KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ Ode To Gravity: Notes and Notations

Analog Audio

Event Type

Interview and Music

Origin

KPFA

Identifier

OTG.1989.03.06

Program Series

Ode To Gravity

Program Length

61 min

Dates

1989-03-06 | broadcast
| 1989-03-06 | created

Description

This edition of Ode To Gravity, hosted by Charles Amirkhanian, first broadcast on March 6, 1989, begins with a critique of the San Francisco Symphony’s 1989-90 season, and its lack of new music, especially as it pertains to women and African American composers. Amirkhanian relates his attempt to bring his concerns to the attention of Symphony Director Herbert Blomstedt at a recent press conference, and Blomstedt’s ridiculous reply that women and black composers were not interested in having their music included in such concerts. The rest of the hour long program is then spent listening to examples of the type of music in question, including electronic music by Ralph Lundsten and Maggi Payne, a work for solo percussion by Per Nørgård, and a text-sound composition by Clark Coolidge, who had planned to visit the studio but was unable to make it on time. Although Amirkhanian vows to never mention the lack of new music programming by the San Francisco Symphony at a press conference again, this program, and in fact Amirkhanian’s entire career, is a testimony to the validity, and yes, popularity, of contemporary classical and avant-garde music.

Genres

Electro-Acoustic / Electronic
Sound poetry

Musical Selections

Energy for Biological Computers (1969) (7:18) / Ralph Lundsten -- I Ching: Thunder Repeated, The Image of Shock ; The Taming Power of the Small ; The Gentle, The Penetrating ; Towards Completion, Fire Over Water, for solo percussion (1982) (21:35) / Per Nørgård -- Subterranean Network, for tape [excerpt] (1986) (5:23) / Maggi Payne -- Preface, for speaker and tape [excerpt] (1968) (5:37) / Clark Coolidge

Performers

Gert Mortensen, percussion (I Ching)

Subjects

New music
Computer music
Electronic music
Percussion music
Sound poetry
Text-sound compositions

Acknowledgment

Funding for the preservation of this program made possible through a grant by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Related places

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

Related Entities

Amirkhanian, Charles
Lundsten, Ralph, 1936-
Nørgård, Per, 1932-
Mortensen, Gert, 1958-
Payne, Maggi
Coolidge, Clark, 1939-