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Henry Cowell: Shock, scandal and the New York subway

Kate Molleson and Gillian Moore shine new light on the 'modern' music of the 20th century. This week, Kate explores the revolutionary compositions of US maverick, Henry Cowell.

Kate Molleson and Gillian Moore present BBC Radio 3's series exploring the pivotal 'modern' musical works of the 20th century, the groundbreaking composers who created them, and the radical cultural and artistic movements which gave rise to them. In this episode, as Radio 3 embarks upon an American Roadtrip, Kate explores the revolutionary music of an early US maverick composer: Henry Cowell.

On our way to performances of his pieces Dynamic Motion (1916) and Five Encores to Dynamic Motion (1917) we’ll meet the band of rebel musicians who gathered around Cowell; explore how, as a young man, the composer used cross-dressing to push against American machismo; and discover the scandal which led Charles Ives to give his fellow composer the silent treatment.

Produced by Sam Phillips
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3

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19 days left to listen

59 minutes

Last on

Sun 11 Jan 202621:00
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Henry Cowell

    Dynamic Motion

    Performer: Anthony de Mare.
    • Wizards & Wildmen.
    • Composers Recordings, Inc..

  • George M. Cohan

    Over There

    Performer: Henry Burr. Ensemble: Peerless Quartet.
    • Over There.
    • BLACK SHEEP MUSIC.

  • Henry Cowell

    The Tides of Manaunaun

    Performer: Henry Cowell.
    • The Tides of Manaunaun.
    • Brownbeats Records.

  • Henry Cowell

    Variations for Orchestra

    Orchestra: Polish National Radio Orchestra. Conductor: William Strickland.
    • Variations for Orchestra.
    • NWCRI.

  • Henry Cowell

    Dynamic Motion

    Performer: Anthony de Mare.
    • Wizards & Wildmen.
    • Composers Recordings, Inc..

  • Henry Cowell

    5 Encores to Dynamic Motion "What's This"

    Performer: Anthony de Mare.
    • Wizards & Wildmen.
    • Composers Recordings, Inc..

  • Erik Satie

    Parade

    Performer: Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Louis de Froment.
    • Parade / Geneviève De Brabant / Relâche.
    • Musidisc.

  • Leo Ornstein

    Wild Men's Dance

    Performer: Michael Sellers.
    • Danse Sauvage: Early Piano Music Of Leo Ornstein.
    • Baroque records.

  • Dane Rudhyar

    Third Pentagram "The Gift Of Blood"

    Performer: Ron Squibbs.
    • Four Pentagrams, Paeans, Granites and Prophetic Rite.
    • Aucourant Records.

  • Marion Bauer

    Up the Ocklawah

    Performer: Elizabeth Smith. Performer: Leslie Petteys.
    • American Music for Violin & Piano.
    • Albany records.

  • Francesco Balilla Pratella

    L'aviatore dro, Op.33

    Ensemble: Pratella Ensemble.
    • Pratella - Chamber Works.
    • TACTUS.

  • Alexander Mosolov

    Iron Foundry

    Orchestra: Los Angeles Philharmonic. Conductor: Esa‐Pekka Salonen.
    • Shadow of Stalin: Shostakovich / Mosolov.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.

  • Charles Ives

    Central Park in the Dark

    Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Michael Tilson Thomas.
    • Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Ives.
    • SONY CLASSICAL.

  • Henry Cowell

    Dynamic Motion and 5 encores on Dynamic Motion

    Performer: Anthony de Mare.
    • Wizards & Wildmen.
    • Composers Recordings, Inc..

  • Raven Chacon

    Exhale

    Composer: Tatsuya Nakatani. Composer: Carlos Santistevan. Performer: Raven Chacon. Performer: Tatsuya Nakatani. Performer: Carlos Santistevan.
    • Inhale/Exhale.
    • Other Minds Records.

Broadcast

  • Sun 11 Jan 202621:00
    BBC Radio 3