The MTT Files - Program 7: We Were Playing Boulez, But We Were Listening To James Brown!

As a university student, MTT and his colleagues were on the cutting edge of modern classical music. One day, while he was driving on the LA freeway, a song by James Brown came on the radio. That song, and the many that followed, changed MTT’s views about how to perform the music of Boulez, Stravinsky, and the like. The level of energy, the precision, the sense of time, the angularity—all gave the young conductor insight into the music he was performing.

The core of this program, one of the last interviews with James Brown about his music, was recorded at Brown’s home in Georgia.

This is the 7th episode in The MTT Files radio series.