November 2–9, 2000

critic pick

George Antheil

As a concert pianist, Trenton-born George Antheil (1900-1959) occasionally performed with a gun in full view, next to the sheet music. He had grown accustomed to riots breaking out at his performances, and he was worried he might have to shoot his way out of the concert hall.

His music is very rarely performed nowadays, but Antheil is among the most original composers our region has produced. His Ballet mécanique was scored at one point for sixteen pianos, a player piano, eight xylophones, two doorbells, car horns, anvils, and an airplane propeller.

The Mary Louise Curtis Branch of the Settlement Music School will honor the 100th anniversary of Antheil’s birth with a unique concert. The program includes his "Concerto for Chamber Orchestra (Octet for Winds)" as well as works by Henry Cowell, Wallingford Riegger and Edgard Varese. Also on the bill is Ruth Crawford Seeger’s "Suite for Five Wind Instruments and Piano," which has never been published and is almost never performed live.

If you go, you might be asked to check your gun at the door.

—Andrew Ervin

Sun., Nov. 5 at 3 p.m., Mary Louise Curtis Branch of the Settlement Music School, 416 Queen St., 215-336-0400. $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors.