KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ Morning Concert: The Music by Johanna Magdalena Beyer, Mar. 29, 1990, 1 of 2

Analog Audio

Event Type

Interview and Music

Origin

KPFA

Identifier

MC.1990.03.29.A

Program Series

Morning Concert

Program Length

118 min

Part

1 of 2

Dates

1990-03-29 | broadcast
| 1990-03-29 | created

Description

This is the first of two programs devoted to the works of the largely forgotten German-American composer, Johanna Magdalena Beyer (1888-1944). Beyer, who died of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, was a pioneering avant-garde composer who’s works would be lost if it were not for the preservation efforts of the American Music Center in New York City, to which she had donated her scores prior to her death. Beyer was by most accounts a tall, angular, painfully self-conscious woman, who nevertheless devoted herself to the cause of contemporary classical music, even serving as a personal secretary for Henry Cowell during his imprisonment on homosexual morals charges. This program includes recordings of Beyer’s music made at the first of two concerts devoted solely to Beyer’s work. The concert occurred on November 10, 1988 and was produced by Essential Music at the Greenwich House Auditorium in New York on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth. This program also includes an interview with tenor, Paul Sperry, President of the American Music Center, during which he describes the Center as well as some of his recording experiences, including one trying time performing a piece by Karlheinz Stockhausen. This program is hosted by Charles Amirkhanian, who’s persistent research is responsible for much of the renewed interest in this forgotten composer’s work. (from KPFA Folio)

Genres

20th century classical
Avant-garde

Musical Selections

Music of the Spheres, for electronic instruments [from “Status Quo”] (1938) (5:52) -- IV, for percussion (1935) (2:00) -- Suite For Clarinet 1-B (1932) (7:47) -- Three Songs for Soprano and Clarinet: Total Eclipse ; Universal Local ; To Be [texts by Johanna M. Beyer] (1934) (6:43) -- Three Songs: Timber Moon ; Stars Songs Faces ; Summer Grass [texts by Carl Sandburg] (1933) (6:20) -- IV, for percussion (1935) (2:05)

Performers

Electric Weasel Ensemble (Spheres)
Essential Music Percussion Ensemble (IV)
Linda Bouchard, conductor (IV)
Esther Lamneck, clarinet (Suite ; Songs)
Dana Hanchard, soprano (Songs)
Helen Lin, piano (Songs)
John Kennedy, percussion (Songs)

Subjects

20th century classical
Avant-garde (Music)
Electronic music
Percussion ensembles
Suites (Clarinet)
Songs (High voice) with clarinet
Songs (High voice) with piano and percussion

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

Electric Weasel Ensemble
Essential Music Percussion Ensemble
Amirkhanian, Charles
Beyer, Johanna Magdalena, 1888-1944
Bouchard, Linda
Lamneck, Esther
Hanchard, Dana
Sandburg, Carl, 1878-1967
Lin, Helen
Kennedy, John, 1959-