KPFA - 07.1987
Charles Amirkhanian
Recorded in July of 1987, during the Cabrillo Music Festival, Charles Amirkhanian interviews oboist, composer, and conductor, Heinz Holliger (Langenthal, 1939), who was one of the main, featured participants during that year’s Festival. Amirkhanian begins by getting the Swiss musician’s impressions of the Festival, which Holliger praises for it’s relaxed atmosphere and large and sophisticated audiences, although he does voice some reservations about the concert’s acoustics and wind-flapped tent. When Amirkhanian praises the oboe player about his virtuosic performances and dramatic gestures the musician claims to be unaware of such tendencies, and replies with the utmost modesty that the oboe is not as difficult to play as some other instruments. The conversation then turns to the availability, or lack there of, of quality music written for the oboe, with Holliger saying he has explored traditional as well as avant-garde classical music in order to find enough good works with which to build his repertoire. The interview then concludes with Holliger talking briefly about his recent efforts at composing and conducting, during which he confesses a current predilection for writing neo-romantic works.
