from the Middle Ages and refers to a demon that takes a feminine form to ravage men and women in their sleep,inducing erotic visions and nightmares. Along with its counterpart, the Incubus, these demons were thought to be the cause of the half-sleep state in which one cannot wake and feels the presence of a supernatural being.

SUCCUBUS is a six-movement tone poem for violin, soprano and electric orchestra. It is an exploration of the sensual and surrealistic dreamscapes of the Succubus. The music features the voluptuous and mysterious voice of Kerry Walsh and the sinuous violin playing of Karen Bentley entwined in a dark and erotic dance of love and desire. Engineered and Mastered by Kurt Kurasaki.

Diamond · Succubus

2

Three Goddesses

3 GODDESSES

The White Aspect of the Goddess:
White Gaia keeps alive the seed of wholeness to make it flourish at the heart of all beings.

The Red Aspect of the Goddess:

Red Gaia nurtures life and its limitless abundance, balancing relationships between beings of life.

The Green Aspect of the Goddess:
Green Gaia guides life processes through the gate of transmutation towards regeneration and new beginning.

Marko Pogacnik, Artwork and Text
Stuart Diamond, Video and Visualization
Ruth Cunningham & Stuart Diamond, MusicThe White Aspect of the Goddess:

Master of the Astral Plane

The Jester

The Jester is an electronic song cycle with words by Robert Host. A 1972 work using the original analog modular synthesizers - Buchla, Arp 2500 and Baldwin Electric Harpsichord - along with voice.

Lyric Images

The videoballet,“Journey” was set to the music of “Lyric Images.” "Lyric Images" itself was the first work Diamond created for a live electronic music ensemble (which later would morph into Electric Diamond). The work was premiered at the Guggenheim Museum in the Spring of 1979. With an instrumentation of Lyricon wind driver controlling an Arp 2600, two Crumar keyboards, percussion, plus an Arp sequencer running a second 2600. Lyric Images is a 4 movement symphonic work. The recording is from a pirated tape of that performance, secreted into the auditorium. It is but a pale reflection of the colossal sound we created. Using a Mutron Biphase (anyone remember that device), we developed a stereophonic phase shift of swirling overtones that bathed the audience in an immersive ocean of sound. At the time of its premiere with its raucous rhythms, improvisations, and lyric sweep it was both hailed by some critics - The Miami Herald called it "the music of the future" - and reviled by others as the “beginning of fascist Classical music.”

Paean to St. Francis

Paean to St. Francis
By Karen Bentley Pollick and Stuart Diamond
Karen Bentley Pollick, vocals
Vocals recorded in San Pancho, Nayarit on the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, October 4, 2020

Diamond · Paean To St. Francis