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KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ Speaking of Music: John Adams, 1985

Digital Audio

Event Type
Interview and Music
Origin
KPFA
Identifier
SOM.1985.03.28.c2
Program Series
Speaking of Music
Program Length
152 min
Dates
1986-06-30 | broadcast
| 1985-03-28 | created
Description
San Francisco Bay Area based composer, John Adams, is certainly one of the most successful American composers of his generation. His compositions are regularly performed all over the world. In March of 1986, the San Francisco Symphony, where he was Composer-in-Residence at the time, performed the world premiere of his “Harmonielehre”, which was commissioned by the Symphony. In this program, Charles Amirkhanian interviews the composer in front of a live audience as part of the San Francisco Exploratorium’s Speaking of Music series. Recorded on March 28, 1985, Adams discusses the process of composing such a major work as “Harmonielehre”. He also shares his early experience in writing “Nixon in China”, an opera produced in collaboration with theater director Peter Sellars and librettist Alice Goodman. Adams’ music has the shimmering quality of repetitive, or minimal music, plus the drama of the most romantic. (from KPFA Folio)
Genres
New music
Electro-Acoustic / Electronic
Musical Selections
Harmonielehre [1st movement] (17:00) (1984-85) -- Harmonielehre: The Anfortas Wound [2nd movement] (12:15) (1984-85) -- Harmonielehre: Meister Eckhardt & Quackie [3rd movement] (10:30)(1984-85) -- Light Over Water [excerpt] (5:00) (1983) -- Harmonielehre [excerpt from 3rd movement] (4:00) (1984-85)
Performers
San Francisco Symphony (Harmonielehre)
Edo de Waart, conductor (Harmonielehre)
Subjects
New music
Electro-acoustic
Minimal music
Orchestral music
Ballets--Excerpts
Symphonies (Horns (2), trombones (2), trumpets (2), tuba)
Electronic music
Acknowledgment
Funding for the preservation of this program made possible through a grant by Save America’s Treasures, a program of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Related places
San Francisco (Calif.) (was recorded at)
Berkeley (Calif.) (was broadcast at)
Related Entities
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Amirkhanian, Charles
Adams, John, 1947-
De Waart, Edo