Open Rehearsals with Witold Lutoslawski

University of Southern California
Pawel Kuczinsky - 29.01.1985

Witold Lutoslawski (Warsaw, 1913, Warsaw 1994)

Entrevista a Milton Babbitt

15.11.1984

KPFA-FM / Charles Amirkhanian  

Charles Amirkhanian interviews composer Milton Babbitt (Philadelphia, 1916 - Princeton, 2011). They are joined by pianist Alan Feinberg who plays a number of Babbitt's works including one piece that will have it's world premiere the next day.

Entrevista a Claudio Arrau

New York - 11.04.1984
Arturo Carvallo

Entrevista a Claudio Arrau

The South Bank Show - 18.03.1984

Entrevista a Conlon Nancarrow

02.02.1984

Charles Amirkhanian

Recorded on February 2, 1984 as part of the San Francisco Exploratorium’s Speaking of Music series Charles Amirkhanian interviews composer Conlon Nancarrow (Texarkana, 1912 - México D.F., 1997) before a live audience. After playing a short documentary on the life and work of Conlon Nancarrow, Charles Amirkhanian talks with the composer about his music written for the player piano.

Entrevista a Terry Riley

KPFA - 11.06.1983

Charles Amirkhanian

Charles Amirkhanian interviews composer Terry Riley (Colfax, California, 1935) at his home in Northern California on June 11, 1983. Riley describes his early childhood experiences with music, his life as a student in San Francisco and his first experimentation with serial and then minimal composition. He goes into great detail about the processes that led to his seminal work "In C". Riley describes his early collaborations with others and his later tendency to work alone. Both Charles and Terry lament the fact that growing up in rural California there was little chance to be exposed to classical music. Riley also discusses his exploration of musical traditions from around the world, and in particular his affinity for Asian and Indian music and Eastern spiritual philosophies. Terry also discusses the influence that Pandit Pran Nath had on his life and music.

Igor Stravinsky - Documents et témoignages (France Régions 3)

Il s'agit d'extraits d'un long documentaire sur Igor Stravinsky réalisé en 1981 pour une chaîne publique de télévision française (à l'époque "France Régions 3", devenue "France 3") par François Reichenbach. Outre le compositeur lui-même, ils permettent de voir et d'entendre, évoquant ce dernier, sept personnalités qui toutes, sauf Henri Sauguet, s'expriment à plus d'une reprise.

Par ordre de première apparition, ces personnalités sont :
1.- [00:46] Théodore Stravinsky (peintre, fils aîné d'Igor);
2.- [01:05] Henri Sauguet (compositeur -- unique apparition);
3.- [03:27] Alexandre Tansman (compositeur);
4.- [05:59] Pierre Boulez (compositeur et chef d'orchestre);
5.- [08:51] André Tubeuf (écrivain, philosophe et critique musical);
6.- [17:44] Georges Auric (compositeur);
7.- [23:16] Arthur Rubinstein (pianiste).

Entrevista a Lou Harrison

18.12.1980

Charles Amirkhanian

Charles Amirkhanian talks with composer Lou Harrison (Portland, 1917 - Lafayette, 2003) about his recent work. Harrison had just completed a semester of teaching at Mills College, as holder of the Milhaud Chair in composition. Most of this program is devoted to Harrison's work with gamelan music, and a number of selections from his album released by CRI, are heard. Also participating in this program is Harrison’s partner William Colvig. 

Entrevista a Steve Reich

KPFA - 12.05.1980

Charles Amirkhanian

Charles Amirkhanian interviews composer Steve Reich (New York, 1936) in May of 1980. The interview begins with Reich giving a brief description of his childhood experiences as a piano student and member of a school band. He then plays two recordings of his “Music for a Large Ensemble”, highlighting the ways in which he revises a piece based on his ability to rehearse it, explaining that he always prefers to work with his own ensemble, perfecting a piece, before allowing it to be played by others. Reich then continues to focus on the ability for each performer to bring their own expression to Reich’s compositions, by playing two versions of his “Violin Phase” played at different tempos. In the second half of the program, Reich touches upon his renewed interest in Orthodox Judaism, including the chanting of Hebrew scripture, and how these studies have influenced his works such as “Octet”. The program ends with Reich’s “Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards” which is slightly scaled down from the full orchestral version that may be better known to most listeners. Al in all this is a fantastic look at what it takes to make a performance of Reich’s consonant minimal music shine.

Entrevista a Nicolas Slonimsky

Morning Concert - 26.04.1979

Charles Amirkhanian

A live guest appearance on KPFA by Los Angeles music lexicographer and former conductor Nicolas Slonimsky (Saint Petersburg 1894 - Los Angeles 1995). He talks with KPFA's Charles Amirkhanian about his family roots, superannuation, Varese, Ives, semism, pandiatonicism, and the extreme avant-garde in music.