Alles van American Highways | Rush Hour

AMERICAN HIGHWAYS #113 KEYS of CHANGE: Composer Frederic Rzewski Frederic Rzewski is a great composer, with an unforgivable personality. He’s one of the most difficult people I’ve ever interviewed: arrogant, complex, and irascible. Yet I have to grudgingly admit that his genius comes through, despite his personality and uncooperative grumpiness. In this episode of American Highways, we hear the latest of the Keys of Change series – broadcasts about composers whose lives are charged with activism. The music is from Rzewski’s “People United” magnum opus, and is stunningly performed by my former student, Kai Schumacher. – Guy Livingston Theme Music: Sounds About Right Jingle for ConcertZender Composed for CZ Theme by Sergio Ortega, variations composed by Frederic Rzewski Variations on “El Pueblo Unido jamas sera vencido!” Kai Schumacher, pianist WERGO 6730-2

AMERICAN HIGHWAYS # 110 KEYS OF CHANGE: Tonight’s show revolves around Lotte Lenya and Kurt Weill, who were not overtly political in their public lives, but were both intimately linked to social issues

AMERICAN HIGHWAYS # 109 KEYS OF CHANGE Today’s show focuses on Paul Robeson and Marc Blitzstein, both ardent socialists, passionate musicians, charismatic personalities, and most of all, both willing to lay everything on the line for their beliefs.