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Program 11-02-20-A

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Why do people embrace the experimental visual art of Mark Rothko but avoid the experimental music of Karlheinz Stockhausen? That's the question that David Stubbs explores in his book, "Fear of Music." We'll meet Stubbs in this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge. Also, Wesley Stace talks about his new novel which focuses on the relationship between a music critic and a young composer.

SEGMENT 1:

This hour, why people embrace avant-garde art, but resist avant-garde music. Wesley Stace has a new novel, "Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer." Stace, known also as the singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding, tells Anne Strainchamps this is his first novel specifically about music. There is a link to "Charles Jessold's" music at ttbook.org. David Stubbs argues that new music doesn't get the same respect as new art. His book is "Fear of Music: Why People Get Rothko But Don't Get Stockhausen." He tells Jim Fleming he was inspired to write it after watching the 1961 film "The Rebel" for the twelfth time.

SEGMENT 2:

John Cage wrote some of the most controversial music of the 20th Century. The brilliant composer was extraordinarily creative. Kenneth Silverman explores Cage's life in a groundbreaking biography called "Begin Again." He tells Steve Paulson that a lot of Cage's creativity came from his inventor father.

SEGMENT 3:

At the age of 28, Chinese pianist Lang Lang has already played with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic and all of the top American orchestras. He's written an autobiography, "Journey of a Thousand Miles," and his latest album, "Live in Vienna," features his first recordings of Beethoven's Sonatas. He tells Steve Paulson all about it.

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 11-02-20-A.

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Books & CDs:

David Stubbs, Fear of Music: Why People Get Rothko But Don't Get Stockhausen (Zero Books)
Wesley Stace, Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer (Picador)
Kenneth Silverman, Begin Again: A Biography of John Cage (Knopf)
Lang Lang and David Ritz, Journey of a Thousand Miles: My Story (Spiegel & Grau)

Websites:

• -- Wesley Stace
  http://wesleystace.com/
  http://wesleystace.com/charles-jessold/
  
• -- David Stubbs
  http://www.mr-agreeable.net/
  http://www.zero-books.net/book/detail/317/Fear-of-Music
  
• -- Kenneth Silverman/“Begin Again: A Biography of John Cage”
  http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400044375&view=excerpt
  
• -- Lang Lang
  http://www.langlang.com/
  http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385526913

Clips:

• -- Wesley Stace Radio Broadcast Reading
  from http://wesleystace.com/charles-jessold/

Music:

• -- Music heard at beginning of show, immediately following TTBOOK Theme:
  -- "First Construction in Metal" (1939)/David Tudor
  from the three-CD set, "The 25-Year Retrospective Concert of the Music of John Cage" (Wergo)
  
• -- Music heard at end of/after Wesley Stace interview:
  -- Arnold Schoenberg's "String Quartet no. 2, op. 10"/Lasalle Quartet
  from the four-CD set, "New Viennese School: Schoenberg, Berg, Webern" (Deutsche Grammophon)
  
• -- Music heard during David Stubbs interview:
  -- Edgard Varese's "Ameriques"/Cleveland Orchestra Christoph von Dohnanyi, conductor
  from the CD, "Varese: 'Ameriques', Ives: 'Symphony No. 4,' 'The Unanswered Question'" (London)
  -- "Kontakte"/Karlheinz Stockhausen
  from the three-CD set, "OHM: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music: 1948-1980" (Ellipsis Arts...)
  
• -- Music heard after David Stubbs interview:
  "The Toy Trumpet"/Raymond Scott
  from the two-CD set, "Manhattan Research Inc." (Basta Music)
  http://raymondscott.com/mripr.html
  
• -- Music heard during Kenneth Silverman/John Cage interview:
  -- "Sonata 1"/Herbert Henck
  from the CD, "John Cage: Sonatas and Interludes" (ECM Records)
  -- "Roaratorio (Ein Irischer Circus uber 'Finnegans Wake')"/John Cage
  from the four-CD set, "Wergo: 40 Years: Special Edition" (Wergo)
  -- "Williams Mix"/John Cage
  from the three-CD set, "OHM: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music: 1948-1980" (Ellipsis Arts...)
  -- "4'33" (3 parts: 30"/2'23"/1'40")/John Cage
  from the CD, "Nova Musicha No. 1" (Cramps Records)
  
• -- Music heard after Kenneth Silverman/John Cage interview:
  -- "Concert for Piano and Orchestra"/Merce Cunningham
  from the three-CD set, "The 25-Year Retrospective Concert of the Music of John Cage" (Wergo)
  
• -- Music heard during and after Lang Lang interview:
  -- Beethoven's "Piano Sonata No. 23, Op. 57 'Appassionata'"/Lang Lang
  from the CD, "Live in Vienna" (Sony Classical)
  

Distribution dates: week of 02/20/2011 - hour 1 click HERE for timings and cues

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