KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ An Avalanche of Pianos

Analog Audio

Event Type

Interview and Music

Origin

KPFA

Identifier

AM.1971.09.30

Program Length

61 min

Dates

1971-09-30 | broadcast
| 1971-09-30 | created

Description

From September 30, 1971, this is a recording of what was a live broadcast from Gordon’s Piano Shop, 1776 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley CA, of local composer, John Dinwiddie’s piece for fifteen or more (that’s right, count them), pianos. “Improvisational Format” received its world premiere during this performance and featured 17 local musicians under the direction of the composer. The listening public was encouraged to come down to the shop to witness this extraordinary performance, which also included Philip Corner’s “C Major Chord.” This latter piece of aleatoric music came with the sole instruction that any number of pianists must play a C Major chord.

Genres

New music

Musical Selections

Improvisational Format, for piano ensemble (1971) (35:40) / John Dinwiddie [world premiere] -- C Major Chord, for piano ensemble (1962) (19:25) / Philip Corner

Performers

Julian White, piano
Martin Weber (sp?), piano
Jan Pusina, piano
Don Walker, piano
Will Johnson (sp?), piano
David Lowe, piano
Thomas Suczek (sp?), piano
Lewis Kaplan (sp?), piano
Ingrid Madsen (sp?), piano
Phil Ratouche (sp?), piano
George Higgins, piano
Ellen Molenski (sp?), piano
Victor Molenski (sp?), piano
Larry Sweeney, piano
Christopher Irwin, piano
David Kempton, piano
Charles Amirkhanian, piano
John Dinwiddie, conductor (Improvisational)

Subjects

New music
Piano ensembles
Aleatory music

Acknowledgment

Digitized by the California Audiovisual Preservation Project (CAVPP) supported in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.

Related places

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

Related Entities

Gordon’s Piano Shop (Berkeley, CA)
Dinwiddie, John
Corner, Philip
White, Julian, 1930-2006
Pusina, Jan
Walker, Don, 1941-
Lowe, David (Musician)
Suczek, Thomas
Higgins, George (Musician)
Sweeney, Laurence
Amirkhanian, Charles