Rich Bailey: I read a few articles about you in preparation for this interview. What I found initially fascinating was the quest for these instruments. You seem to have a dual mind; one of a musician and that of a collector. True?

Dennis James: Yes, that is the exact crossover category I fall into quite happily in all of my endeavors, be they in music or just daily living. I seem to be inspired from both directions you mention: objects and their use. For an example of “object- to-use”: I bought a lovely antique brass Victorian bird cage that I admired as an aesthetic object . Since I have a shall-we-say intimate relationship to Mozart via his glass compositions, I thought I'd sort of do an "homage d'" by using it to house a live canary; as did Mozart. There is some thought, though, that this pet bird Mozart was so fond of (and that he missed greatly during his travels and for which he wrote one of his most affecting compositional laments in tribute upon its death) may have been a starling, but no matter here.

From the other direction,” use- to-object”, I play to silent films as one branch of my diverse performing career. Back in 1991, I was commissioned to score the 1928 Soviet science fiction spectacle AELITA, QUEEN OF MARS. I'd been introduced to electronic music by the sounds of the Theremin while watching old Sci-fi films of the 1950s and 60's on late night TV and thought: what better tribute could there be than to add those sounds to my score to the silent film AELITA? I was thrilled to obtain an actual original 1929 RCA Theremin and had it restored by Robert Moog, inventor of the modern-day synthesizer. I contacted Clara Rockmore, the leading virtuoso of the instrument still then living in New York, who taught me to play it. Then I began performing my AELITA film score all over the world, from the Louvre in Paris to the British Film Institute in London and the National Gallery in D.C. (By the way, my next performances to silent film with electronics are on January 26 & 27, 2002 utilizing the Theremin along with Don Buchla's Thunder & Lightning for Fritz Lang's now-restored silent films METROPOLIS and WOMAN IN THE MOON at the National Gallery of Art in D.C.)

In the world of glass music, I have been collecting every vitreous vibrator I can find; from the antiques (e.g., Francis Hopkinson Smith's 19th c. GRAND HARMONICON . . . I now own two), modern inventions (Sascha Reckert's VERROPHONE and the CRISTAL D' BASCHET), reproductions (ARMONICA and SERAPHIM) plus a wide variety of miscellany (GLASS FLUTES, GLASS BELLS and so forth). My performance interests utilizing this ever growing collection range from all of the historical repertoire for glass, modern compositions and even Hollywood film scoring (most recently performing in Marco Beltrami's scores for MINUS MAN and THE FACULTY) in addition to my recording and performance career with Linda Ronstadt.

RB: I note that you are also into the theremin, playing organ for silent movies, and other exotic instruments. So there is this connection with history and particularly the 20's. Why this time period?

DJ: Yes, I have a particular affinity with the 1920s, something that is well known in my family. There are, for instance, stories of my great excitement when seeing cars of the 1920s still on the streets in the mid-1950s when I was around 6 or 7 years old. I collect antiques and furniture that were in fashion from about 1880 through 1940 here in the US, and currently live in a lovely authentically preserved 1924 house designed by San Diego architect Richard Requa. It provides a perfect setting for all of my various collections and the musical instruments.

Musically speaking, I liked ragtime and traditional jazz piano music from my first exposure to them, and was particularly influenced by Max Morath's 1960s weekly PBS television series At the Turn of the Century. Max's presentation of playing the music while explaining the historical and cultural framework behind the scenes inspired me greatly in my own work. Another major influence was the early work of Peter Schickele, aka P.D.Q. Bach. I happened to attend his first "out of town" tryout of his one-man shows at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia during the late 1960s and find myself still enamored with his affectionately satiric look at music history, particularly as studied in academia.

It was a natural merge of my interest in late 19th and early 20th c. American music, studies of the organ and love of early movies when I chanced upon silent film performance with live music. The first I attended was in the summer of 1969 at the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, PA (a suburban district of Philadelphia). The late "Flicker Fingers" himself, California touring theatre organist Gaylord Carter, was at the Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ console and on the screen Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. in THE MARK OF ZORRO. In classic "Chorus Line" fashion, I turned to my Dad at the end and said "I can do that!"

RB: That’s an interesting story. What was it about glass instruments that attracted you?

DJ: I first became aware of glass instruments at about the age of 6 while visiting the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. I can still recall being mesmerized by the appearance of the original Benjamin Franklin Armonica then on display in its own showcase in the entry rotunda of the city's famed science museum.

