KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ A Celebration of Non-Commercial Radio, 2 of 3

Analog Audio

Event Type

Interview and Music

Origin

KPFA

Identifier

AM.1991.10.04.B

Program Length

182 min

Part

2 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

Tides of Manaunaun [excerpt] (1912 / Henry Cowell -- Aeolian Harp [excerpt] (1923) / Henry Cowell -- Lilt of the Reel [excerpt] (1930) / Henry Cowell -- String Quartet No. 2 [excerpt, rehearsal] (1950-51) / Roger Sessions -- Grand Rag Brillante, Op. 15 (1979, rev. 1989) / Gary Noland -- Raga Yaman [excerpt, heard in background]

Performers

Griller String Quartet (Quartet)
Sidney Griller, violin (Quartet)
Jack O’Brien, violin, (Quartet)
Philip Burton, viola (Quartet)
Colin Hampton, cello (Quartet)
G.S. Sachdev, bansuri flute (Rag Yaman)
Das Gopal, tabla (Rag Yaman)

Subjects

New music
20th century music
Radio stations -- Denmark
Piano music
Censorship
Psychology and religion
Player piano music
Piano music (Ragtime)

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

Griller String Quartet
Amirkhanian, Charles
Andersen, Mogens, 1929-
Harrison, Lou, 1917-2003
Cowell, Henry, 1897-1965
Sessions, Roger, 1896-1985
Griller, Sidney
O'Brien, Jack (Violinist)
Burton, Philip (Violist)
Hampton, Colin, 1911-1996
Callahan, Jim
Noland, Gary
North, Carolyn, 1937-
Sachdev, Gurubachan Singh (G.S.)
Das, Gopal
Hussain, Zakir, 1951-