Recordings, E.T.C.

WNYC music critic, reviewer, audiophile and host Edward Tatnall Canby (1912-1998) began his nearly 25-year stint at WNYC in 1947. His show, The New Recordings, was described that first year as "a program of wide-ranging comment on music in general and the new records in particular." It was based on his weekly column in The Saturday Review. The name of the program was changed and is probably best recalled as Recordings, E.T.C.

Stories

Copland's Music for the Theatre

A 1954 episode of Recordings E.T.C., re-introduced and re-broadcast in 1972, in which Canby examines some of the more radical composers of the 1920s, such as Copland and Weill.
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Richard Goldstein & New Music Criticism

Canby discusses the writings of music critic, Richard Goldstein, and the evolving role of the critic in shaping public perception of avant-garde music-making.
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The Boradin Quartet and Wendy Carlos

Canby plays a recording of a classical quartet that uses no microphones. He also plays a selection of music composed by Wendy Carlos for the Moog synthesizer.
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John Cage and Lejaren Hiller - HPSCHD

In this episode of Recordings, E.T.C., host Ed Canby explores composer John Cage's work, "HPSCHD" (1967-1969), a piece derived from computer-generated patterns and pre-recorded tape music.
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John Field - Part 2 of 2

A two-part survey of the life and work of Irish composer, John Field (1782-1837).
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Private Press Recordings

A look at the strange and wonderful world of private press recordings.
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Electronic Music - Part 3 of 3 - Live and Recorded

In the third and final part to his overview of electronic music, Canby uses The Beatles and the 'happenings' of the 1960s to illustrate the blurring of boundaries between popular music and avant-garde
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Electronic Music - Part 2 of 3 - Electronic Abstraction

In this second episode of a three-part series on the history of electronic music up to the 1960s, Ed Canby discusses the shift from naturally derived sounds to the pure electronic abstraction made pos
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Electronic Music - Part 1 of 3 - Musique Concrète

In this first episode of a three-part series, host Ed Canby discusses the history of electronic tape music from its origins in the 1940s to its subsequent influence on the vocabulary of experimental m
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Background Music and Couperin

Canby discusses background and foreground music, as well as the different approaches or impulses to listening to such music. CANBY: "Background music in various sorts has been impor...
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Baroque Beatles Book - Part 3 of 3

The third episode of a three part series on the musical relationships between The Beatles and the Baroque era.
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Baroque Beatles Book - Part 2 of 3

In part 2 of 3, Ed Canby explores the similarities between the song structures of The Beatles and the music of the Baroque era.
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Baroque Beatles Book - Part 1 of 3

In this first of three parts, Canby provides commentary on The Beatles and their fascination with music of the Baroque era.
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Handel and Harty - Music for Fireworks

A comparison between Sir Hamilton Harty's "Suite from Music for the Royal Fireworks" (1924) and George Frideric Handel's "Music for the Royal Fireworks" (1749).
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Balinese Gamelan & Diesel Locomotives

Canby explores the growing interest in the study and performance of non-Western musical forms in post-WWII America.
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WNYC Archives

Established in the year 2000, the New York Public Radio Archives are the station's physical link to its rich and storied past.

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