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Creator
Creshevsky, Noah
Call number
*L (Special) 04-01; JPB 26-02
Physical description
4.92 linear feet (14 boxes). 85.7 gigabytes (42673 computer files). 30 audio recordings. 1 video recording
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Noah Creshevsky papers, Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, The New York Public Library
Repository
Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Noah Creshevsky (1945-2020) was an experimental electronic composer and pianist who pioneered the concept of hyperrealism in music, wherein existing recordings are electronically manipulated to achieve an exaggerated effect while remaining grounded in reality. Creshevsky's papers, dating from 1963 to 2014, emphasize his music production and composition with thousands of digital audio recordings he used as samples; notebooks; and scores. The collection also traces Creshevsky's professional career with writings, photographs, and press and publicity materials.

Biographical/historical information

Noah Creshevsky was born Gary Cohen on January 31, 1945 in Rochester, New York (he later changed his name to honor his maternal grandparents). Drawn to the piano as a child, Creshevsky studied music from ages six to sixteen at the Eastman School of Music's preparatory division, where he developed an interest in composition. Creshevsky subsequently earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He trained under composer and pianist Lukas Foss at Buffalo, and studied composition with Nadia Boulanger at the École Normale de Musique de Paris from 1963 to 1964.

After graduating from Buffalo in 1965, Creshevsky moved to New York City to attend the Juilliard School. He studied under avant-garde composer Luciano Berio and earned a master's degree in 1968. During this time, Creshevsky founded and performed with the New York Improvisation Ensemble, and gave solo piano concerts.

In 1971, Creshevsky abandoned composing primarily for performance and shifted his focus to electronic music recording and composition. His first electronic piece, Circuit, combines multiple harpsichord recordings into one realistic-sounding song that is nonetheless impossible for live musicians to play. This approach embodied Creshevsky's ethos, which he termed "hyperrealism:" the electronic manipulation of existing recordings to make them more precise, exaggerated, and often faster. Creshevsky utilized digital and analog sampling techniques, drawing from a variety of sources including instrumental and vocal music, film, television, human speech, and ambient sounds.

Creshevsky's recorded music first appeared on compilations of emerging experimental composers through Max Schubel's Opus One Records. A retrospective collection of Creshevsky's Opus One recordings, The Tape Music of Noah Creshevsky, was released in 2004 and featured his 1976 collaboration with John Cage, In Other Words.

Creshevsky went on to release eleven solo albums from 1992 to 2019, among them Man & Superman (Centaur Records, 1992); Hyperrealism: Electroacoustic Music by Noah Creshevsky (Mutable Music, 2003); Rounded with a Sleep (Pogus Productions, 2012); Hyperrealist Music, 2011-2015 (EM Records, 2015); and Sleeping Awake (Open Space, 2019). Tzadik Records, the label created by saxophonist and composer John Zorn, issued three albums of Creshevsky's music: To Know and Not to Know (2007), The Twilight of the Gods (2010), and The Four Seasons (2013). A second retrospective collection, Reanimator, was released by Orange Milk Records in 2018.

In addition to composing and recording, Creshevsky taught music at Brooklyn College from 1969 until his retirement in 2000, serving as director of the school's Center for Computer Music from 1994 to 1999. He also served on the faculties of Hunter College and the Juilliard School. During the 1984 academic year, Creshevsky taught at Princeton University.

Creshevsky was married to teacher and editor David Sachs, with whom he lived for forty-two years. In early 2020, Creshevsky was diagnosed with bladder cancer; he refused treatment and died on December 3, 2020. Per his wishes, Creshevsky was buried in the mass grave on New York City's Hart Island.

Scope and arrangement

The Noah Creshevsky papers, dating from 1963 to 2014, comprehensively chronicle the composer's musical output, with emphasis on his electronic production process. The collection holds thousands of digital audio recordings, mostly snippets of existing music that Creshevsky sampled for his compositions, as well as dozens of scores and composition notebooks. It also traces Creshevsky's career with press and publicity materials, photographs, and his published and unpublished writing.

The Noah Creshevsky papers are arranged in two series:

  • Series I: Music Composition and Production
    1963-2014
    3.25 linear feet (9 boxes). 84.2 gigabytes (42,545 computer files). 27 audio recordings

    Series I holds all digital audio files used by Creshevsky in creating his music, as well as scores, composition notebooks, and notes and lists of samples. Thousands of digital files, largely audio of existing recordings, are present, revealing Creshevsky's detailed and far-reaching creative process. The sample notes and notebooks mirror the digital files, referencing specific files by name; they also include occasional melody transcriptions of sample sources. The series chiefly covers Creshevsky's compositions from 1988, four years before his first solo album Man & Superman, to the release of Hyperrealist Music in 2015. It also includes scores for Creshevsky's early compositions dating back to the 1960s.

    The digital material, all for compositions from 1988 to 2015, broadly consists of audio sample files, master audio files, and what Creshevsky termed "composition project files:" a mix of samples, audio editing files, and notes. Multiple audio file formats exist throughout the series, the most common being WAV, AIF, and M5P. Creshevsky used the MIDI sequencing tools Performer, Galaxy, and Multi in producing his music, and MIDI files are also present in the series.

    Creshevsky utilized an idiosyncratic labeling system for samples, wherein digital audio files for a given composition, instrument, or musical genre are assigned letter codes (for example, AA-comp or M-comp). Multiple documents explaining this system, in somewhat contradictory terms, are present in ER 104 under "Lists." Sample lists arranged by code are present in the series as well.

    Most individual compositions are represented by audio samples, sample notes, and "composition project files." Prominent compositions in the series include Born Again, Favorite Encores, Hoodlum Priest, I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now, Omaggio, Once, and To Know and Not to Know.

    The scores are fewer than the digital files. There are scores for Creshevsky's pre-1988 compositions: Chaconne, Circuit, Crosstalk, Etude, Great Performances, Guitar, In Other Words, Interlude, Mirrors, Monogenesis, Movement for Two, Sonata, Trio, Variations, and Vier Lieder. Of particular interest are Creshevsky's extensive handwritten notes and edits to transcripts of John Cage's recorded dialogue for In Other Words.

  • Series II: Professional Files
    1963-2014
    1.92 linear feet (6 boxes). 1.6 gigabytes (128 computer files). 3 audio recordings. 1 video recording

    This series dates from 1963 to 2014 and contains Creshevsky's professional files distinct from his music composition and production. It holds press and publicity materials, Creshevsky's writings, interviews, photographs, and two recordings of performances.

    Press clippings and programs make up much of the series. The clippings, which include reviews, profiles, and announcements, span Creshevsky's career from when he moved to New York City in the 1960s to 2014. The programs date from a similar time span, documenting performances, albums, lectures, and Brooklyn College events.

    Photographs consist of Creshevsky's professional portraits, and images of him with composers Virgil Thomson, John Cage, Noël Lee, and Max Schubel. The three interviews feature Creshevsky discussing his creative process and the philosophy behind hyperrealism. Among Creshevsky's writings are articles about music published in academic journals and newsletters; album reviews; and unpublished notes on various compositions. The series also contains copyright permission letters, including two from Cage and writer Studs Terkel.

    Of special interest are two recordings of performances of Creshevsky's music: a 1990 concert at Oberlin College by Max Schubel, and Creshevsky's 2007 performance at the Rhythm in the Kitchen Music Festival with vocalist Beth Griffith.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by Noah Creshevsky in 2015.

Processing information

Processed by Nathan Evans in 2026.

Seven recordings were previously processed as the Noah Creshevsky sound recordings collection.

Using the collection

Location

Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor