KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ Holy, Holy, Holy: Antheil's Magic Lacunae, 1 of 2

Analog Audio

Event Type

Documentaries

Origin

KPFA

Identifier

AM.1972.04.10.1.c1.A

Program Length

56 min

Part

1 of 2

Dates

1972-04-10 | broadcast
| 1972-04-10 | created

Description

On April 10, 1927, George Antheil's Ballet Mécanique, scored for multiple pianos and percussion (including airplane propellers and electric doorbells) was given its American premiere at Carnegie Hall. An exciting discovery by Mrs. George Antheil of Los Angeles and KPFA's Charles Amirkhanian sheds extraordinary light on the genius of Antheil's early music. Gathering dust on the shelves of Mrs. Antheil's archives has been a set of three player piano rolls of the Ballet Mécanique in its original longer version (longer than the 1953 revised version which is best-known and runs only about 17 minutes in performance). This document, realized mechanically by the Pleyela Company to Antheil's carefully notated specifications, conforms to the original 1924 version of the work and contains evidence of a musicologically significant rediscovery. Antheil was the first composer in music history to incorporate lengthy silences as compositional material within a movement of a piece of music. The effect is hypnotic: here are driving, rapid, mechanically precise rhythms and throbbing assaults on every key of the instrument, frighteningly juxtaposed with sonic vacuums.

Genres

New music
20th century classical

Musical Selections

Ballet Mécanique [excerpts] (1923-25, rev. 1952-55) / George Antheil -- A Jazz Symphony [excerpt] (1925) / George Antheil -- Sonata No. 2, for violin, piano, and drums [excerpt] (1923) / George Antheil -- String Quartet No. 1 [excerpt] (1924-25) / George Antheil

Performers

New York Percussion Group (Ballet Mécanique)
Carlos Surinach, conductor (Ballet Mécanique)

Subjects

New music
20th century classical
Percussion ensembles
Chamber orchestra music
Symphonies (Chamber orchestra)
Sonatas (Violin and piano)
String quartets

Related places

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

Related Entities

New York Percussion Group
Amirkhanian, Charles
Antheil, George, 1900-1959
Surinach, Carlos