Eastman Reflections Program
Eastman Reflections Opening Theme.
Following in the tradition of former WHAM president William Fay, Walter Dixon created Eastman Reflections, a Sunday evening program, for the purpose of bringing good music and an understanding of it to WHAM’s very broad listening audience. His guests included the composers, conductors, musicians and teachers who make good music possible. Most were drawn from the faculty of the Eastman School of Music. however, a few of Walter’s Sunday afternoon conversations were with the worlds great composers, conductors, vocalists and musicians. Chief among the great composers was Howard Hanson, Director of the Eastman School of Music from 1924 to 1964. Indeed, as a tribute to Dr. Hanson, the opening theme to Eastman reflections is a movement from Doctor Hanson’s Symphany #3, popularly referred to as his Romantic Symphony.
We are fortunate to have at least 8 of Walter’s Eastman Reflection programs which he recorded over the years. Two of them departed from the usual one hour format. Once with the world reknowned conductor, Leopold Stowkowski and again for a memorial to honor his dear friend, Robert Sattler, the Eastman School’s Concert Manager and School Placement Director from 1950 until his death.
Following in the tradition of former WHAM president, William Fay, Walter Dixon created a number of fine music programs. The most informative among them was Eastman Reflections, a Sunday Evening Program designed specifically to bring fine music and an understanding of it to WHAM’s broadest listening audience.
His guests included the composers, conductors, musicians and teachers who make good music possible. Most were drawn from the faculty of the Eastman School of Music. However, a few of Walter’s Sunday evening conversations were with world renowned artists such as composer/conuductor, Howard Hanson, Director of the Eastman School of Music from 1924 to 1964 and internationally famous Conductor, Leopold Stowkowski.
Indeed, as a tribute to Dr. Hanson, the opening and closing theme to Eastman Reflections is a movement from Doctor Hanson’s Symphany #3, popularly referred to as his Romantic Symphony.
We are fortunate to have 12 of Walter’s Eastman Reflections programs which he recorded over the years. Two of them departed from the usual one hour format. Once with Leopold Stowkowski and again for a memorial to honor his dear friend, Robert Sattler, the Eastman School’s Concert Manager and School Placement Director from 1950 until his death.
WHAM’s close relationship with the Eastman School of Music and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra ended forever when Walter Dixon’s 20 year association with WHAM came to an end during the summer of 1979.
1. Dave Brubeck July 28, 1963
2. Henry Cowell August 4, 1963
3. First interview with Leopold Stowkowski 1963
4. Second interview with Leopold Stowkowski November 3, 1963
5. First interview with Howard Hanson 1964
6. George (Gyorgy) Sandor January 7, 1968
7. Second interview with Howard Hanson November 5, 1967
8. Tom Maurey December 1, 1968.
9. 3rd and final Eastman Reflections interview with Howard Hanson. December 15, 1968
10. In memoriam, Robert Sattler February 3, 1969
11. Interview with concert pianist, Eugene List July 20, 1969
12. Interview with Professor Wayne Barlow from 1968 until 1973
Dave Brubeck
1963 An interview with Dave Brubeck
Walter’s first conversation with world reknowned jazz artist and composer, Dave Brubeck, aired on July 28, 1963, shortly before the Eastman School’s annual Arranger’s Holiday event opened at the Eastman Theater. Listen as Walter and Dave talk about Dave’s early life and as they share their mutual love of classical and jazz which they explore by listening to a number of compositions meant to reflect the relationship between classical and jazz music.
For more information about Dave Brubeck, click on this link. Dave Brubeck biography and Dave Brubeck’s website.
Dixon Brubeck Complete Interview
Dave Brubeck
Dave Brubeck
Dave Brubeck
start in jazz
apart?
Fats Waller
Dave Brubeck with older brother, Howard during 1958 interview.
the other jazz
Duke Ellington
Darius Milhaud
Claude Debussy
Dave Brubeck quartet 1951-1967: Left to right, Dave Brubeck piano, Paul Desmond sax, Eugene Wright bass and Joe Morello drums.
Dave Brubeck
Interview with Professor Henry Cowell August 4, 1963
Henry Cowell
This Eastman Reflections program features a conversation with Professor Henry Cowell. It aired on August 4, 1963 as the third in a series of conversations with professor Cowell. It aired again on September 21, 1969, almost four years after his death. Unfortunately, this conversation is the only one of the three that still remains.
His friendship with Director Howard Hanson and others at the Eastman School of Music led to his taking a leave of absence from Columbia University to participate in the school’s summer sessions in 1963 through 1965.
Cowell had a significant impact on the school’s American Composers Concerts and Festivals of American Music through his advocacy and presence.
