The Composer:
Loren Rush

From a recording made on November 21, 1967, composer Loren Rush introduces a program of his own music. After beginning the program with an untitled piano piece that he was still working on, Rush then plays a recording of Dwight Peltzer premiering Rush’s 1963 composition “Hexahedron” which is an aleatoric composition scored for solo piano. Next Rush discusses the characteristics of much of his music and his basic compositional style, followed by a live demonstration of some of the characteristics or events of “Hexahedron,” thus providing a fascinating look at the inner workings of a composer’s mind. The next piece heard is “Nexus 16” for chamber orchestra from a 1965 performance at University of California at Berkeley’s Hertz Hall, with the composer conducting an ensemble of local musicians. Rush concludes the program by highlighting his work as a performer, by playing a recording of Robert Erickson’s “Concerto for Piano and Seven Instruments” in which he is the piano soloist.