Frederic Rzewski

About Frederic Rzewski

Frederic Rzewski was among the major figures of the American musical avant-garde to emerge in the 1960s, and he was highly influential as a composer and performer. Rzewski's music helped define postwar American new music. He consistently gave exuberant boyish pleasures of a composer like Copland within the rigorously experimental framework of a composer like Cage. Often unapologetically tonal and fun, Rzewski's music cuts right through the frequent churlishness of avant-garde music. He was also an important educator. Two of his most popular pieces are Attica, which includes the recitation of a prison letter, and The People United Will Never Be Defeated, a virtuosic set of piano variations. In 2016, Rzewski wrote Songs of Insurrection, a sequel to The People United Will Never Be Defeated, which was heard on a recording by Thomas Kotcheff in 2021. That year, the Imani Winds featured Rzewski's Sometimes on its album Bruits.

HOMETOWN
Westfield, MA, United States
BORN
April 13, 1938
GENRE
Classical

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