Henry Cowell was born in Menlo Park California in 1897. In 1931 he studied non-European musical systems in Bernilin Germany on a Guggenheim Foundation grant. He taught at the New School for Social Research in New York City from 1932 to 1952 and Columbia University from 1949.
Complete Eastman Refections Program for August 4, 1963, A conversation with Professor Henry Cowell.
It’s called Bali.
ceremonial court music
1st interview with Leopold Stowkowski 1963
Leopold Stowkowski
Leopold Stowkowski
as conductor of the Philidelphia Orchestra from 1912 to 1936.
He continued conducting concerts and making recordings with a Philidelphia Orchestra until 1941.
Leopold Stowkowski was, in his time, the world’s greatest conductor. Of him Walter said, “He was one of the great men, one of the great conductors and musical spokemen of our time.”
In his answers to Walter Dixon’s informed and probing questions, Maestro Stowkowski reveals the depth and breadth of his artistic greatness.
The first of these historic interviews was recorded at the old Treadway Inn on East Avenue. It is dated Thursday, October 31, 1963. This date is most likely inaccurate. We also cannot say with certainty on which of Walter’s several programs it aired. It most certainly was not a Green Room interview. It runs just 28 minutes without music selections. However, at the end of his conversation with Stowkowski, Walter lists the music which actually played on the program when aired. We know originally the broadcast interview with music ran 2 hours.
Stowkowski at Carnegie Hall
Complete Stowkowski Interview 28 minutes long.
J.S. Bach
Modest Mussorgsky
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Stowkowski studies sound at Bell Lab
2nd interview with Leopold Stowkowski
November 3, 1963
Leopold Stowkowski
Walter’s second conversation with Stowkowski is dated November 3, 1963. It covers of a wide range of topics of interest to the music world along with a broad selection of recordings of Stowkowski conducting the world’s great orchestras over the course of many years. The usual one our Eastman Reflections aired for two hours.
Complete Eastman Reflections program November 3, 1963 with Maestro Leopold Stowkowski
ensemble?
Arnold Schoenberg
Igor Stravinsky
next one
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Interview with Howard Hanson 1964
Howard Hanson
This is the second of two interviews with Howard Hanson in which they discuss the plight of opera in the United States. Sadly, we do not have the first interview which included a performance of his opera, Merry Mount, the complexities of which are discussed in this interview.
The focus of their conversation in this second interview is on the overwhelming difficulties faced by the young opratic composers and performers of opera in the United States today.
It features Howard Hanson’s Lament for Beowulf which focuses on the final stanzas of the Old English epic poem “Beowulf.” It was performed by the Eastman School Choir and the Eastman Rochester Symphony Orchestra with Howard Hanson conducting. We have included the libretto for your listening pleasure. It contains the heart breaking story of the people of the Geats as they mourn the death of their king, construct his funeral pyre and bury his ashes. It also contains translations of certain Old English words which are no longer in use by modern English speakers.
Libretto to Lament for Beowulf
George (Gyorgy) SandorSandor
Interview with George (Gyorgy) Sandor January 7, 1968
George (Gyorgy) Sandor was born in Hungary in 1912. He studied piano under Bela Bartok and composition under Zoltar Kodaly at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary. He debuted as a performer in 1930.
After touring Europe for 9 years, he left for the United States in 1939 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1943.
He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1939, served in the Army Signal Corps and the Intelligence and Special Services from 1942 to 1944 during World War II.
Following the war, he returned to his international touring career. Mr. Sandor died in December, 2005 at the age of 93.
Interview with George (Gyorgy) Sandor January 7, 1968
It’s with internationally reknowned pianist, George Sandor and it aired on January 7, 1968.
George (Gyorgy) SandorSandor
George (Gyorgy) Sandor was born in Hungary in 1912. He studied piano under Bela Bartok and composition under Zoltar Kodaly at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary. He debuted as a performer in 1930.
After touring Europe for 9 years, he left for the United States in 1939 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1943.
He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1939, served in the Army Signal Corps and the Intelligence and Special Services from 1942 to 1944 during World War II.
Following the war, he returned to his international touring career. Mr. Sandor died in December, 2005 at the age of 93..
Complete interview
Sergie Prokofiev
Interview with Howard Hanson, November 5, 1967
Howard Hanson
Complete interview with Howard Hanson November 5, 1967
Walter Damrosch
Roy Harris
Nordic
now?
four psalms
composers
This is the last of 3 interviews with Tom Maurey, Director of Alumni relations for the Eastman School of Music, assistant director of relations for the University of Rochester and producer of recorded music.
December 1, 1968.