That particular instrument was the inventor's own, and had been passed down through the Franklin family over the years, ending up in the Princeton, NJ residence of the Maclarens. By the way, I met Mrs. Maclaren in 1991 while performing with the Princeton Chamber Orchestra. She told me they had decided to donate it to the Franklin Institute to get it out of the house It seems the children had taken great delight in using spoons to smash the Armonica's glass bowls. By the time of the 1956 donation only eight original bowls remained intact!.

RB: How awful! Where did you go from there?

DJ: From that point forward I had a gradually increasing fascination with anything referring to music made with glass. I can recall playing the rims of water and wine glasses at various dinners over the years before making my first serious attempt to assemble a playable collection in 1968. Although I didn't recall the incident, I was reminded at my 25th high school reunion (Cherry Hill High School West, New Jersey) by a classmate that I had assembled and played a small set of tuned drinking glasses for a music class.

My first exposure to glass music that resulted in genuine development was when I obtained a copy of the famous LP recording of historical glass music repertoire by the late German glass harp virtuoso, Bruno Hoffmann. His instrument was actually a set of table-mounted individual glasses of his own design and quite different from the famous Benjamin Franklin mechanized glass Armonica. I found myself charmed and literally captivated by the exotic sounds of rim-rubbed glass even when played without historical technique. I particularly enjoyed it when heard in combination with other instruments, as on that LP. I often played the Hoffman recording for visitors and would quiz them as to their thoughts as to just what was the instrument making the ethereal tones. From that I'd vowed to someday learn to play the delicate music and, of course, to obtain such an instrument

RB: One of the articles I read referred to your meeting Bruno Hoffman as a key turning point in your career.

DJ: Well, the key turning point was connected with Bruno somewhat. The trigger for my intense activity with glass was actually a joke.

In late 1981 I had attended a Cornett and Sackbutt concert in Columbus, Ohio with a new friend, Craig Kridel, a very active area early music enthusiast. Not having consciously paid attention to either instrument before, the concert was fascinating but what happened after was transforming. We got together with the musicians afterwards in a rather white wine-sodden reception and fell to sitting around a table sharing anecdotes, as early music instrument enthusiasts are prone to do. The discussion turned to a question, "If you couldn't play the instrument you do now, what instrument would you like to play?" Fortunately the answers began across the table from me and I had some time to gather my thoughts. I am a "degreed" keyboard musician with a Bachelors and Masters in Organ Performance from Indiana University and at that point performed with only on keyboard instruments. Recalling my interest in glass, though, I decided to answer "Benjamin Franklin's Glass Armonica," though still not having any idea how to go about it. Craig answered next, saying, "The Serpent" (note: an over 300 year old snake-shaped wind instrument made of wood and covered with leather). And then . . . the joke. A guy seated across from us said, essentially, "Right . . . well, Dennis you get an Armonica and learn to play it . . .and Craig, you get a Serpent . . . and then the two of you find a composer and commission him to write a piece called 'The Snake in the Glass!"

RB: That’s pretty funny….

DJ: Craig and I exchanged glances that instantly confirmed our individual commitments and the next day I started calling around to learn about glass music. Within a short series of calls I'd learned that Bruno Hoffmann had been scheduled to play a concert in Detroit, Michigan but that unknown yet to him it had been canceled. I saw my chance and called around town through the afternoon finding a presenter, funding, a date and local housing for Hoffmann enabling me to call him in Stuttgart explaining the bad and good news - that he'd lost Detroit but could come to Columbus, Ohio to play.

RB: Very smart of you!

DJ: Well, to make that story shorter, it all evolved to what Craig and I created in 1981; "The First and Probably Last International Glass Music Festival" bringing performers and enthusiasts of glass music from around the world together for the first time. As part of the preparations Bruno Hoffmann invited me to visit him at his vacation chateau in Vevey, Switzerland where I spent a MOST interesting week in his company but that's another story!

RB: I was also struck with the fact that you actually built the Armonica based on Franklin's model. This was an interesting process. You had to have other skills to do this. You copied his bowls etc. How did you accomplish this and how long did it take? Any problems in doing so.?

