This program, first broadcast on August 25, 2024, offers music by many of my most beloved composers and spans the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, beginning with advanced and unusual works by Franz Liszt and Richard Strauss from the late 19th century. Early 20th-century modernism is represented by Alexander Scriabin (whose music was anticipated by the Strauss piece that precedes his) and Ruth Crawford Seeger (who owes her own debt to Scriabin) performed by Sarah Cahill. Then we jump to the postmodern era in the second half of the 20th century, with instrumental compositions by Lucia Dlugoszewski and Glenn Branca, and works involving improvisation and electronics by Sun Ra and Laurie Spiegel. The 21st century is included with two harp improvisations by Anne LeBaron. The show concludes with excerpts from my opera Agamemnon, featuring vocalists Sussan Deyhim and Vera Beren, composer/performer Fred Frith, and composer/performer “Blue” Gene Tyranny.
FRANZ LISZT
Unstern! sinistre, disastro (1883?)
RICHARD STRAUSS
Das Schloss am Meere (1899)
ALEXANDER SCRIABIN
3 Études, Op. 65 (1911–1912)
RUTH CRAWFORD SEEGER
Prelude No. 9 (1928)
SUN RA
Nuits de la Fondation Maeght, Vol. 1, “The Cosmic Explorer” (1970)
LUCIA DLUGOSZEWSKI
Densities: Nova, Corona, Clear Core (1972)
GLENN BRANCA
Augustus (1988)
Hadrian (1988)
LAURIE SPIEGEL
Three Sonic Spaces (1988–1990)
ANNE LEBARON
Heat Wave 1 (2004)
Heat Wave 2 (2004)
AGAMEMNON
Act 1, Scene 2 (recorded 1987–1988)
Act 2, Scene 1 (recorded 1987)
Act 3, Scene 1 (recorded 1987)
Link to:
Music: KALW Radio Shows, 2024–2025
For more on these composers, see:
Music Book: Historical Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music, Second Edition
More Cool Sites To Visit! – Music
For more on AGAMEMNON, see:
Music: Lecture: Agamemnon
Music: SFCR Radio Show #12, A Tribute to Robert Ashley
Music: SFCR Radio Show #17, A Tribute to Pauline Oliveros
Music: SFCR Radio Show #34, Remembering Julius Eastman
For more on AGAMEMNON, Glenn Branca, and Sun Ra, see:
Music Lecture: The Secret of 20th-Century American Music
For more on AGAMEMNON, Fred Frith, Anne LeBaron, and “Blue” Gene Tyranny, see:
Music: SFCR Radio Show #6, Postmodernism, part 3: Three Contemporary Masters
For more on Vera Beren, see:
Plays: The Condemnation (VIDEO EXCERPTS)
For more on Glenn Branca, see:
Music: SFCR Radio Show #7, Postmodernism, part 4: Three Contemporary Masters
For more on Glenn Branca, Fred Frith, and “Blue” Gene Tyranny, see:
Music Book: Sonic Transports: New Frontiers in Our Music
For more on Glenn Branca, Lucia Dlugoszewski, Anne LeBaron, Laurie Spiegel, Sun Ra, and “Blue” Gene Tyranny, see:
Music Book: Soundpieces 2: Interviews with American Composers
For more on Ruth Crawford Seeger, see:
Music Lecture: “Intense Purity of Feeling”: Béla Bartók and American Music
Music: SFCR Radio Show #8, Daoism and Western Music, part 1
For more on Ruth Crawford Seeger and Anne LeBaron, see:
Music: KALW Radio Show #4, Women’s History Month
For more on Sussan Deyhim, Anne LeBaron, and Richard Strauss, see:
Music: KALW Radio Show #6, Gender Variance in Western Music, part 2: Female-to-Male Representations
For more on Anne LeBaron, see:
Music Essay: Anne LeBaron, Hyperopera, and Crescent City: Some Historical Perspectives
Music: KALW Radio Show #5, Gender Variance in Western Music, part 1: Male-to-Female Representations
For more on Alexander Scriabin, see:
Music: SFCR Radio Show #27, 20th-Century Music on the March
For more on Richard Strauss, see:
Music Essay: Some Thoughts Toward an Appreciation of Richard Strauss
For more on Sun Ra, see:
Music Lecture: King of the Omniverse: Sun Ra and His Arkestra
Music: SFCR Radio Show #4, Postmodernism, Part 1: Three Founders
Music: SFCR Radio Show #9, Daoism in Western Music, part 2
Music: SFCR Radio Show #35, Electro-Acoustic Music, part 3: Musicians and Synthesized Sound
NICOLE V. GAGNÉ 