Lukas Foss

With Vivian Perlis

November 4, 1986

New Haven, CT 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Side d:                                                                                                           pp. 1-20

First meeting Copland--Second Hurricane--Billy the Kid--knowledge of modern music while in Paris--learning to appreciate Copland (Second Hurricane, Lincoln Portrait, Billy the Kid)--composers’ sessions at the Russian Tea Room--Foss’ studies with Hindemith--Copland’s character--The Prairie--Foss growing to love America and American Music--first meeting Koussevitzky and Bernstein--more on first meeting Copland--Koussevitzky’s support of composers--Copland’s leadership of composers’ circle--Koussevitzky at Tanglewood--Koussevitzky’s opinion of Copland’s conducting--seeing Copland in Rome--marrying Cornelia in Rome--premiering Piano Concerto--letters destroyed in Bel Air fire--influence of Copland and others on Foss--Copland and Foss’ zeal for new music--lasting influence of Copland on American music--Copland’s criticisms of 12-tone and neoclassical trends--traveling with Copland to Russia--Foss’ exploits in Russia--meeting Pasternak--playing El Salón México in Russia--Copland and McCarthy hearings--Copland receiving Congressional Gold Medal--Copland’s recent health problems--Foss conducting Copland--Foss moderating Copland festival in Milwaukee.

AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES                                                                  27 f-l

Lukas Foss

with Ev Grimes

New York, NY 

January 9-10, 1988

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Side f                                                                                                                         pp. 1-14

Earliest musical memories -- studying with Julius Herford -- attending Klemperer choral rehearsal and Schnabel piano recital -- first compositions -- parents -- music he was brought up on: Beethoven, Bach, Mozart -- at age 11, meets Milhaud -- moves to Paris -- studies with Lévy, Gallon -- influences on early compositions, especially Hindemith -- Felix Wolfes -- first published work, age 15 -- study at Curtis Institute -- teachers; Scalero, Reiner, Vengerova -- study with Hindemith at Tanglewood and Yale -- Koussevitzky -- meeting Stravinsky, and his influence -- Irving Fine and Harold Shapero -- Copland's Round Table at the Russian Tea Room -- Billy the Kid (Copland) -- The Prairie -- leaves Boston Symphony, travels to Rome.

Side g                                                                                                                         pp. 14-26

Incidental music for The Tempest -- Set of Three Piece -- Leventritt Foundation -- Piano Concerto No. 1 -- Three Early (American) Pieces -- Gift of the Magi -- George Szell -- Ode to Those Who Will Not Return -- Symphony No. 1 -- conducting and composing -- Improvisation Chamber Ensemble -- Concerto, for five improvising instruments -- Time Cycle, and Bernstein's premiere -- two years in Rome -- Piano Concerto No. 2 -- Parable of Death -- MacDowell Colony -- meeting other composers then and now -- the media as modern-day patron/prince -- Bartók; with Reiner, and the ending of the Concerto for Orchestra.

Side h                                                                                                                                    pp. 26-40

Pantomime -- Doris Humphrey -- The Heart Remembers -- Within These Walls -- fire at his Los Angeles home -- Song of Anguish -- Song of Songs - vicissitudes of composing -- Tashi -- the mad Hollywood tradition -- improvisation, chance, and twelve-tone methods -- Schoenberg -- dinners with Stravinsky -- renting houses of famous people -- an encounter with Katherine Hepburn -- Griffelkin -- Psalms -- For Cornelia (Yeats's "For Anne Gregory") -- Introductions and Good-byes -- Menotti -- Symphony of Chorales -- more on improvisation -- Echoi -- Huntington - Hartford Foundation -- composing and suffering (with a comment from Cage) -- Arabian modes -- titles -- Ojai Festival -- becoming a conductor.

Side i                                                                                                                          pp. 40-51

Baroque Variations -- Phorion -- inaudibility as a technique -- violence and destruction in the arts -- Renaissance Concerto -- twelve-tone technique in Time Cycle and Echoi -- texts in Time Cycle -- Los Angeles "marathon" concerts -- years in Buffalo -- Buffalo Philharmonic, Center for New Music, Evenings of New Music -- Center for Creative and Performing Arts -- Paradigm -- Geod -- Three Airs for Frank O'Hara -- Orpheus -- Waves -- Fragments of Archilochos -- experimental period: "getting wilder as the catalog goes along."

Side j                                                                                                                          pp. 51-61

Music in Europe and America -- philosophy of concert programming -- more on Improvisation Chamber Ensemble -- "Chance means different things to different composers" - composing habits -- Cave of the Winds -- Ni bruit, ni vitesse -- MAP (Musicians at Play) -- game music -- Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra -- John Williams, percussionist -- String Quartet No. 3 -- minimal music -- endings of pieces -- Siegfried Palm in Darnstadt -- Folksong for Orchestra -- Measure for Measure and Solomon Rossi Suite -- American Cantata -- synthesizing styles -- texts, again -- Curriculum Vitae and Curriculum Vitae with Time Bomb -- Music for Six -- Brass Quintet, and later versions: And Then the Rocks and Mountains Being to Shout and Quintets for Orchestra.

Side k                                                                                                                                    pp. 61-73

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird -- setting poetry -- humor in music -- Round a Common Center -- W.H. Auden -- Night Music for John Lennon -- Exuent -- Solo and Solo Observed -- Orpheus and Euridice -- Yehudi Menuhin -- Percussion Quartet -- Horn Trio -- De profundis -- Saxophone Quartet -- Embros -- Renaissance Concerto -- Carol Wincenc -- Central Park Reel -- music going berserk -- the augmented octave -- Chaconne -- 200 Cellos -- more on Tashi -- current piece for Milwaukee Symphony's 30th Anniversary -- Brooklyn Orchestra.

Side l                                                                                                                          pp. 73-76

Learning to be a conductor -- Milwaukee Symphony -- how life influences composing.

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AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES                                                      Interview No. 27a

Lukas Foss

With Russell Platt

New York, N.Y.

December 4, 2005

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Side s                                                                                                             pp. 1-51

Platt’s review of new disk of Foss’s piano music—Foss’s changes of technique—Foss’s teaching at Boston University—Renaissance Concerto—Time Cycle—Echoi—jazz elements in Foss’s music—Stravinsky—The Song of Songs—Copland’s influence—The Prairie—Carl Sandburg settings—“Making Music at Carnegie Hall” event—James Levine—Foss as conductor—composers and public relations—Schoenberg-Stravinsky split—study with Hindemith—following in Schoenberg’s footsteps at UCLA—Time Magazine article about Foss—friendship with Gertrude Schoenberg—film music—Bernard Herrmann—painting—Leonard Bernstein—Festival of the Hamptons—Paradigm—life in the Hamptons—Foss’s family—what it is like being two artists and married—time at the American Academy in Rome—memories of Paris—Second Piano Concerto premiered in Venice—profession of classical critic in danger—For Aaron—Fifth Quartet—Solo Transformed—Solo Observed—study with Koussevitzky at Tanglewood—Bernstein—Time Cycle—Olin Downes—composers that Foss knew—Introductions and Goodbyes—Song of Songs—Foss Plays Bach—influence of Bach on Foss—conducting and working with young musicians—Foss’s opinion of Mahler—emigration to the U. S. –Korngold—Foss’s future project: to set more words to music.