Martin Bookspan interviews American contemporary classical music composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher Leon Kirchner. Kirchner talks about both of his careers: as a teacher and as a composer; about his students; about the performers he used to work with such as violinists Michael Spivakowsky and Isaac Stern; and about electronic tape music. The composer speaks about music by Arnold Schoenberg that influenced him, and he has composed a large quantity of music which is stylistically tied to the works of Schoenberg. He talks about his opera Lily (based on Saul Bellow's Henderson, the Rain King). The composer also discusses each of the following works, excerpts of which are then played during the interview: Music for orchestra (1970), Sonata concertante (for violin and piano, first movement) (1952), Quartet no. 3 (for strings and electronic tape).
Repository/Collector:
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
Repository/Collector Type:
Municipal
City:
New York
State:
New York
Country:
United States
Extent:
1 recording
Content types:
Sounds
Historical relevance:
Broadcast on radio station WNYC, New York, N.Y., Mar. 12, 1973.