Merce Cunningham: and the premiere of Touchbase on Meridian reports (Radio program), BBC Radio, 1992-07-21/22

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Title
Merce Cunningham: and the premiere of Touchbase on Meridian reports (Radio program), BBC Radio, 1992-07-21/22
Additional title: Meridian reports (Radio program)
Names
Merce Cunningham Dance Company (Associated name)
Cunningham, Merce (Interviewee)
Alston, Richard, 1948- (Commentator)
Brett, Steven, 1965- (Commentator)
Heaton, Roger (Commentator)
Mackrell, Judith (Commentator)
Vaughan, David, 1924- (Commentator)
Warsop, Sarah (Commentator)
BBC Radio (Broadcaster)
Collection

Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials

Dates / Origin
Date Created: 1992-07-21
Date Created: 1992-07-22
Library locations
Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound
Shelf locator: *LTC-A 1450
Topics
Cage, John
Cunningham, Merce
Pugliese, Michael. Icebreeze
Merce Cunningham Dance Company
Rambert Dance Company
Septet (Choreographic work : Cunningham)
Touchbase (Choreographic work : Cunningham)
Aleatory music
Choreography
Music and dance
Modern dance music
Percussion music
Genres
Interviews
Notes
Content: Contains a radio segment on Merce Cunningham for Meridian reports (Radio program) broadcast on BBC Radio; correlating to the premiere of Merce Cunningham's Touchbase by the Rambert Dance Company.
Content: Title, dates and location provided by cataloger based on handwritten notes on original container and cassette, and audition.
Content: Handwritten notes on original container and cassette: "Meridian - BBC World Service "Merce Cunningham" ; 92R50M803 - stereo ; TX: 21/7/92 - 2030 GMT ; 22/7/92 - 0630 GMT ; 22/7/92 - 1130 GMT ; presented + compiled by [Miviam?] Newman ; produced by Selina [Haniff?]".
Venue: Broadcast in, London, England, 1992 July 21 and 22.
Acquisition: Gift; Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, 2011-2012.
Physical Description
Audiocassette
Extent: 1 audiocassette (28 minutes) : analog
Sound quality is good.
Description
Begins abruptly; Merce Cunningham speaks about his interest in dance; David Vaughan comments on the creative abilities of Cunningham; program host [Miviam?] Newman introduces Cunningham and the London premiere of Touchbase (1992); Judith Mackrell, dance critic, comments on Cunningham and his use of chance procedure; Mackrell speaks about the characteristics of Cunningham's choreography as differing from Martha Graham's choreography; Cunningham speaks about how he works with music as independent from the dance [excerpts of John Cage's music are interspersed between the clips of Cunningham speaking]; Cunningham speaks about taking his inspiration from ordinary life and nature; he tells an anecdote about a question asked of him about music by a dancer in Calcutta, India; his reasons for presenting his work with music rather than silence and working with contemporary composers; Roger Heaton, musical director of Rambert Dance Company, speaks about Michael Pugliese's Icebreeze, the music for Cunningham's Touchbase (1992), including the percussion instruments and Pugliese's aleatory score [excerpts from Icebreeze are interspersed between the speakers]; Richard Alston, director of the Rambert Company, comments on Touchbase and the set design by Mark Lancaster; Cunningham speaks about his use of the LifeForms software to choreograph; Sarah Warsop and Steven Brett, dancers from the Rambert Company, comment on rehearsing and dancing Touchbase with Cunningham and his Merce Cunningham Dance Company; Mackrell comments on Touchbase including its movement vocabulary, mood, and set design; Newman introduces another Cunningham piece danced by the Rambert Company, Septet (1953), with music by Erik Satie; [excerpts from Satie's Trois morceaux en forme de poire (1903) are interspersed between the speakers]; Alston comments on how Septet relates to and differs from Touchbase; Mackrell comments on Cunningham as a choreographer; Cunningham speaks briefly about how he sees dance as an independent art form.
Type of Resource
Sound recording
Languages
English
Identifiers
RLIN/OCLC: 914477640
NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b20750240
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): ee9899c0-b906-0133-6b18-60f81dd2b63c
Rights Statement
This item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Item timeline of events

  • 1992: Created (Approximate)
  • 2024: Found by you!
  • 2025

MLA Format

Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, The New York Public Library. "Merce Cunningham" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1992 - 1992. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/f2db9290-b906-0133-00b6-60f81dd2b63c

Chicago/Turabian Format

Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, The New York Public Library. "Merce Cunningham" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed December 11, 2024. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/f2db9290-b906-0133-00b6-60f81dd2b63c

APA Format

Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, The New York Public Library. (1992 - 1992). Merce Cunningham Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/f2db9290-b906-0133-00b6-60f81dd2b63c

Wikipedia Citation

<ref name=NYPL>{{cite web | url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/f2db9290-b906-0133-00b6-60f81dd2b63c | title= (sound recording) Merce Cunningham, (1992 - 1992)|author=Digital Collections, The New York Public Library |accessdate=December 11, 2024 |publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}}</ref>

Merce Cunningham