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This evening we’ll listen to John Cage and Conlon Nancarrow engage in a public conversation that took place on Sunday, Aug. 20, 1989, within the proceedings of the 1989 Telluride Institute known as “Composer-to-Composer.” Los Angeles music critic Alan Rich, who worked closely with Betty Freeman on her Beverly Hills’ Musicales throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, at which both John Cage and Conlon Nancarrow gave presentations (1982 and 1984, respectively), knew the work of both men well and thus moderated their programs.

For the Telluride Institute presentation, some five years later, our moderator is Charles Amirkhanian, and the conversation between the two men is further enlivened by questions from the audience. Capturing live conversations on tape is always tricky, and this one was no exception. If anyone in our listening audience would like a transcript of this program to facilitate comprehension (a transcript that will be complete, by the way, even though we don’t have time for a complete audio playback of the conversation), please email your request to lkuhn@johncage.org.