(b New York, 26 Feb 1947). American composer and accordion player. He grew up on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, where playing the accordion was a part of the local Polish culture. He attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania (BA 1969), the University of Pittsburgh (MA 1971) and the California Institute of the Arts, studying with Robert Bernat, Morton Subotnick, Gerald Shapiro, James Tenney (acoustics) and Harold Budd (jazz). From 1972 to 1976 he taught at Glassboro State College, Philadelphia; though he later moved to Manhattan, he became known for his performances with Philadelphia's Relache Ensemble (1980–90).
Inspired by Steve Reich and Terry Riley, Klucevsek's early music exhibits strict minimalist tendencies and a concern for psychoacoustic phenomena. Contact with Zorn (from 1985) and other New York musicians who were freely mixing jazz and vernacular influences in their work, however, led Klucevsek back to his Polish background, a style clearly in evidence in the accordion polka The Grass, It Is Blue (1986). Starting with Scenes from a Mirage (1987) he began to incorporate different styles within single works; theme and variations became the formal basis of many subsequent compositions. As a virtuoso performer he commissioned a series of polkas from avant-garde composers in 1987. Called Polka from the Fringe, the set includes works by William Duckworth, Lois V Vierk, Anthony Coleman and Mary Ellen Childs.
Despite Klucevsek's involvement in the Downtown Manhattan improvisation scene, his own music remained lyrical and sometimes charmingly simple. Works such as Flying Vegetables of the Apocalypse (1988) and Transylvanian Software (1991) refer to Eastern European traditions and jazz; Viavy Rose Variations (1989) is a set of poignant variations on melodies from Madagascar. In Stolen Memories and Tesknota (both 1993) he returned to quasi-minimalist processes. His extended works such as Chinoiserie (1995) for the performance artist Ping Chong, are mostly theatre and dance scores.
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Dramatic: The Palatine Light (Y. Mintzer), S, vn + va, pf, accdn, 1985; Fallen Shadows (Mintzer and B. Rosentein), S, vn, pf, accdn, 1993; Chinoiserie, 4vv, 3 insts, 1995 [for Ping Chong]; Cover Up (dance film, dir. V. Marks and M. Whiting), 1995 |
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Accdn: Mounted on the Fairground's Magic Horses, 1982; The Grass, It Is Blue (Ain't Nothin' but a Polka), 1986; Samba d'hiccup, 1986; And Then There Were None, 1987; Awakening, 1987; Dining in the Rough in the Buff, 1987; Loosening Up the Queen, 1987; Old Woman Who Dances with the Sea, 1987; Scenes from a Mirage, 1987; An Air of Gathering Pipers, 1988; Perusal, 1988; Viavy Rose Variations, 1989; 3 Microids, 1991; Transylvanian Software, 1991; Bandoneons, Basil and Bay Leaves, 1992; Altered Landscapes, 1994; Accdn Misdemeanors, 1996 |
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Accdn ens: The Flying Pipe Org, 1985; The Gunks, 1995; Wave Hill, 1995 |
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Accdn, vn, vc, db: Urban Rite, 1986; Flying Vegetables of the Apocalypse, 1988; Waltzing Above Ground, 1988; Citrus, My Love, 1990; Passage North, 1990; Patience and Thyme, 1991; Stolen Memories, 1993; The Gunks, 1995; Regunkitation, 1995; Rumbling, 1995; Skating on Thin Air, 1995; Wave Hill, 1995; Donut Ask, Donut Tell, with vv, 1996 |
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Other chbr and solo inst: Oscillation no.2, pf, 1980; Blue Window, a sax, accdn, 1985; The Flying Pipe Org of Xian, 5–12 insts, 1985; The Grass, It Is Blue, accdn, elec gui, db, drums, 1986; Some of that ‘Old Time Soul’, polka, accdn, elec gui, db, drums, 1986; Fez Up, cl, s, sax, accdn, elec gui, db, drums, 1988; Reprieve, 2 vn, vc, acc., 1988; Union Hall, accdn, cl + sax, db, 1989; The Singing Sands, vn, hp, accdn, 1991; Tesknota, 4–8 melody insts, 1993; Wave Hill, 2 pf, 1995; Cameos, 2 pf, 1996; Sweet Chinoiserie, toy pf, 1996 |
L. Polak: ‘Guy Klucevsek: he doesn't do Weddings’, Philadelphia Inquirer (26 Feb 1989)
K. Gann: ‘Music Notes: Guy Klucevsek Plays Polkas for Weird People’, Chicago Reader (24 March 1989)
L. Kelp: ‘Putting the Squeeze on the Avant-Garde’, Piano & Keyboard, no.162 (1993), 38–41
KYLE GANN