Barton McLean is an American composer, performer, music reviewer, and writer. He taught music theory and double bass at SUNY (1960–66), while performing on double bass in jazz groups and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1969-76 he taught music composition and theory at Indiana University South Bend. From 1969-76 he directed the Electronic Music Center at the University of Texas at Austin. He created a series of solo instrument and stereo tape pieces, best known of which is Dimensions II (1974). Created with a National Endowment for the Arts Composer Grant, McLean's Song of the Nahuatl, an electronic composition for eight channels of sound, was premiered at the University of Miami on March 24, 1978. Along with many electronic works composed over the years, Barton McLean also developed the concept of the audience interacting intricately with instruments and live electronics in several installations. McLean's music is often based upon processes and sounds of the natural world, while using current electronic and recording technology. The result is considered to have both primitive and sophisticated elements. McLean's signature work is the audience-interactive installation RAINFOREST created in collaboration with wife and composer Priscilla McLean. It was staged and performed extensively throughout the USA, Canada, Europe, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia from 1989 until 2013.
Portrait by Pricilla McLean
