Bebe Barron's Mixed Emotions

via Peter Grenader of Plan B:

"In 2000, Curtis Roads, composer, director of the of the electronic music department at UCSB and ex-editor of The Computer Music Journal commissioned his friend Bebe Barron to compose a piece of music at UCSB's CREATE studios.

At first Bebe was hesitant to do this, but at the arguing of Barry Schrader, over a six week period with the technical assistance of composer Jane Brokman, Bebe did in fact compose what was to be her last body of work, aptly entitled 'Mixed Emotions'

Although digital, it has a remarkable analog quality to it, akin to the timbres we would expect from the Barrons. You can hear Bebe speaking about these similarities in a taped audio interview which is still accessible at npr.org (search Barron once on the site, you'll see the link).

Until recently Mixed Emotions was heard only by those who attended it's premier at UCSB and at the 2001 SCREAM Festival at CalArts. Earlier this year however, Leonard Newbauer (Bebe's husband) commissioned a gentleman by the name of Mario Salinas to tape and produce a video of her memorial. In it they included Mixed Emotions, which is accompanied by some really interesting video graphics. The presentation is great. Without hesitation I can say that Bebe would be very pleased.

After some discussion, I have received approval from Leonard to release the Mixed Emotions section of the memorial DVD to the internet. It will be officially premiered on Matrixsynth in the next few days and will take permanent residence on my You Tube space:

http://www.youtube.com/user/petergrenader

Keep your eyes and ears tuned for this significant body of work - the last from legend and first lady of electronic music, Bebe Barron.

- Peter Grenader"

For more info on Bebe Barron's influence and legacy see this post.

Update via Mike in the comments: "And don't forget that Wendy Carlos just posted a lovely tribute to Bebe Barron on her own website: http://www.wendycarlos.com/people/BebeNYC/index.html"