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1. radiOM.org - Speaking of Music Nicolas Slonimsky, March 12, 1987 [5.877% Popularity: 0.00000]

Speaking of Music: Nicolas Slonimsky, March 12, 1987 Listen Item Type: Sound Recording Duration: 114 min Event Type: Interview and Music Program Origin: KPFA Additional Media Files (click to view) Tune into an evening of Nicolas Slonimsky's highly comic logorrhea as he is interviewed on March 12, 1987 as part of the San Francisco Exploratorium’s Speaking of Music series. Host Charles Amirkhanian hardly needs to ask a question of his 92-year old Russian-born guest, the father of the "grandmother chord." An erudite musicologist, conductor, composer, pianist, and author of many books including “Music Since 1900”, “Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns”, and “Lexicon of Musical Invective”, Slonimsky engages in a wide-ranging discussion of 20th century music and musicians, from Scriabin to Zappa. Musical highlights include Slonimsky playing two of his own compositions written specifically for the evening, "Objets Trouvés in the Dodecaphonic Environment," and the "52nd Minitude." He sings and plays his jingle "C...

2. radiOM.org - Ode To Gravity The Art and Music of Gerd De Vries [5.869% Popularity: 0.00000]

Ode To Gravity: The Art and Music of Gerd De Vries Listen Item Type: Sound Recording Duration: 67 min Event Type: Interview and Music Program Origin: KPFA Charles Amirkhanian presents a program on German composer and musicologist, Gerd de Vries, whose efforts to modernize the establishment’s music dictionary, Riemann’s “Musick Lexicon,” have been much appreciated by avant-garde composers. Due to his efforts, entries for such important composers as John Cage have gone from being just a couple of sentences long, to now filling up more than a page, in this well known musical reference work. In addition to discussing his editorial work de Vries also talks about his austere compositions for organ, which often contain only the minimum number of elements possible in a sound event. Included are organ performances by de Vries as well as a talk with the composer recorded during a walk downtown in Amsterdam on Jan. 19, 1974. This program also contains a discussion of the work of Peter Roehr, a conceptual artist whose wo...

3. radiOM.org - Nicolas Slonimsky at the Berkeley Piano Club [5.085% Popularity: 0.00000]

Nicolas Slonimsky at the Berkeley Piano Club Listen Item Type: Sound Recording Duration: 129 min Event Type: Lecture and Panel Discussion Program Origin: KPFA Additional Media Files (click to view) In this lecture and demonstration, Nicolas Slonimsky covers topics such as polytonality, atonality, scales, the perils of introducing the music of Charles Ives and Edgar Varèse to the Hollywood Bowl audiences in 1933, polyrhythm, and The Grandmother Chord. He then recounts comments made about composers by their contemporary critics, (e.g., there are criticisms of Chopin, Wagner and Stravinsky). A review of his experiences with Performance Art follows and is not to be missed. Answers to questions on John Cage's 4'33", electronic music, John Coltrane, microtonal composition, American women composers, quarter tones, comments by Tchaikovsky on Brahms, comments on Toscanini and Leonard Bernstein, follow and conclude this whirlwind tour of this gifted individual's complex and extraordinary mind. Part 1 of 2: Musical Sele...

4. radiOM.org - Ode To Gravity Nicolas Slonimsky at 97, (June 1991) [5.082% Popularity: 0.00000]

Ode To Gravity: Nicolas Slonimsky at 97, (June 1991) Listen Item Type: Sound Recording Duration: 59 min Event Type: Interview and Music Program Origin: KPFA Additional Media Files (click to view) A program in honor of Nicolas Slonimsky in celebration of his 97th birthday. Charles Amirkhanian plays a number of pieces by and for Slonimsky, including a couple of his own compositions written for his old friend. Also heard is a telephone conversation between Slonimsky and Charles Amirkhanian in which they discuss the latest edition of “Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians” of which Slonimsky is the editor. Slonimsky also discusses the advances in musical composition during the last century including Schoenberg's 12 tone system, the use of dissonance, as well as his own revolutionary developments in piano playing. Musical Selections: Heavy Aspirations [excerpt] (1973) / Charles Amirkhanian -- A Berkelium Canon (1991) / Charles Amirkhanian & Henry Kaiser -- [unidentified piece] / Nicolas Slonimsky -- [uniden...

5. radiOM.org - Morning Concert Carl Stone & Nicolas Slonimsky [5.081% Popularity: 0.00000]

Morning Concert: Carl Stone & Nicolas Slonimsky Listen Item Type: Sound Recording Duration: 124 min Event Type: Interview and Music Program Origin: KPFA Additional Media Files (click to view) Los Angeles based, electro-acoustic, composer Carl Stone joins Charles Amirkhanian to talk about his music, including pieces that sample songs by Whitney Houston (”How Will I Know”) and the Beach Boys (”Fun, Fun, Fun”). Also in this program, which was recorded in 1987, composer, musical bibliographer, and raconteur extraordinaire, Nicolas Slonimsky, pops into the KPFA studio, to talk about his career, much of which was spent popularizing the music of Varèse and other modern composers. Part 1 of 2: Musical Selections: Songs I-IX / Stuart Smith -- Everett & Jones / Carl Stone -- Wall Me Do / Carl Stone -- Vim / Carl Stone -- Arcana [excerpt] (1925-27) / Edgard Varèse Performers: Brian Johnson, percussion & voice (Songs) Carl Stone, electronics (Everett ; Wall ; Vim) Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Arcana) Jean Martinon, conduc...

6. radiOM.org - Nicolas Slonimsky Eats Dinner [5.073% Popularity: 0.00000]

Nicolas Slonimsky Eats Dinner Listen Item Type: Sound Recording Duration: 170 min Event Type: Interview Program Origin: KPFA Additional Media Files (click to view) In this three part program, the eminent musicologist, composer and conductor talks with Mrs. George Antheil, Charles Amirkhanian and Carol Law over roast duck at the home of Mrs. Antheil in Los Angeles, on December 28, [1970?]. Brace yourselves for a monologue that puts Spalding Gray to shame. Nicolas Slonimsky (1894-1995), whose career spans the period dating back to the mid-1920s, is totally uninhibited by a microphone hanging off a chandelier in the West Hollywood apartment of Böske Antheil (1902-1978). Amirkhanian and his wife Carol Law sit by helplessly as one course follows another. Recorded on a quarter-track reel-to-reel machine, the sound quality is less than sterling but the voyeuristic vantage point more than makes up for any difficulties. This is the new music equivalent of the Nixon Tapes. In the last part Slonimsky makes a pronounceme...

7. radiOM.org - Evening Concert Nicolas Slonimsky [5.064% Popularity: 0.00000]

Evening Concert: Nicolas Slonimsky Listen Item Type: Sound Recording Duration: 115 min Event Type: Interview and Music Program Origin: KPFA Additional Media Files (click to view) Charles Amirkhanian provides a brief background sketch of the life and music of Nikolai Miaskovsky (1881-1950), who composed during both Tsarist and Stalinist Russia. A recording of the composer's “Cello Sonata No. 2 in A minor”, Op. 81 is heard. This is followed by what may be some of the most hilarious, but informative, moments in musicology ever broadcast. After Amirkhanian reads the section in the recently published “Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians” (6th Edition) written by Nicolas Slonimsky on himself (a very funny exercise in hyper-humility), the microphone is turned over to Slonimsky at his home in Los Angeles, and what follows provides an indication of the extent of his wit and genius. Amirkhanian then reads selected passages from the Dictionary and the program concludes with music, first a selection from Sergei ...