Delia Derbyshire was a music-maker ahead of her time. She went to Cambridge, getting degrees in both Mathematics and Music. After being turned down for a position at Decca Records because they did not employ women in their recording studios, she eventually landed a position at another studio in London — Boosey & Hawkes music publishers. Derbyshire's move in 1960 to the BBC as a trainee studio manager signaled the beginning of a fruitful partnership with the organization. It was at the BBC that she was given the space and freedom she needed to experiment with sound — creating moods and soundscapes through strictly electronic means. It wasn't long before she'd recorded Ron Grainer's famous theme to the BBC series Doctor Who. On first hearing Derbyshire's version Grainer was tickled pink: "Did I really write this?" he asked. "Most of it," replied Derbyshire. So began, what some call, the "Golden Age" of the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop. A complete list of Derbyshire's works has yet to be compiled, but among other things she managed to do were: Special works and soundtracks for the Brighton Festival and the City of London Festival; Yoko Ono's "Wrapping Event" of the lions at Trafalgar Square; music for the award winning film Circle of Light, and Peter Hall's film Work is a 4 Letter Word; the White Noise LP An Electric Storm; and special sound and music for plays at the RSC Stratford, Greenwich Theatre, Hampstead Theatre and the Chalk Farm Roundhouse. Late in the 1970s, Derbyshire backed away from electronic music after feeling disillusioned at the direction it was heading in. It wasn't until the mid 1990s that she noticed a change in the genre and joined back in. Shortly before she died in 2001, she wrote: "Working with people like Sonic Boom on pure electronic music has re-invigorated me. He is from a later generation but has always had an affinity with the music of the 60s. One of our first points of contact — the visionary work of Peter Zinovieff, has touched us both, and has been an inspiration. Now without the constraints of doing "applied music", my mind can fly free and pick-up where I left off". Hear Derbyshire's Sea, from "Four Inventions for Radio" (1964), a work she made in collaboration with poet and dramatist Barry Bermange . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

Joan Tower is one of the most prominent American composers to emerge in the latter part of the twentieth century. She initially made her mark as a pianist, but began composing in the 1960s. In 1969 she helped found the New York-based Da Capo Chamber Players and served as the group's pianist. Tower wrote a number of successful works for the Da Capo Players over the years, and the group received several awards, including a 1973 Naumberg Award. From 1985-88 she was composer-in-residence with St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Beginning with the 1999-2000 season, Tower launched a three-year stint as composer-in-residence with the Orchestra of St. Luke's. In 2005 she accepted a commission for a work, Made in America, to be played by 65 community orchestras spread across all 50 American states. The piece was played by all the orchestras in their 2005-2006 seasons, and its recording by Leonard Slatkin and the Nashville Symphony won three 2008 Grammy awards, in the fields of Best Classical Album, Best Orchestral Performance, and Best Classical Contemporary Composition. Her early music incorporated serial techniques, but in the 1970s, she turned to a more approachable style, writing works with more lyrical melodies, powerful rhythmic drive, and masterfully conceived instrumentation; the rhythmic character of her 1993 ballet Stepping Stones has been compared to that of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. In 1990 she became the first woman to win the highly prestigious Grawemeyer Prize. Hear Joan Tower talk about her life and music . . . our Pytheas COMPOSER PORTRAIT this week.

According to Graham Greene, Jean-Luc Godard's short film Je Vous Salue, Sarajevo (Hail, Sarajevo) (1993) is "a two-minute rumination on the once volatile situation during the period of the Bosnian War, presented in the form of a photo-montage with accompanying text. In the film, Godard takes a single photograph and shows us a series of close-up segments that conspire to abstract the overall meaning of the picture, turning the individual elements into mere symbols that are there to be deciphered". Adding to the impact of the film is the music of Arvo Pärt. Watch Je Vous Salue, Sarajevo . . . this week's PYTHEAS SIGHTING.

Elliott Carter writes about his Cello Sonata from 1948 . . . "The Cello Sonata was extremely modern at that time. I could not get it published. And cellist Bernard Greenhouse and his pianist played the first performance at Town Hall, and they were covered with sweat. It was so upsetting and so disturbing — we had hardly anybody in the audience. If they heard what I write now, they would run out of the hall screaming, I suppose." Watch a performance of the 4th movement of Carter's Cello Sonata . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.

Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music