KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ Morning Concert: The Music of Denys Bouliane, 1 of 3

Analog Audio

Event Type

Interview and Music

Origin

KPFA

Identifier

MC.1987.10.16.c3.A

Program Series

Morning Concert

Program Length

129 min

Part

1 of 3

Dates

1987-10-16 | broadcast
| 1987-06-01 | created

Description

In an interview recorded in June of 1987, Charles Amirkhanian visits composer Denys Bouliane at his home in Cologne, Germany. Bouliane was born in 1955 in Quebec, Canada, but moved to Germany to study with György Ligeti. Bouliane is a former rock guitarist who became interested in classical music when the father of a friend gave him a recording by Stravinsky, after which he quickly decided to pursue a career as a composer, although he didn’t even know how to read music. After an initial rejection he eventually got accepted to study music at Laval University and is currently a Professor of Composition at McGill University. His carefully crafted scores reveal the influence of Charles Ives, Conlon Nancarrow, and Ligeti, in a style which music critic Peter Niklas Wilson has called Magic Realism, the musical equivalent of the literature style of Jorge Luis Borges. In this interview, Bouliane talks about several of his pieces and the state of avant-garde music in Germany.

Genres

20th century classical
Avant-garde

Musical Selections

Rituel Lapidaire, en Souvenance [excerpt] (1984, rev. 1985) -- Jeux de Société (”Society Games”): Hide & Seek (1979–80, rev. 1981) (7:30) -- Jeux de Société: Telephone Arabe (3:41) -- Jeux de Société: Poker Game (5:15) -- Jeux de Société: Interlude (3:01) -- Jeux de Société: Gossip (7:25)

Subjects

20th century classical
Avant-garde (Music)
English horn and vibraphone music
Sextets (Piano, bassoon, clarinet, flute, horn, oboe)

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

Berkeley (Calif.) (was recorded at)
Berkeley (Calif.) (was broadcast at)

Related Entities

Amirkhanian, Charles
Bouliane, Denys, 1955-