| Summary: | David Tudor's sound work Rainforest was created in four distinct versions between 1968 and 1973. The work's central concept is the use of various resonant objects as loudspeakers, or "acoustic filters", to modify sounds from numerous sources which are played through the objects. The author traces Tudor's exploration of the "loudspeaker-object" idea, which Tudor dates back to 1965, and considers the significance of the community of artists, engineers, composers and choreographers surrounding Tudor, for the development of each version of Rainforest. In particular this thesis is concerned with Composers Inside Electronics (CIE), the "family" of younger composer-performers which developed Rainforest 4 with Tudor in 1973, and regularly presented it with him until 1982 as a large-scale "performed installation". During that time CIE also functioned as a collaborative ensemble performing other works by Tudor and the group's members, employing new technologies with an emphasis on "hand-built" electronic devices. A number of CIE works can be shown to be related to the Rainforest series. Following a hiatus between 1982 and Tudor's death in 1996, CIE has again performed Rainforest 4 in several major installations, and has made efforts to bring a new'generation of performers into the group. The author considers the dynamics of this process in the continuation of Rainforest 4 up to 2006, and examines the group's discussions concerning possible future directions for Rainforest.
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