Forty-six years ago – on Saturday, March 28th the eve of Easter Sunday in 1970 – David Borden composed “Easter”, his first tonal pulse-piece for the Moog synthesizer. Working throughout the night at Bob Moog’s Trumansburg studio during Easter weekend, he completed his multi-layered piece at 4am that Easter morning, March 29th.
Two weeks later, on April 10 and 11, 1970, Borden and fellow Mother Mallard member Steve Drews performed “Easter” at Cornell University in the Willard Straight Theater. Borden used a Minimoog A; this was the world’s first performance using a Minimoog A in a live concert. Moreover, Mother Mallard’s April 1970 concerts at Cornell marked the first-time that ANY portable synthesizer was ever used for a live concert.
Formed in 1969 in Ithaca, Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Co. was one of the few to begin experimentation with such equipment, earning them a place in history within an exclusive group of pioneers such as Terry Riley, Philip Glass, and Tangerine Dream. Critically acclaimed as a group whose work was ahead of their time, the ensemble would set groundwork for the experimental classical minimalists and live synth-ensembles of the future. Over the years, the group expanded its instrumentation to include acoustic and other electric instrumentation alongside the Moogs.
The piece Easter comes from Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Company’s album 1970-1973 (Cuneiform)
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