DJ: It was a ten year process to obtain authentic historical-recreation glass Armonicas capable of duplicating the sound, the playing characteristics, and the overall appearance characteristic of the 18th and early 19th century originals. When I'd first visited Bruno Hoffmann in Vevey, Switzerland he told me that the Armonica as a performing instrument was basically unplayable. He thought the legendary attributes of the instrument were actually just figments of historical imagination. At best, he said, an Armonica could only be used essentially to drone simple sustained chords with minimal movement of the hand and fingers. Since I'd already examined many of the original glass manuscripts I didn't believe him, so I thought "Golly, somebody ought to really go after this!" And I named myself!

I initially worked my way through several experimental instruments made here in the U.S. by the late Gerhard Finkenbeiner that turned out to have quite varying construction qualities and performance reliability. After consultation with numerous experts in various fields of technical endeavor I determined these modern-day products had some basic design defects. Essentially, the so-called quartz glass (or fused silica, a type of glass that was invented in the early 20th century) simply could not duplicate the playing characteristics nor produce the tones of the 18th century original instruments. The reliability of the tuning and overall mounting system were also much too unreliable for sustained professional touring use so I expanded my search for a replica instrument based on historical techniques.

By the beginning of 1991 I ended up with a lovely set of two concert Armonicas custom built for me at the Eisch glass house in Germany from historical models. (in particular, the marvelous historical instrument in the Frankfurt City Museum) They were mounted in lovely wooden cabinets built by Paul Poletti (a fortepiano builder now based in Utrecht). My two concert sets of Armonica bowls are interchangeable between the cabinets and are pitched one at a=442 and the other a=430. They have a note range wide enough to encompass performance of the entire historic glass music literature. I keep the highly decorated cased one (seen on the covers of the new Sony-Classical "CRISTAL" project) here in the U.S. for domestic travels and usually keep the other plain wood-cabin one (seen on my early televised performances with Linda Ronstadt) in Europe.

RB: So you are not only an expert at playing these instruments but you have to be expert at maintaining them. What issues does this present?

DJ: For my two concert Armonicas after a series of disasters I have to say that they are now quite stable and reliable with the only real issue of concern is keeping the glass bowls intact. Initial disasters were of breakage during travel, such as the near complete destruction of the instrument in the return flight from its first concert use. In 1991 I had played as a guest soloist with the Da Camera chamber orchestra in Houston, Texas. While the instrument was in the airport warehouse before loading onto the plane a forklift operator mistakenly crashed his lifting-tines right through the side of the shipping case, through the instrument case itself, and on into the glass bowls, shattering most of them. From that experience I designed a set of two fairly manageable travel cases that enable me to remove the bowls from their performing cabinet and hand-carry them as carryon luggage in air travel.

Other maintenance issues are mostly about keeping the bowls playable at each performance. For instance, during rehearsal on the NBC Tonight Show with Jay Leno set for a 1993 performance with Linda Ronstadt I determined the fog effect prevented the bowls from speaking at all. The fog was an oil-based mist, and when it got on the bowls they simply wouldn't play. Take a look at the clip now . . . you'll see no fog at all. Once the internal electrical connections gave way so I ended up having to turn the bowl shaft with my right hand while performing only with my left, eliminating many of the notes I intended to play.

RB: Very interesting… A lot of these instruments have no methods or teachers so you had to develop your own techniques or research how they were played?

DJ: Actually both. With no teachers of glass instruments available in the 1980s (Bruno Hoffmann declined my request to study with him), I began with research into historical written materials and turned up several reference texts that directly covered glass playing techniques:

Bartl - About the Keyed Armonica

Ford, Anne - Instructions for playing on the music glasses (Method), 1841, England

Franklin, J.E. - Introduction to the Knowledge of the Seraphim or Musical Glasses

Hopkinson-Smith, Francis - Tutor for the Grand Harmonicon 1825, Baltimore

Ironmonger, David - Instructions for the Double and Single Harmonicon Glasses

Muller, Johann Christian (aka John Christopher Moller) - Anleitung zum Selbstunterricht auf der Harmonika

Roellig, Leopold - Uber die Harmonika / Uber die Orphika

Smith, James - Tutor for the Musical Glasses

Wunsch, J. D. Practische - Schule fur die lange Harmonika

Moving on from these, I studied the glass repertoire in original manuscript form, gleaning much information about phrasing and articulation practice. Then I studied the various regular instruments in use with glass in performances of the time of whatever compositional period I was addressing. Primary written sources for technique exist for each of those instruments as well that proved to be invaluable- particularly the 18th c. string and flute sources. I also studied reviews and articles about actual period performances that appeared in various newspapers, magazines and other written materials. Finally, working within the information, I then developed my personal performance techniques for each of the glass instruments I now play and confirmed the modern day validity of their use by performing with the various other similarly inclined instrumentalists and ensembles on tour.