Walter Dixon’s conversation with Mr. Tom Maurey is a 1968 tour de force presentation of electronic music which will take you far beyond your conventional ideas and into a realm of sounds produced by voice and other means.
The dialogue between Walter and Tom is frank, informative and ocasionally amusing. This is an adventure not to be missed.
We regret we were unable to find a photo of Mr. Maurey but we were able to provide photos of two of the artists whose works are being discussed.
Complete interview with Tom Maurey
this interview
Luciano Berio
Walter Damrosch
music
than their elders
Luciano Berio
conventional instruments
Walter Carlos
Wendy Carlos
Walter doesn’t like it.
This is our 3rd and final Eastman Reflections interview with Howard Hanson. It aired on December 15, 1968.
Howard Hanson
The complete 12.15.68 interview with Howard Hanson
young composers
his music?
In Memoriam, Robert Sattler, b.11.20.1919 d.01.23.1969.
Long associated with the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. It aired on February 3, 1969
Robert Sattler
This program strays from the usual Eastman Reflections format. It honors and celebrates the life of Robert Sattler.
Robert Sattler was the Eastman School’s School Placement Director from 1950 until his death. He was also the Concert Manager of the Eastman Philharmonia from 1958 to 1968. In that capacity he accompanied the Eastman Philharmonia on its State sponsored tour through the Near East and Europe over the winter of 1961-62.
Walter was so deeply moved by the death of his friend, Robert Sattler, that he devoted a special program to honor and celebrate his life. It is a blend of music and poetry, presumably chosen from among Robert’s favorite or from among those they enjoyed when they were enjoying each other’s company.
Photos by Lou Ouzer
Robert Sattler escorting Mr and Mrs Igor Stravinsky through the Eastman Theater
Complete program
Nacht Opus 41
Interview with concert pianist, Eugene List,
professor of piano at the Eastman School of Music.
This interview aired on July 20, 1969.
Bill Givens
Eugene List
In this interview, WHAM talent, Bill Givens, stands in for vacationing Walter Dixon. Not being an officionato of serious music, Givens chose to explore, in depth, Eugene List’s July 8, 1969 White house appearance which occurred just 12 days before this interview aired. Givens chose wisely as this turned out to be a very entertaining interview.
The White House occassion was a state dinner given by President and Mrs. Richard Nixon in honor of the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie,
With good reason (which will be revealed later in the interview) Eugene List was chosen for the entertainment which followed the dinner.
We have tried to recreate that auspicious White House event with photos gleaned from various internet web sites including the whitehousehistory.gov.
About Eugene List
Born July 6, 1918, Eugene List was an American concert pianist and professor at the Eastman School of Music.
He rose to prominence after performing for Winston Churchill, Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin at the famous 1945 Potsdam conference at the end of World War II.
List was especially known for reviving the music of the 19th-century composer Louis M. Gottschalk.
In 1964, List became a member of the Eastman School of Music’s faculty. He was active as a teacher and as the head of the piano faculty.
He was also widely recognized for orchestrating large-scale performances called “monster concerts,” where multiple pianos were used on stage.
A significant example was his 1970 appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show where he performed with nine Eastman students on ten pianos.
After leaving Eastman in 1975, he joined the faculty of New York University.
Complete interview with Bill Givens and Eugene List
East Room with piano
Caroll Glen & Eugene List
Combo Marine band
Guest of Honor Haile Selassie
Churchill Truman Stalin
President Harry Truman
President Kennedy
Truman at piano List next to himLuciano Berio
Alexander Reinagle
George Washington
Louis Gottschalk
President Lincoln
White House Steinway Piano detail from WH collection
Johann Hassler
Whittier College
President and Mrs. Richard Nixon
Interview with Professor Wayne Barlow, chair of the composition department at the Eastman School of Music from 1968 until 1973.
Wayne Barlow
Born September 6, 1912 in Elyria, Ohio, Wayne Barlow entered the Eastman School of Music as a student in 1930. After completing his studies, which culminated in a Ph.D in Music, he accepted Director Howard Hanson’s invitation to join Eastman’s faculty. He remained involved with the Eastman School of Music until his retirement in 1978.
Dr. Barlow was a prolific composer. His earliest composition, The Dream For Voice and Piano, was written in 1931 while he was a student. His latest one, Requiem and Alleluia for trombone choir, was written in 1991. He became interested in electronic music in the early 1960s.
Two of Dr. Barlow’s compositions, Mass in G Minor (1951) and Trio For Oboe, Viola and Piano (1964) provide the context for this interview’s lively conversation.
Please visit this link for more about Dr. Barlow’s career and his work.
Complete Track
individual.
Wayne Barlow