WKCR Humanities MB-1 Review
Students broadcasting on WKCR, 1940s-1950s (Scan 1686) Wide World Photos. Historical Photograph Collection, University Archives, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University Libraries.
The recordings on this page were part of the Columbia student radio station WKCR's review sessions for Music Humanities. For this course, students could go to Butler Library and listen to the assigned selections from small victrolas with earphones. Group listening sessions were later introduced and these allowed students to listen to the music through a loud speaker along with a Music graduate student who was available to answer questions. But for most students in Music Humanities, the best way to listen to the assigned selections was to tune in to WKCR. In preparation for the final exam in January, WKCR aired music review sessions at night, including quizzes modeled on the audio portion of the final exam.
Kalman Rubinson (CC 1962), WKCR's Classical Music Director, here leads the audience through the contemporary portion of the Humanities MB-1 Review. While the audio starts rather abruptly, you can enjoy Rubinson's thoughtful and informative introductions as well as the assigned selections. Don't forget to listen to Rubinson's sign-off at the end of the last section of the review.
To listen to other campus music and digitized recordings from the University Archives collections, please visit our Media page.
UNCLASSIFIABLY MODERN
Charles Ives, The Unanswered Question, 1908 (00:00)
Darius Milhaud, First Movement of Cello Concerto, 1934 (03:36)
Henry Cowell, Symphony no. 5, 1948 (07:27)
NEO-CLASSICAL
Paul Hindemith, Kleine Kammermusik, No. 2, 1922 (00:00)
Sergei Prokofiev, Classical Symphony, 1917 (02:07)
Ernest Bloch, Concerto Gross, No. 2, 1952 (03:46)
Igor Stravinsky, Rake’s Progress, 1951 (06:51)
PRIMITIVISM
Igor Stravinsky, Les Noces, 1923 (00:00)
Sergei Prokofiev, Scythian Suite, 1915 (03:14)
Carl Orff, Carmina Burana, 1936 (08:38)
For more information about the Columbia student-run radio station, please visit the Research Guide on WKCR. You can also listen to the Highlights of King's Crown Radio, a curated collection of audio samples compiled by Columbia College Today in 1986 to mark WKCR's 45th anniversary. Some of the highlights include a station break from 1941-42; an interview with Fidel Castro, 1958; the first stereo sign-on, 1964; President Grayson Kirk on academic freedom, 1964; Columbia vs. Princeton Ivy League basketball championship game, 1968; Louis Armstrong station promo, 1970-1971; and some live coverage from the police "bust" ending the campus occupation in 1968.
FOLK-INSPIRED MODERNISM
Bela Bartok, "Hungarian Dances," Mikrokosmos, 1926-39 (00:00)
Vaughan Williams, "English Folk Song Suite for Band," 1923 (04:27)
Charles Ives, Sonata No. 4 for Violin and Piano, 1900-1916 (07:56)
Kalman Rubinson, WKCR's Classical Music Director, Columbian 1962.
MUSIQUE CONCRETE and Sign-off
Silvestre Revueltas, "Ocho x Radio," 1933 (00:00)
Edgard Varese, "Ionization," 1929-1931 (03:12)
Kalman Rubinson Sign-Off (04:37)
Music Humanities Review Spectator ad, January 7, 1966