RB: How many pieces have been composed for the glass Armonica?

DJ: I've asked that question a lot over the years and still don't have a reliable answer. The general consensus bandied about by players and serious enthusiasts seems to be in the 300 or so range, counting only pieces composed from the 18th through to the late 19th centuries. There are also a lot of transcriptions and arrangements of works originally written for other instruments and, of course, many new works written since the onset of the modern-day revival that began in the mid 1980s. So, if I was pressed to name an all-encompassing number I would say something on the order of 500 glass Armonica works exist today.

RB: How do different techniques affect the sounds one gets if any?

DJ: Each of the glass instruments I play has a completely differing set of playing techniques that affect the sounds. For instance, I have codified 12 places on my fingers that can be used to affect the timbre and speed of response of the Armonica bowls. Then there are the issues of hand positions, angles of attack and all of the various movements resulting in the expressive articulation matters that come under the heading "stroke."

RB: As a guitarist I use a wide range of techniques to get various effects…

DJ: Recently I was playing in a theatrical performance that gave me long periods at rest with no cues, so I began experimenting with overtones. I discovered some very reliable hand positions and fingering techniques to be able to control the access to some of the overtone series on many of the bowls. And, quite surprisingly, I discovered I could also readily bring to speech two simultaneous notes on some of the larger bowls: the "natural" playing note an octave above the bowl's primary frequency, and then also an upper partial of my own choosing. With the expanding use of glass in film scores I'm sure this will come in handy!

RB: Is the lead poisoning issue real? I remember some story that players of this instrument have to be checked every two weeks or so. Is this fact or fiction?

DJ: Gosh, even my 1974 Cadillac doesn't get checked that often! Let's just say that in the total absence of any genuine research into this issue, the idea of lead poisoning having some relation to the history of glass music is as "real" as any other theory. The gravesite of Marianna Kirchgaessner, the most famous of the 18th c. Armonica players, has been located. So, if someone gets around to having a forensic analysis of what remains perhaps then some actual information can be obtained for valid explanations of the apparent maladies affecting players of that time.

RB: Are there actual manufacturers of these instruments?

DJ: I have come across a number of manufacturers of musical instruments made of glass over the years. For my own collection I have acquired quite a number of flutes, bells, childrens' toys, sets of musical glasses, Armonicas and experimental instruments of many types.

RB: Could you tell me about the Cristal Baschet?

DJ: The Cristal was invented in 1954 by the brothers Baschet, Francois and Bernard, of Paris, France. The Baschets are known worldwide as creators of sound sculptures - fantastic shapes of molded metal and glass, which combine the visual arts with music. According to Francois, quoted in the exhibition program from an exhibition at London's Barbican Center, "Since 1952 our aim has been to achieve a synthesis between sculpture and sound without the use of electronics. Why without electronics? We think there is more sincerity, more poetry in natural sounds. Electronic music is to acoustic music what chemistry is to cooking." Bernard and Francois had decided to collaborate on the invention of "musical instruments for the music of tomorrow." They were fired by the realization that few new instruments had been developed since the 18th century, and also by the prophecy of architect Frank Lloyd Wright that "music will not achieve its revolution until, like architecture, it renews its materials." The Baschets' research concentrated on using the vibration or internal wave potential of steel bars excited by glass rods. They developed their Cristal, which has been described as a wide-ranging device that looks like a piano turned inside out. But the Cristal has glass rods instead of keys and hammers plus metal bars with resonating plates, with long wire whiskers in place of piano wires and steel or plastic cones as amplifiers.

RB: Have you been developing younger players of these instruments for the future?

DJ: I've not been involved in any direct teaching of individuals but have been a host for several Master Class sessions within the framework of glass music festivals and performances in academic environments.

RB: Before you had worked with Linda had you been aware of her and her music?

DJ: Yes, I knew about Linda Ronstadt starting when I was in high school and she was in the Stone Poneys and I've followed her evolution as a singer ever since. I was entranced with her work with Philip Glass on his Songs From Liquid Days project I had the great pleasure to appear just last October with the Philip Glass and his Ensemble on tour playing a solo organ arrangement to a silent film up in Seattle.

