KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ Music Review: Anna Halprin and the Avant-Garde

Analog Audio

Event Type

Interviews

Origin

KPFA

Identifier

MR.1970.09.17

Program Series

Music Review

Program Length

28 min

Dates

1970-09-17 | broadcast
| 1970-09-17 | created

Description

Three brief interviews from KPFA’s Music Review program, recorded in September of 1970. In the first segment Charles Amirkhanian and Richard Friedman interview choreographer Ann (Anna) Halprin about her dance company’s new production of “Ceremony of Us”. Halprin talks about how her realization that she was about to bring an all-white dance troupe to perform in a black community had led her to expand the racial makeup of her company, and to explore the cultural differences (and similarities) that exist in the United States. She also discusses her husband Larry’s book, “The R.S.V.P. Cycles” which analyzes the creative process and seeks to apply the insights gained therefrom, to larger, non-artistic activities, such as city planning. The second segment features a discussion between Amirkhanian, Friedman, and Halprin about an article published in the San Francisco Chronicle on September 16, 1970, which was written by music critic Robert Commanday, and was entitled “Avant-Garde Music Class Revolt”. In the article, of which Amirkhanian reads the first few paragraphs, Commanday describes how a class of students had accused Karlheinz Stockhausen of being too authoritarian and domineering. Commanday then goes on to accuse the radical, avant-garde, West Coast composers, such as Terry Riley and La Monte Young of being “dead enders” and generally dismissive of their musical contributions. This is all too much for our three commentators who point out that it is the academic, traditional orchestral composers favored in Europe and the East Coast who are stuck in the past. This program then ends with a very quick interview with Ross Pennell of the Berkeley Artist’s Co-op and his plans for the organization to promote local artist’s work.

Genres

Avant-garde
New music

Subjects

Avant-garde (Music)
New music
Avant-garde (Art)
Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.)
Music critics

Acknowledgment

Funding for the preservation of this program made possible through a grant by the GRAMMY Foundation.

Related places

Berkeley (Calif.) (was recorded at)
Berkeley (Calif.) (was broadcast at)

Related Entities

Amirkhanian, Charles
Friedman, Richard
Halprin, Anna
Pennell, Ross