“Within the minimalist ranks, David Borden’s music has always stood alone with its logic of motion, elegance of line and form, and deft use of state-of-the-art technology... Borden writes a complex and hyperactive form of counterpoint, often through-composing each line as a separate entity yet interlocking them in synchronous orbits. He winds his pieces up like gyroscopes and sends them spinning full-tilt from the start... Each Counterpoint employs thematic material used in Part 1, which makes the variety that Borden elicits all the more amazing... When released in its entirety, this series may stand as the “Goldberg Variations of minimalism, a canon of work that defines a style and an era.” Audio , John Diliberto, Aug. 1989 (USA)
“Without the big-label exposure of Glass, Reich or Riley, [Borden] has single-mindedly pursued his musical vision for at least eleven years, and it is nicely summed up in this twelve-part counterpart series...Borden’s music has parallels with Terry Riley’s landmark In C, in that it sets up a series of independent motifs which are often played in different meters and for varying lengths of time. But unlike In C, Borden’s counterpoint series of independent motifs does not employ a pulse, and is not in a single key. In fact, Borden uses Riley’s approach as a point of departure, and has gone far beyond the original concept.... His music is lively, but rather austere, and he is perhaps the most intellectual of the minimalist composers...” Option, #33 (USA)
“Of the minimalist school, David Borden is probably one of the most undeservedly obscure. The founder of Mother Mallard Portable Masterpiece Co., Borden has been quietly releasing a series of astounding records since the early ‘70s that incorporate his love of pre-Renaissance liturgical music, synthesizers (both analog and digital) and what he’s learned from LaMonte Young. Counterpoint...utilizes just about every compositional trick in the book. The music is smoothly paced, with odd time signatures and wondrously atonal, yet consonant, voicings. It also has no new age pandering nor is it ponderously academic. The triumph of this record is “#10.” In it, Borden has composed a marvelously dense series of phrases only to have his reed player, Les Thimming, improvise...Thimming’s sax work steals the show, probably coming the closest to Terry Riley’s “Poppy Nogood & His Shado Band” since Riley left that realm of work behind him.” Reflex, Steve Fritz, V.1 #10 Cage-Riley-Glass are ghosts of an important past but Borden is the spirit for the future. The contents are stunning, fulfilling and I await further episodes with an absorbing interest.” Outlet, #36 (England)
“...since they began from similar assumptions and background...[Borden and Glass] have ended up with a superficial resemblance: mainly the keyboard sound and use of repetition. Indeed. It’s impossible to picture Glass composing such a bittersweet melody as graces “Part Twelve A”. Borden’s work is minimalist only in the sense that he uses a fair amount of repetition but that’s generally within the small units that he patches together for each composition, consequently creating a fair amount of change. Borden creates warm, intriguing music and not exercises in harmonic theory for no-humans-involved process music.” Lowlife, Lang Thompson, #16
“Borden, who once contributed to the development of the earliest synths, is a rather more amiable (and listenable) acquaintance than Glass and Reich put together. ...The Continuing... is highly melodic and possesses a variation and a nerve which is usually missing from the work of Borden’s colleagues...Borden’s music emerges as a series of fascinating, enigmatic themes; it is beautiful without being schmaltzy, well conceived and impeccably performed by Borden’s trio Mother Mallard.” Puls, Thomas Hylland Ericksen, March 1989 (Norway)
“David Borden is one of the classical world innovators with his ensemble, Mother Mallard which has been performing all-synth minimalist masterpieces since ‘68, when Robert Moog gave the trio their first analog patch. Borden’s first major step was the use of synths over other composers’ non-electronic materialized, be it Steve Reich’s tape loops, La Monte Young’s tuned piano or Terry Riley trance compositions.... ‘With synthesizers, I have a larger range that continually criss-crosses.’ Borden elaborates, drawing on an influence of generalist philosopher Buckminster Fuller. ‘When put together, they lose their individual identity and the whole takes place.’” The New York Review of Records, Steve Fritz, Summer ‘90 (USA)
