Charles Amirkhanian Collection ➔ Composer-to-Composer Festival: Day 4 Discussions, Music Criticism (August 18. 1989), 1 of 2
Digital Audio
Event Type
Lectures and Panel DiscussionsOrigin
C AmirkhanianIdentifier
CTC.1989.08.18.1.AProgram Series
Composer-to-Composer FestivalProgram Length
122 min ; 204 totalPart
1 of 2Dates
| broadcast| 1989-08-18 | created
Description
A recording of the first group discussion for August 18, 1989 in Telluride, Colorado during the 1989 Composer to Composer Festival. The composers discuss Music Criticism.Charles Amirkhanian begins by talking about the upcoming panel discussions and setting the stage for a talk about Music Criticism. He also introduces visiting music critic Alan Rich from the Los Angeles Herald Examiner.
The composers discuss issues with music criticism, including poor writing, problems with subjectivity in music, critics not being trained in music, commercial stations and news outlets having their own agendas in the music writing, and egos involved with music writers.
John Cage talks about the lessons he learned from Gertrude Stein in how to write proper music criticism.
The composers also investigate whether music criticism actually carries much weight in the long term career of a composer, how much faith can be put into a reader being informed, and the need for a forum for composers and listeners to discuss music.
The recording ends abruptly during conversation and concludes on the next tape (part 2).
Subjects
Music--Criticism and interpretationPanel discussions
20th century music
Music critics
Acknowledgment
Digitized with support from the National Recording Preservation Foundation, The Copland Fund, and the Association for Recorded Sound Collections.Related Event
Composer-to-Composer Festival, 1989Related place
Telluride (Colo.) (was recorded at)Related Entities
Composer-to-Composer FestivalTelluride Institute
Amirkhanian, Charles
Cage, John
Spiegel, Laurie, 1945-
La Barbara, Joan, 1947-
Johnson, Tom, 1939-
Zimmermann, Walter
Subotnick, Morton
Davis, Anthony, 1951-
León, Tania
Dal Farra, Ricardo, 1957-
Kim, Jin Hi
Lockwood, Annea, 1939-
Rich, Alan
Estrada, Julio