In the mid sixties, the new medium of electronic music drew my attention, and I studied it with Vladimir Ussachevsky. I soon decided that my own involvement with this exciting new kind of music would have to combine the electronic element with acoustic instruments if it was going to work for me. My aim was to combine the two kinds of sound into a coherent whole. If at times the listener cannot be sure of whether he is hearing the flute or the electronic sounds, I am satisfied that I have achieved my goal. The music was composed with the brilliant flute playing of Gerardo Levy in mind's ear.
Dialogues is in four sections and a coda.
In each section, the conversation between the flute and the tape is a bit different in character. The electronic portion was realized at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. In Spain during the middle ages, Christians, Moslems, and Jews lived together in a rather harmonious way. This tranquil period was a golden age for Hebrew literature, and among its outstanding poets was Moses and Ibn Ezra. I had thought to make an entire set of secular songs, but the power of one of Ibn Ezra's religious texts impressed me deeply, and I used lines from that work in the seventh song cycle.