April 16, 1944: Dennis Russell Davies - Toledo, Ohio
Includes audio with a transcript he gave in the live booth during the only Live New Music America national broadcasts at the 1982 Chicago festival
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Russell_Davies
dennisrusselldavies.com is the official website and has offerings in English or German:
Dennis Russell Davies had two appearances at the early NMAs, at the 1980 Minneapolis and the 1982 Chicago festivals.
With William McGlaughlin, he led the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra on opening night: the full day’s events was the first substack posted on the festivals back on June 7, and it’s still paywall free, though I should get around to revisiting some early roughly designed pages!
From the 1980 official program, Roy M. Close’s profile of Dennis Russell-Davies and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra:
That night, the works performed were Alvin Curran's first orchestral work Small Circles Great Plains, Steve Reich's Octet (which would later be known as Eight Lines) and Homer Lambrecht's Owl.
The Curran work appeared as part of a packaged radio program made by Minnesota Public Radio: https://archive.org/details/AM_1983_07_19
Reviews from that night:
*
For its chronological newness, most of the music heard here was firmly rooted in the centuries. The best example of that was a 45-minute piece, Music for Every Occasion by Alvin Curran, an East Coast composer in his late 30s who lives in Rome.
Monophonic, unisonic and pentatonic for the most part, this work practically begged for a koto version to provide musical bridges for the Japanese version of ‘As the World Turns’.
With the orchestra humming at times, bird calls on tape and Curran himself producing an (American) Indian chant, rhythmic and tonal dislocations calling attention to the otherwise patently Hollywoodish core of the piece, this series of mild novelties for orchestra could benefit greatly from major editing surgery. With each ‘episode’ cut in half, its pleasantness may increase – along with a needed condensation of its none-too-obvious essence.
…
Steve Reich was represented by his Octet, the 43-year-old New Yorker’s sequel to “Music for 18 Musicians” and the forerunner of his “Music of Large Ensemble”. Pleasant – once again – and free of anything that would engage the heart or mind, the work takes a simple, whistling bit, repeats it ad ostinatum, with small changes occurring in two or three minute intervals. Then the music stops.
…
The opening concert was shockingly unshocking. The music was new, all right, with most of the works written within the past few years, but nobody walked out – and there was no reason to do so. There weren’t even boos (only a few hoots after a piece called “Owl”) and three musicians were actually wearing coats and ties.
The New Music in this small auditorium sounded respectable, rather tame, and pleasat. Pleasant? Yes. Without any evidence of the screechy, ear-hurting public image of ‘modern music’.
- Janos Gereben, San Francisco Examiner July 7:
*
The concert ended with the other commission, a 45-minute work for piano, orchestra and electronics by Alvin Curran. Mr. Curran, an American composer who lives in Rome, has heretofore been best known for his solo appearances, and in this piece's nine minute cadenza for himself at the piano, hammering out a frenzied ostinato, wailing away American Indian style into a sound system that "treated" his voice, and supported by two French horns, he achieved a compelling impact. But his orchestral writing which blended folk songs, Western kitsch and na'ive counterpoint, sounded amateurish.
…
Two of the three pieces on the chamber orchestra's opening-night concert were commissions. Unfortunately, the festival opened with one of those commissions, a weak, derivative and rather giddy piece by Minnesota's Homer Lambrecht called "Owl." But then there was Steve Reich's characteristically ingenious Octet, played brightly and industriously by a hardworking band of orchestra members.
- John Rockwell, New York Times, “Avant-Gardists Get A Chance to Roam”, June 9, 1980
♪
Dennis Russell-Davies returned to conduct the Chicago Symphony during the gala opening of the 1982 festival in Chicago.