RB: I know that Linda has been fascinated with glass music for years and she talked about it for years. How did you first hear from her?

DJ: While living in Palo Alto, California back in 1993. I got a call one morning from a friend at a local public broadcasting radio station who simply told me "You'll be getting a call in a few minutes from Linda Ronstadt" and that was all. He said there was no time to explain and just after hanging up I received the call. Linda explained she was looking for a glass Armonica player for an album she was currently working on up in Marin and she'd been told I could help out. We discussed briefly what she had in mind and she asked if I could drive on up.Two hours later I had headsets on and began recording tracks for her WINTER LIGHT project!

RB:What did you think when you heard that Linda wanted to work with you? Was it like "Oh Wow!"

DJ: That about sums it up. Actually, though, with the short time of preparation I didn't have a thought at all other than wondering just WHY she would ever want to talk to me.

RB: The 1st time she used the Armonica was on the Winter Light album.

DJ: Yes, that's the first one she called me in to do. Linda explained she had first heard the sounds of rubbed glass some 15 years before, just where, though, escapes her to this day. She kept that ethereal sound in her mind all those years and it was during the orchestra sessions and post-session mix on the track "A River for Him" written by Emmylou Harris that Linda had the inspiration to add the glass tones. Apparently everyone up at the studio was quite relieved to turn me up living then just a two hour drive away down on the Peninsula in the California Bay Area.

RB: Was this the first time you had worked on a Pop record?

DJ: Yes, and the first time on a major label as well. I'd been turning out classical CDs in Europe up to that point.

RB: I really liked the Armonica on Heartbeats Accelerating...was that figure you played of your creation?

DJ: I think that track is the one that cemented our professional relationship and led to my appearing on three of her other pop albums and now this all-glass CD for Sony-Classical. The way it happened was that Linda was so pleased with the single note additions to the Emmylou Harris song that I first played that she decided to ask me where else on the album glass might be added to good effect. She gave me a cassette with the tracks of the various others songs in their then-current mix and I then went off on plane flight to a concert of my own.

A few days later I came back to the studio with the instruments and my own written transcription of that running line through Winter Light. I'd sat with my little cassette recorder and a pile of pencils working out the line on paper during the flight home so that I could work out the glass fingering and learn it. I found that the line was actually made up of four recurring figures, but also that each of the repetitions either wasn't complete or had maddeningly small changes in harmonic progression, note progression or simple truncations. Anyway, I put in some woodshed time learning it so that I could play it all the way through and showed up back at the recording studio.

They had me sit down in front of the mics and session producer George Massenburg gave me the cue to start. They played the other tracks back to me in my headphones and I played that line live as an overdub. I thought it was just a mic test and when I was finished waited for further instruction. Nobody said anything, and finally I asked if it was OK, and George replied "No….it was perfect." I got up from the Armonica and went into the control room to discover that I'd nailed it on the first take and that was that. They'd been planning to have me record each of those four component elements and then cut and paste whatever was needed, but all that editing time was saved when they got the whole thing in one take.

Further investigation revealed to me that intriguing line had been computer generated by the arranger and the expectation until I'd come along was to have it recorder by synth. Those fiendish mini-changes throughout were caused by the computer program aligning the line with the harmonic progressions, a classic case of the machines making human work ever MORE difficult!

RB: What impressions did you have about her process and methods of working?

DJ: The very first thing I noted was how much of a pre-conception Linda has for her intended results. In the case of the glass instruments, she seems to carry a perfectly pure vision of the exact sounds she seeks, much like a painter who has an intense colorist vision when preparing a palette. I think she then plugs in whatever she can find in reality to match her tonal desires. Next I was greatly impressed by her precision attention to minutae in all facets of the recording process. Nothing ,not one thing escapes her attention and application of dedicated process. Single syllables of words, every touch stroke of finger on glass, every moment of decay, every aspect of the tone production envelope; is all considered and pursued tenaciously. Another thing to mention is her marvelous courtesy to her fellow musicians at all times- in the booth, in the recording studio, off time,on time, you always feel that you have a friend beside you.

RB: That is wonderful. Are there any favorite memories of working with her?

DJ: One of my favorite moments around Linda happened spontaneously after one of our afternoon recording sessions in L.A. A group of us decided to take in a film and after dinner we headed over to Westwood. On the way, I happened to picked up a little resonator banjo-uke from the Twenties that was sitting around in the back of the Jeep and began plinking notes on it. The owner of the instrument took it up and began strumming some chords. Linda started to sing "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" and the banjo-uke accompaniment provided just the right support. It was a magical moment for sure- a private concert in miniature in just the style of that Lush Life recording!

