Charles Amirkhanian Collection ➔ Speaking of Music: Frederic Rzewski, 1989, 2 of 2
Digital Audio
Event Type
Interview and MusicOrigin
C AmirkhanianIdentifier
SOM.1989.01.09.c1.BProgram Series
Speaking of MusicProgram Length
127 minPart
2 of 2Dates
1990-01-22 | broadcast| 1989-01-09 | created
Description
Recorded on January 9, 1989 as part of the San Francisco Exploratorium’s Speaking of Music series, Charles Amirkhanian interviews Frederic Rzewski, one of the most important American composer/performers of the late 20th century. Rzewski was born in 1938 in Westfield, Massachusetts and educated at Harvard and Princeton, where he studied with Walter Piston, Roger Sessions, and Milton Babbitt. In 1960 he went to Italy to study with Luigi Dallapiccola, and has continued to live in Europe for much of his life. He was a cofounder with Alvin Curran of the radical avant-garde group Musica Elettronica Viva, which was famous for their improvised electronic music concerts during the 1960s and 70s. The composer of a famous set of piano variations on Victor Jara's “El Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido”, Rzewski discusses his recent music and artistic tastes. Rzewski is known for both his remarkable virtuosity as a performer, improviser and composer, and his committed involvement in leftist politics. How he resolves these in his work is a problem which he has concluded with thoughtfulness and inventiveness of an uncommon sort.Genres
20th century classicalMusical Selections
The People United Will Never Be Defeated [excerpts] (1975) / Frederic RzewskiSubjects
20th century classicalPiano music
Chile Politics and government 1973-1988
Composition (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
San Francisco (Calif.) (was recorded at)Berkeley (Calif.) (was broadcast at)
Related Entities
Amirkhanian, CharlesRzewski, Frederic
Ortega, Sergio, 1938-2003