Kate Molleson and Gillian Moore shine new light on the 'modern' music of the 20th century. This week, Gillian explores the theatrical, satirical world of Mauricio Kagel's 'Match'.
Kate Molleson and Gillian Moore present BBC Radio 3's series exploring the pivotal 'modern' musical works of the 20th century, the groundbreaking composers who created them, and the radical cultural and artistic movements which gave rise to them. This is a story about a hundred years of change. Of war. Of oppression. Of steps towards equality. Of censorship. Of rapid, inescapable technological advancement. Of machines. Of transport. Of science... And it's the story of how art and music responded, the story of the composers who defined the 20th century, who created 'modern' musical art which would shock, appall and fascinate in equal measure, changing the way we listen for ever.
In this episode, Gillian explores the theatrical, satirical world of the Buenos Aires-born composer Mauricio Kagel, concentrating on his 1964 work 'Match'. Kagel was influenced by both the magic realism of his teacher, the author Jorge Luis Borges, and his own rebellions against both the regime of Juan Perón and what he saw as the bourgeois history of classical music. In the 1950s, he ed the Argentinian artistic avant-garde in fleeing to Europe where greater freedom allowed him to experiment with instrumental techniques, compositional forms and performance traditions, leading to 'Match’ in 1964, and piece written for two competing cellists, separated on stage by a percussionist umpire!
Produced by Sam Phillips
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3
To listen on most smart speakers just say, “ask BBC Sounds to play 20th Century Radicals”
