KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ Morning Concert: A Visit With Pianist Robert Taub , 1 of 2
Analog Audio
Event Type
Interview and MusicOrigin
KPFAIdentifier
MC.1990.02.01.AProgram Series
Morning ConcertProgram Length
125 minPart
1 of 2Dates
1990-02-01 | broadcast| 1990-02-01 | created
Description
From a program recorded on February 1, 1990, Charles Amirkhanian talks with pianist Robert Taub about his career, including his recordings of the complete piano music of one of the most cerebral and passionate of American composers, Milton Babbitt. However before we get to the interview with Taub we first hear an excerpt from a lecture given by Babbitt at Mills College, where he introduces a selection of his works for voice and piano. For anyone unfamiliar with the humor and erudition of this Dean of American music this brief exposure will surely lead to a frantic search for more of the same.Following this initial interlude the conversation between Taub and Amirkhanian continues. Born to a musical family, Taub claims that he cannot recall ever not playing the piano, having developed a fascination with the family’s Steinway grand piano by the time he was three years old. In 1981 Taub won classical music’s coveted Peabody Mason Award, and since then he has toured Europe, Asia, Latin America and the United States. In 1988 the Los Angeles Herald Examiner said: “At 31, Robert Taub has already developed into that most rare and cherishable kind of musician, the kind with complete mastery over a chosen instrument and the brains to put that mastery to enlightened use.” In this program we hear a number of recorded works by this gifted musician, who unlike many concert pianist is as comfortable with the experimental works of Babbitt, the classical romanticism of Beethoven and Liszt as well as the Russian masterpieces of Scriabin and Rachmaninoff, examples of which are all included in this marvelous program.
Genres
20th century classicalArt songs
Musical Selections
Du: Wiedersehen ; Wankelmut ; Begegnung ; Verzweifelt ; Allmacht ; Traum ; Schwermut, a song cycle for soprano and piano [texts by August Stramm] (1951) (6:10) / Milton Babbitt -- Three Theatrical Songs: As Long As It Isn’t Love ; Penelope’s Night Song ; Now You See It, for voice and piano (1946) (3:55) / Milton Babbitt -- Reflections, for piano and tape (1974-75) (10:06) / Milton Babbitt -- Frühlingsnacht (”Night of Spring”), Op. 39, No. 12 (1840) (2:37) / Robert Schumann [arr. for piano by Franz Liszt in 1872] -- Concert Paraphrase On "Rigoletto” by Giuseppe Verdi, for piano (ca. 1855) (6:39) / Franz LisztPerformers
Renée Fladen-Kamm, voice (Du ; Three)Belle Bulwinkle, piano (Du ; Three)
Robert Taub, piano (Reflections ; Frühlingsnacht ; Paraphrase)
Subjects
20th century classicalArt songs
Song cycles
Songs (High voice) with piano
Piano and electronic music
Piano music
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, CharlesRosenboom, David
Taub, Robert
Babbitt, Milton, 1916-
Stramm, August, 1874-1915
Schumann, Robert, 1810-1856
Liszt, Franz, 1811-1886
Verdi, Giuseppe, 1813-1901
Fladen-Kamm, Renée
Bulwinkle, Belle