KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ Morning Concert: The Music by Johanna Magdalena Beyer, Mar. 29, 1990, 2 of 2
Analog Audio
Event Type
Interview and MusicOrigin
KPFAIdentifier
MC.1990.03.29.BProgram Series
Morning ConcertProgram Length
118 minPart
2 of 2Dates
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 classicalArt songs
Musical Selections
March for 30 Percussion Instruments (1939) (3:40) / Johanna Magdalena Beyer -- Three Movements, for percussion: Restless ; Endless ; Tactless (1939) (16:33) / Johanna Magdalena Beyer -- The Ballad of Longwood Glen [text by Vladimir V. Nabokov] (1975) (14:12) / Richard WilsonPerformers
Essential Music Percussion Ensemble (March ; Movements)Linda Bouchard, conductor (March ; Movements)
Paul Sperry, tenor (Ballad)
Nancy Allen, harp (Ballad)
Subjects
20th century classicalAvant-garde (Music)
Art songs
Marches (Percussion ensemble)
Percussion ensembles
Music -- Manuscripts
Music libraries
Songs (High voice) with harp
Computer music
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
Essential Music Percussion EnsembleAmirkhanian, Charles
Beyer, Johanna Magdalena, 1888-1944
Bouchard, Linda
Wilson, Richard, 1941-
Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899-1977
Sperry, Paul
Allen, Nancy
Spiegel, Laurie, 1945-