“It is so incredibly rich and driven, yet it’s really very minimalist... It’s beautiful, strange, classical and avant-garde all in the same breath.” B-Side (USA)
“The Continuing Story of Counterpoint is unambiguously signified by its title...the audible results are a series of segments which display an insistent but undaunting complexity born of interlocking musical elements, somewhat in the manner of Glass’s Music in Twelve Parts or Milesis’ Modi I And II. Borden’s music, however, develops with its own kind of pace. Seemingly reluctant to take this systems thing too seriously, Borden allows his themes to become established and then artfully tinkers with them just enough to keep you interested. The music which results is harmonious, euphonious and generally emotionally uplifting without being deficient in the necessary compositional discipline. Most of all, the human elements in this system are important in a way to which... Michael Nyman has alluded, in that the performers of this particularly demanding kind of music are not idealized interpreting machines but people... This seems to be explicit in Borden’s approach, or maybe it’s simply coincidental that his music exhibits a healthy emotional depth. ...Buy these recordings ... if you fancy the idea of a systems music which blends a remarkable level of technical assurance with a sense of gentle optimism and a readily approachable sense of fun.” The Wire, Tom Corbin, July 1990 (England)
“David Borden is a no-nonsense, roots minimalist, one who kept the faith of bracing 16th notes and keyboard dominated small groups...Borden’s forte is a streamlined harmonic sensibility influenced by early European music, and a crisp rhythmic drive devoid of obvious ethnic models...Borden has also astutely read the sign of the times, astutely integrating computer-driven samples and sequences, and small doses of improvisation. Downbeat, 2/89 (USA)
“The complete Story is a twelve-part musical cycle based on strict counterpoint that kept Borden busy from 1976 to 1987. Despite the music’s rigorous internal logic, the minimalist tale offers the kind of textured attractiveness on the surface that could pass for background music in The Exorcist, Part 12. Borden’s synthesizers combine with Les Thimming’s wind playing and Ellen Hargis’ voice to produce an arresting sound.” Jazziz, Feb/March/89 (USA)
“..Borden shows amazing skills as both a composer and synthesist. This music is structurally complex, dense, and full of surprises...”Part Ten,” based on a canon, reflects the sweeping grandeur of a Mahler symphony. Later in the piece, when the tempo shifts, multi-reedist Les Thimming plays expression-laden alto and soprano solos... “Part Eleven” is a tour-de-force.” Option, Russ Summers, #24 (USA)
“Less known by far than Reich or Riley or Glass, David Borden was mining the same “minimal” ore in the mid-sixties, years before he ever heard Reich or Glass... Borden’s rhythms are rather compelling -- as conducive to toe-tapping as a pot of strong coffee. And as with Reich’s “Electric Counterpoint,” fetching melodic figures do leap to the ear out of his overlapping arpeggios -- an aural mirage effect. There’s also something endearingly baroque about his music... But the real saving grace of these elaborately devised, repetitive compositions is the wild card element supplied by woodwind ace Les Thimming...Transcending the rather predetermined nature of Borden’s music, and the built-in pitfalls of soprano sax and clarinet, Thimming’s solos symbolize the triumph of humans over machinery...” Baltimore City Paper, 3/31/89
“composed between 1986 and 1987...At this point in his project, Borden seems somewhat more adventurous, pushing against the boundaries of his own rules. Consequently, there is noticeable development in Borden’s contrapuntal language on this last disk, with somewhat softer timbres and perhaps a bit more melodic invention...Compared to the tightly controlled structures of the earlier parts, its development is extravagant and occasionally almost giddy. It is certainly the most colorful of all 12 parts in the series. Parts 9 and 10 feature the wordless soprano of Mother Mallard regular Ellen Hargis and at times sound like a combination of Brian Eno’s prototypical Music for Airports ambiance, matched with the underlying rhythmic pulse of early Steve Reich.” All Music Guide, http://allmusic.com, Bill Tilland, 1999