Martin Bookspan interviews American composer and teacher Peter Mennin. Mennin talks about his life; about both of his careers: as the president of Juilliard School and as a symphonic composer; about his work with Juilliard Orchestra; about the future of both types of young contemporary composers: avant-garde and classical music composers. The composer discusses in detail each of the following works, excerpts of which are then played during the interview: Piano concerto (first movement) (1958), Symphony no. 7: Variation-symphony (for full orchestra) (1963-1964).
Content types:
Sounds
Extent:
1 recording
Repository/Collector:
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
Martin Bookspan interviews American composer of contemporary classical music Robert Moevs. Moevs talks about his teachers, Walter Piston and Nadia Boulanger; about both of his careers, as a teacher at Harvard University and Rutgers University, and as a composer; and about his students. He discusses each of the following works, excerpts of which are then played during the interview: Attis (text by G. Catullus Veronensis) (1958), A brief mass (for chorus, organ, vibraphone, guitar, and double bass) (1968), Phoenix (for solo piano )(1971), Et occidentem illustra (Dante) (for chorus and orchestra, based on Divina commedia by Dante Alighier) (1964).
Content types:
Sounds
Extent:
1 recording
Repository/Collector:
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
WRUC - Union College; Producer: Radio Division, Department of Theater Arts, University of California at Los Angeles and Audio-Visual Aids Section of the Los Angeles City Schools
Martin Bookspan interviews American composer and pianist Netty Simons. Simons talks about her studies at New York University with Percy Grainger, and later privately with Stefan Wolpe. She speaks about both of her teachers, and compares their personalities and their influences on her works. She discusses avant-garde music, and her career as a composer. The composer also talks about each of the following works, excerpts of which are then played during the interview: Trialogue no. 1: the tombstone told when she died and Trialogue no. 2: myselves grieve (for mezzo-soprano, baritone and viola; text by Dylan Thomas), Silver thaw (for 1 to 8 players) (1969), Five sprays of the snow fountain (for two pianos) (1970); and reads fragments from two poems by D. Thomas.
Content types:
Sounds
Extent:
1 recording
Repository/Collector:
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
Martin Bookspan interviews American composer, pianist, and writer on music Phillip Ramey. Ramey comments on his studies composition at DePaul University in Chicago; on his teacher, composer Alexander Tcherepnin; and about musical traditions in Chicago. He talks about his career as a pianist and composer. He discusses each of the following works, which are then played in their entirety: Piano sonata no. 1, Night music (for percussion), Commentaries (for flute and piano), Leningrad rag (freely based on Scott Joplin's Gladiolus rag), 5 Epigrams for piano, 3 Epigrams for violin and piano, and Piano fantasy.
Content types:
Sounds
Formats:
CD
Extent:
1 recording
Repository/Collector:
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center