The full evening’s concert menu consisted of:
Alvin Lucier’s Crossings for Oscillator and Amplified Orchestra, Muhal Richard Abrams’s Variations for Flute and Baritone Sax Solo with Chamber Orchestra, Frederic Rzewski's The Silence of Infinite Spaces (Les Silences des Espaces Infinis), John Cage’s 40 Drawings from Thoreau and 23 Parts (for any instrument and/or voices) and 12 Haiku, followed by a Recording of the Dawn at Stony Point, N.Y., Aug. 6, 1974 and Steve Reich's Tehillim
and details with reviews are here:
♪
And at the 1982 NMA Chicago festival, Charles Amirkhanian hosted a centenary piano tribute to Percy Grainger and though this is a recording from that noon hour event, the editor seems to have lost the script halfway through, as once the performance begins, there are no overt descriptions of who it is that is playing and which of Grainger’s works are being played (and I’d welcome any amendment anyone can contribute):
The prerecorded broadcast was aired during the festival as an extra program and I transcribed all of it here (posted on Milford Graves’ birthday):
Or if you just want to directly to the program:
https://archive.org/details/NMA_1982_07_08_01
♪
That was the festival where Charles Amirkhanian and Joan La Barbara hosted five live broadcasts (which were also rebroadcast after the fact on NPR stations), and during one of the intermissions of the third program, Russell-Davies came in for a live interview, just like the hockey players do in between the first and second periods of a game… this is the link
https://archive.org/details/NMA_1982_07_08_2/NMA_1982_07_08_2_C_ed.wav
And this is the transcribed part of his interview:
26:19
Joan La Barbara: We’ve been listening to Ben Johnston, talking about the music of Harry Partch, a composer whose life was involved with microtonal music. We’ve been joined in the booth by Dennis Russell-Davies, conductor, fantastic pianist, who is presently, um, the conductor at the Stuttgart Opera.
Charles Amirkhanian: And Dennis conducted the, ah, first concert of the 1982 New Music America festival when ah in Orchestra Hall five new works were performed. It was an exciting event for everybody, Dennis, thank you very much for uh, presenting all these, these pieces. It must have been a real challenge to put together a concert of that magnitude. I mean everything was new, everything was experimental in some way or another.
27:04
Dennis Russell-Davies: It’s always one of the difficult aspects of doing a concert like that, is that you’re confronted with five pieces that none of the musicians are familiar with.
Charles Amirkhanian: Most conductors are ah, reluctant one a year that they haven’t seen before.
Dennis Russell-Davies: (chuckles)
Charles Amirkhanian: Five in one shot is a bit much, I suppose.
Dennis Russell-Davies: We had uh, four, five days but actually it was only three rehearsal days. So the time was a bit short, but the musicians were excellent and, and ah, the pieces each had a definite personality and profile, which helped.
Charles Amirkhanian: You were Music Director of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra for many years and are now the director of the Stuttgart Opera. I wonder if you can tell us what you’re doing with Stuttgart.
Dennis Russell-Davies: Well it’s a repertory opera house with – uh, we have uh, a season that’s ten and a half months long so, ah, you know, it’s 24 to 26 major operas run every season. Um, the – the new pieces that we’ve done in the last – two seasons since I’ve been there, our – our new productions of uh, [Pufreitzits?], a new production of Tristan, ah and this season, our first new production was Satyagraha by Phil Glass.
28:21
Joan La Barbara: You’ve commissioned him to write a new opera, is that correct?
Dennis Russell-Davies: Right. And we’re actually going to do three stage pieces by Phil.
Joan La Barbara: Um-hum.
Dennis Russell-Davies: Uh, by the time we’re finished with this particular project. So we started with Satyagraha which was done – a production that was new for us in – in Stuttgart…
Joan La Barbara: Um-hum.
Dennis Russell-Davies: …and then Achnoton (sic) is the piece he’s writing next for us.
Joan La Barbara: What is that one about?
Dennis Russell-Davies: It’s about the Egyptian kaiser, the Egyptian emperor…
Joan La Barbara: Oh…
Dennis Russell-Davies: …um, who – who ah, ah, it’s a combination of hi-, of – of actually the opera will be about this Egyptian emperor and also Freud…
Joan La Barbara: Um-hum.
Dennis Russell-Davies: …ah, sort of linked together.
Charles Amirkhanian: A natural combination.
Dennis Russell-Davies: Those are already [...] a natural combination…
Joan La Barbara: (chuckles)
Dennis Russell-Davies: …well, it is a natural combination the way this – the man was the first, I think – he’s the egy-, Egyptian emperor who uh, was – believed in one God, evidently…
Joan La Barbara: Um-hum.
Dennis Russell-Davies: …which was new there and was also – a – a nudist which was new there.
Joan La Barbara: (chuckles)
29:15
Dennis Russell-Davies: Also, other interesting family…
Joan La Barbara: Sounds like a good production! (Laughs)
Dennis Russell-Davies: Uh, it will be, it will be very interesting.
