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Nancarrow, circa 1940, amid instruments including two of his altered player-pianos

works (as wcl! as musie of a dozen others) dclincatc a particular trend, cspccially notable in the ’60s and ’70s.

In “Notes from the Steel City" Daniel Lent z. William Thomas McKinlcy, and David Stock, all na-tives of Pittsburgh, show how, from similar backgrounds and shared men-tors, each has produced a vcry dif-ferent musical result. “Svmmetries"

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intersperses twenty-four short picccs for eight violas with obscrvations on the subjcct of symmetry collected from an architect, a shoc salesman, a nuclear physicist, and others.

John Cage’s Roaraiorio: An frish Circus on Finnegan's U akr, produced originally through Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne, is given its American premierę. Combining spo-ken texts, Irish ethnic songs, acoustic environments, and musical vigncttes, it presents a sonie homage to Joycc in polyphonic oratorio form.

Cincinnati composers, artists, poets, and novelists suggest the vari-ctv of activities in this rnidwcsicrn

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contcxt, produced in collage form, called “High-Tech Etude.” Winding up the series is an overvicw and dis-cussion of the programs presented in RadioVisions and how they reflect the

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largcr scope of twcnticth-century musie. In “Whcre Do We Go From Herc?” Gunther Schullcr proposes possible directions for musie of the futurę and tenders his pcrsonal perspec-tivc.

In all, the series is broad-based and cclectic in style, approach, and format. Personality studiesare mixcd with musical examples. Composers are represented in various guises, as conductors, as inventors, as poets, as performers, as philosophers, as in-novators, as hutnans working on a verv rcal task.

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A healthy new look

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KadioVisions is a good beginning, a healthy new- look at what is and

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has becn going on within our century. It does not rely on old formats, but chooses various mcans to intriguc and inspire the listener. It is a vision of the vast, heretofore untapped po-tential of radio as an experimental medium for the communication of new- ideas as well as of information. As such, the series sets an important precedent for futurę crcative usc of the airwaves. Lct us hope it is the start of a new wavc of inspired radio pro-ductions in America and not jusl a glorious idea for a single scason. Chcck with the local NPR affiliatc in your arca for exact limes and dates of broadcasts. If you don‘t knów the sta-tion in your area in the NPR network or if vou d likc information about the

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cducationa) cassette series to be dc-yeloped from RadioVisions for library and school usc, contact National Public Radio, 2025 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. MA

Simon Itntllc

Continued from page 5

Rattle says, but it is one in which sim-plicity breaks new ground for the composer. For that movetnent, when hc rnade his record with the Bourncmouth Orchestra, hc insisted on rccording the whole long span in a single take—and that, at 10 o’clock in the morning. In that way hc hopes he created the illusion of a livc communication.

When hc was asked to conduct the Fourth Symphony in a Mahler series presented by the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia in 1979, Rattle was delighted with the orchestra. “They had played it so many limes, knew it so well, that cvcn though I had only