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A far-out Fantasia on Between the Keys, November 6th

On Tuesday November 6th at 10 PM, Episode No. 176 of Between the Keys will feature a single, solitary large scale work, the Fantasia by the Swedish composer Claude Loyola Allgén.

"Allgén lived from 1920 until 1990, " says host Jed Distler, who is the Classical Network's Artist-in Residence." He never really got recognition until the end of his life. In a way, it's understandable, because Allgén composed vast amounts of difficult  large-scale pieces, and he lived and worked in isolation from the music community at large. Apparently Allgén was also a rather prickly character."

"I stumbled upon an extraordinary recording of his 1955 Fantasia featuring pianist Mats Persson, and I wanted to share it with listeners, since it's long out of print. It's a composition that can be brilliant and complex in one minute, yet primitive and gauche in another, with the ideas flying all over the place at different speeds like a crazy collage. I'm not sure what to make of this music, so I thought it would be a good idea for us to give it a chance."

But before making listening plans for November 6th, Jed wants all eligible listeners to go out and vote. "Don't take the right to vote for granted, ever! Don't take our freedom for granted, ever!."