Joan La Barbara: And you’re also doing a new version of Einstein on the Beach.
Dennis Russell-Davies: Yeah.
Joan La Barbara: Yeah.
Dennis Russell-Davies: That will be the – the last of the projects that we do.
Joan La Barbara: Um-hum. One of the things that – that I found really exciting about um, this year’s New Music America festival is the size of the audiences. I think it’s wonderful. We’ve had about 2000 people every night, um, and I – one of the things that’s – that strikes me about um, when – when I go to perform in Europe, for example, is the fact that there are so many festivals that involve new music…
Dennis Russell-Davies: Um-hum.
Joan La Barbara: …and the audience are really aware of um, trends, uh, different ideas that are going on around. And I think we’re – we’re in this country just beginning to get the idea that new music can attract a large audience.
Dennis Russell-Davies: Well, in Europe they’re especially interested in American music which is…
Joan La Barbara: Um-hum.
Dennis Russell-Davies: ...um, for Americans rather exhilarating when you, when you get there and start working. Um, but I – I think one of the things that’s been different about this particular festival has been um, just the size of the, of the budget in terms of um, publicity and publicity apparatus.
I mean, it’s not just in areas of new music but all serious music, in the United States suffers in comparison with music in the thought field just because we’re – we’re not able to promote ourselves.
Joan La Barbara: Um-hum.
30:40
Charles Amirkhanian: This is the first time that New Music America in its four years has been so substantially sponsored by a city and ah, all of the people associated with the festival I think are, uh, very thankful for this opportunity to perform under the aegis of a, political entity basically. Ah, ah, something that’s really part of the community.
Dennis Russell-Davies: Well, that’s – of course one of the major differences between the United States and Europe is that their cultural institutions and the non- or the anti-institutions in Europe, at least they’re all considered ah, extremely important in the daily life of the community itself.
So that ah, music and theatre, reporting about music and theatre, talking about music and theatre, is actually news. And it – it – it – it’s treated as such and…
Joan La Barbara: As part of life.
Dennis Russell-Davies: …as part of life and also…
Joan La Barbara: [...]
Dennis Russell-Davies: …as part of, let’s say, ah, you mentioned political entity. I mean, it’s state funds that are ah, having a great deal to do with, with how these things are run and, and so people take a corresponding interest.
31:39
Charles Amirkhanian: We’re talking with Dennis Russell-Davies, who is the conductor of the Stuttgart Opera, and also the Cabrillo Music Festival in California. Dennis, you’re going to have a special lineup this year. Tell us a little bit about the programs in August.
Dennis Russell-Davies: Well, the Cabrillo Festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary…
Joan La Barbara: Happy birthday! (Chuckles)
Dennis Russell-Davies: Yeah, which is – is a wonderful achievement and – and ah, it – the festival this season will have ah, John Cage and Lou Harrison, ah, who will be in residence there and who are writing new pieces, ah, for – for the festival. Ah, Keith Jarrett will also be there as, as soloist, he’s playing the Bartok Second Piano Concerto with us.
And, ah, it’s – this is a festival which has always been sponsored by the Community of – of Santa Cruz and Aptos where it takes place, and has had a history of, of doing interesting and innovative programming.
Charles Amirkhanian: You’re bringing Conlon Nancarrow up from Mexico I hear.
Dennis Russell-Davies: Yeah, it’s going to be an extraordinary event because some of his pieces will be played for the first time, actully.
Charles Amirkhanian: Yes, before he wrote, ah, player piano studies, he also did ah normal instrumental music and these pieces have been, really either not played or never performed for forty years now. Um, it’s exciting to find out that they’ll be revived.
Dennis Russell-Davies: This, you know, aspect of music that’s not performed or – or never been performed is – is one of the – I think the tragic aspects of American music in general, that – uh, so many of our composers today who are writing don’t have a chance to hear or to know their own tradition.
Um, and many of the composers who are Nancarrow’s age or John Cage’s age, um, simply, uh, in many cases never had their earlier works performed for any sizeable public at all if they were played. And – and so that we – we have a tendency I think in American music, at least now, there’s a – a good deal of reinventing of the wheel every ten years or so, um, simply because people really don’t know that – that – that some of the things which – which uh, uh, I thought for instance to be new today were actually things that have been done, um, uh, and which would be available and should have been available to a public thirty, forty years ago.
33:53
Charles Amirkhanian: I, ah, know that you’ve done a lot of programming of avant-garde and contemporary music, particularly by American composers and I wonder, uh, why is it that you as a conductor have, ah, do you speculate, have had some success at doing this, and ah other organizations have found that ah, audiences are alienated?
Dennis Russell-Davies: I don’t think audiences are alienated. So – it’s just – that’s simply not borne out in fact.
Joan La Barbara: It’s just an excuse that – that uh, management tends to use from time to time.
Charles Amirkhanian: No, no, wait a minute. There are events that happened where a contemporary music is played and people don’t attend and ticket sales go down. This is an important consideration when planning an orchestra season. It’s expensive to run an orchestra.
Dennis Russell-Davies: Yeah. But I – I think that (sounds of birds?) uh, one of the things that has to be avoided is – is the ghettoization of music um, also when you’re dealing with ah, an orchestra and an audience, uh, using two entities that are, especially in the United States, they’re sort of the official bodies of making music, that – that, ah, you have to bring people to just open their eyes and ears a bit.
And this has to be done in – in a way that – that the host people at least be willing to take a chance and to – to give them a bit of familiar ground before you move on to something that’s unknown.
Charles Amirkhanian: Dennis Russell-Davies, do you have any advice for a listener who might be ah, tuned in right now, who is not particularly familiar with contemporary music and who is a little bit skeptical about going to concerts that ah, let’s say are beyond Brahms and Beethoven and some of the more familiar composers?
Dennis Russell-Davies: I – I think probably most of the listeners who were tuned in, ah, and have been tuning in to the last three four or nights have already heard sort of the amazing variety and vitality that American music has today, and we’re only really with one area of American music, even here.
I think that – that – that the main thing is just to simply uh, relax and not to worry about making a judgment, um but just simply try to absorb and – and, ah, be able to – to respond to the sounds that one hears.
35:54
Charles Amirkhanian: Is it possible that ah experience which seems negative may in retrospect ah teach you something, is that what you’re saying?
Dennis Russell-Davies: No, I – I – I don’t think that they’re – I think the main problem is that, uh, many times a public is afraid of being fooled and um, that is a - a possibility. There – um, but it’s – it’s more to the fact I think that people can’t make ah value judgments based on, um, ah, expectations without just giving the – the actual reality of – of what they’re hearing a chance.
Charles Amirkhanian: There’s a great oh, old recorded interview with ah birthday boy Percy Grainger…
Dennis Russell-Davies: Yeah…
Charles Amirkhanian: …where he says, “you know why people ask me for my autographs? Because they know that I wouldn’t slave at this profession which brings me very little income and nothing but ridicule in the press the following morning if I weren’t honest and true. And that’s why they want to get close to me rather than politicians and other people.”
Dennis Russell-Davies: Uh, you know I think, actually that point of being honest and true, I think that’s why it’s important for – for – for those of us who do make music to – to give the public as much a chance as possible to evaluate our work and to hear us in many different areas of music. And ah, that – that also is for the – for those of us who are – are playing new music, um, and most – many of the musicians that I work with uh, find it extremely necessary to juxtapose or to work with their new music, uh, uh – in – in context of – of simply music being music. So the juxtaposition of – of Monteverdi and – and – and Alban Berg is extremely important for them.
Charles Amirkhanian: It’s been a pleasure talking with you and we wish you luck. You’re going back to Germany, next?
Dennis Russell-Davies: Well, uh, I’ll be back there in September but first I have some healthy activities in the United States for the summer, mostly a vacation.
Charles Amirkhanian: Great.
Joan La Barbara: Great.
Charles Amirkhanian: Nice to have you back in, ah, the homeland. Dennis Russell-Davies, conductor and music director of the Stuttgart Opera and the Cabrillo Music Festival. Thanks for talking with us.
Dennis Russell-Davies: Thanks.
♪
And though he didn’t perform again as part of the New Music America festival, Dennis Russell-Davies did have a tribute made in his honor (and presence) at the 1988 Miami festival. Unfortunately, that was a closed door session for those who were participating at the Critics Conference. (Hmm… I wonder if any of them took notes…)
"Dennis Russell Davies: The Conductor, the Orchestra and the New Music with Composer Anthony Davis", hosted by Michael Spring.