KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ A Celebration of Non-Commercial Radio, 1 of 3

Analog Audio

Event Type

Interview and Music

Origin

KPFA

Identifier

AM.1991.10.04.A

Program Length

182 min

Part

1 of 3

Dates

1991-10-04 | broadcast
| 1991-10-04 | created

Description

This live broadcast from the then, brand new, KPFA building at 1929 Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Berkeley, California, aired nationally on NPR. It features the world premiere of Lou Harrison’s “Homage to Pacifica” (commissioned by the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation), a six movement composition for narrator, soloists, mixed chorus, and Javanese gamelan ensemble. Also heard is a rare recording made in 1949, just after KPFA went on the air, in which Henry Cowell performed a number of his works on the KPFA grand piano. This program continues with Berkeley composer Gary Noland’s spectacular ragtime composition, “Grand Rag Brillante”, which is virtually impossible to be played by humans. Here it is heard played on KPFA’s Yamaha Disklavier, a type of modern player piano. The program concludes with the great, North Indian, virtuosi, G. S. Sachdev and Zakir Hussain, performing an evening raga. (from KPFA Folio)

Genres

New music
20th century classical

Musical Selections

Homage to Pacifica [texts by Mark Twain, Chief Seattle & Lou Harrison] (1990-91) (38:00) / Lou Harrison

Performers

Milton Williams, narrator (Homage)
Jody Diamond, Javanese style vocals (Homage)
Robert Hughes, bassoon (Homage)
William Winant, Ptolemy duple metallophone (Homage)
Henry Spiller, harp (Homage)
The Berkeley Chamber Singers (Homage)
Gamelan Si Betty (Homage)
Trish Neilsen, director (Homage)

Subjects

New music
20th century music
Choruses, Secular (Mixed voices) with instrumental ensemble
Gamelan 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

Berkeley Chamber Singers
Gamelan Si Betty
Amirkhanian, Charles
Hill, Lewis, -1957
Scott, Patricia
Harrison, Lou, 1917-2003
Twain, Mark, 1835-1910
Seattle, Chief, 1790-1866
Diamond, Jody
Neilsen, Trish
Hughes, Robert, 1933-2022
Kobialka, Daniel
Williams, Milton
Winant, William
Spiller, Henry