Interview: John Cage & Lejarlen Hiller's "HPSCHD"

HPSCHD, John Cage and Lejaren HIller’s legendary Gesamtkunstwerk is a mass media orgy, considered by many as the wildest, largest, and loudest musical composition of the 20th century. In this conversation, David Weinstein hosts three participants in the 2013 restaging in New York: composer/curator Nick Hallett, filmmaker Bradley Eros, and Cage collaborator/composer Joel Chadabe, along with Cage specialist/composer Ron Kuivila. The program is interspersed with excerpts from a production of HPSCHD at the Ontario College of Art & Design, Toronto, June 11, 2008.

ISSUE Project Room presents this spectacle on May 3rd and 4th in collaboration with Electronic Music Foundation and Eyebeam Art and Technology Center, as part of the 2013 Darmstadt Essential Repertoire series. Performances take place at Eyebeam Friday, May 3 from 5pm to 10pm and on Saturday, May 4, 2013 from 1pm until 6pm. This new production features composer Joel Chadabe, who has directed performances of HPSCHD throughout the world, as artistic advisor. Keyboardist Neely Bruce, who performed at the 1969 premiere, plays in the harpsichord ensemble. Artist Bradley Eros curates an extensive body of over 45 film and video artists to interpret the immersive visual score.

Recorded live 2 May 2013

This program originally aired 4/25/13 as part of Clocktower Radio's series "Experimental Composers" at:
http://artonair.org/show/john-cage-lejaren-hiller-hpschd

ISSUE Project Room Radio is produced in collaboration with the radio station of the Clocktower Gallery, operating at artonair.org