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KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ New Music America: New Sounds USA, Program No. 1, 1983

Analog Audio

Event Type
Music
Origin
NPR / WNYC
Identifier
NMA.1983.10.14.1
Program Series
New Music America
Program Length
60 min
Dates
1983-11-12 | broadcast
| 1983-10-14 | created
Description
Hosts Alan Rich and Nancy Shear present highlights from the 1983 New Music America Festival, which was held in Washington D.C. The program begins with a description, complete with audio excerpts, of some of the public events and sound installations that happened around the edges of the ten day Festival. These include Pauline Oliveros’ “Grand Buddha Marching Band” which appears to have been part parade and part audience participation piece, in which the composer stood in the center of a circle blowing a conch shell while others were encouraged to march around her while producing an assortment of sounds and melodies. Also described in this program is a sound installation that the San Francisco Bay Area sound sculptor Bill Fontana created for the Festival, in which the sounds of local carillons were combined and manipulated to produce an ever changing pattern of ringing bells that echoed throughout the city. Then from a concert held prior to the Festival we hear Frank Zappa introducing a work for flute composed by his idol and inspiration Edgar Varèse, while also successfully admonishing his raucous fans to be quiet enough to allow the piece to be heard. This is followed by another previously recorded piece of music, Graham Hair’s “Microvariations” an apparently electo-acoustic work presented at a concert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981. The program then concludes with two lengthy live recordings made at the October 14th concert of NMA ‘83. First heard is “Dong Il Jang” a work of electronic music by Carl Stone, followed by “Earth’s Answer” a delightful piece scored for violin and tamboura by violinist and composer Stephen Nachmanovitch.
Genres
New music
Electro-Acoustic / Electronic
Musical Selections
The Grand Buddha Marching Band [excerpt, talked over at times] (1981) / Pauline Oliveros -- Sound Sculpture With Distant Bells [excerpt, talked over at times] (1983) / Bill Fontana -- Density 21.5, for solo flute (1936) (3:41) / Edgard Varèse -- Microvariations, for 17 instruments (1979) (2:53) / Graham Hair -- Dong Il Jang (1982) (19:36) / Carl Stone -- Earth’s Answer, for violin and tamboura (1982) (8:02) / Stephen Nachmanovitch
Performers
Sue Ann Kahn, flute (Density)
Stephen Nachmanovitch, violin (Earth’s)
Reb Anderson, tamboura (Earth’s)
Subjects
New music
Electronic music
Aleatory music
Sound installations (Art)
Carillon music
Sound sculpture
Flute music
Electro-acoustic
Computer music
Electronics with instrumental ensemble
Tamboura and violin music
Related places
Washington (D.C.) (was recorded at)
Berkeley (Calif.) (was broadcast at)
Related Entities
Rich, Alan
Shear, Nancy
Oliveros, Pauline, 1932-2016
Fontana, Bill, 1947-
Varèse, Edgard, 1883-1965
Zappa, Frank
Kahn, Sue Ann
Hair, Graham
Stone, Carl, 1953-
Cliff, Mary
Reb Anderson