RB: Wow what a great story! So all of a sudden your audience type changed. I remember when you appeared with her on Letterman and you discussed the Armonica a bit.How was that?

DJ: Well, it was a great surprise. A sort of unspoken message in the air to me before the broadcast was "Do not say anything on the air!”. After all, these things are Linda's appearances. When David L. leaned over his desk and directed a question to me I simply froze- on playback of the dub I can see myself caught and unable to speak. I received a glance from Linda that said to me it was OK and so when he tried again I called back a flip one liner and on things went from there..

RB: So it was a different world than you were used to being in, no?

DJ: Well, let's say an escalation from my prior experiences. I've done a lot of TV interview work over the year connected with my silent film appearances, particular with symphony orchestras and when I went on tour with the silent film stars Lillian Gish and Buddy Rogers back in the 80's. And there's been a lot of attention on the glass in the last few years, particularly since I began working with Linda, so I'd already done things like a CNN Headline News feature and such. There is, though, quite a thrill hanging around the green room backstage at the Leno show, or getting made up before a Letterman appearance that puts a new perspective on it all.

RB: Had this work with her brought you pop record projects with others ?

DJ: Pop records . . . no. However, the word about glass seems to have gotten out in the Hollywood film studio world. For instance, I got the call from Marco Beltrami, an active young film composer who has a parallel concert composition career. A few years ago, he asked me to come in during the over-dub stage for a score he had prepared for a Sony release- THE FACULTY. The sessions up at Skywalker Ranch went so well that Marco ended up abandoning his original conception for his next project already underway, MINUS MAN, in favor of an all-glass inspired score. The opening credit theme for MINUS MAN sets the tonal world in motion with a lovely duet for Seraphim and Soprano, and for those sessions I ended up playing the Cristal and the Seraphim in addition to the Armonica.

RB: So do other pop records interest you?

DJ: I'm looking forward to working with anyone who is interested in the sounds of glass and, for that matter, any of the other curious and exotic instruments I'm playing these days.

RB: It was after this that Linda seemed to be talking about "doing a Glass record". I remember talking to Ira Koslow and Janet about it but it seemed like a long time coming. She would be working on some record and still talking about a Glass record. What took so long to get the project going? Was it scheduling or something like that?

DJ: Linda's plate is always incredibly full, and her attentions are continually divided on a kind of multi-tasking level.. I think she worked out a lot of her initial ideas for the glass project by talking out the concept in public such as those early interviews you heard some six years ago. I would hear reports of interviews, such as one memorable one over NPR she did in Washington D.C., while I was out on the road myself in a completely different part of the country. That's when I really got confident this project would eventually get off the ground. For a while I got a real charge out of the fact that her mind would go blank about my name whenever she spoke of me. I often was referred to as "that guy" who plays glass for her. Even Jay Leno remarked on it, advising her to "get another guy" if I began setting off the metal detectors at the airports on tour (referring to an improbable idea of my experiencing ever-increasing lead levels in my bloodstream from playing the glass!).

RB: That is funny! You have worked with Linda having her as a performer and now as a producer. How is she different in each role?

DJ: She takes on each role with ease and comfort and can completely change her approach to any given decision at any point depending on each role's point of view. She addresses the sometimes wildly opposite concerns with complete independence and assuredness.

RB: What would you say specifically that you learned from working with Linda overall?

DJ: I have learned how to go about pursuing one's enthusiasms by making them the center of a life well-lived.

RB: I know that this album was actually ready to release almost a year ago but the release dates have been slipping, why?

DJ: The answer has eluded me and all I can say is it is with immense excitement that I have greeted the final release this January!

RB: I am as well. Who chose the actual selections?

DJ: Linda

RB: Were they all of your selections?

DJ: Almost all of them.

RB: Did you work from a vast array of selections?

DJ: Not vast, but wider than those finally chosen for the final product. There's enough in my glass repertoire from the initial considerations list to do at least one more follow-up project of this scale should the opportunity arise.

RB: Were there pieces you wanted to do but couldn't?

DJ: Several, such as for a time we were considering including a full staging of the famous glass-accompanied "Mad Scene" from Lucia d' Lammermoor which would have required a full orchestra and an opera chorus in addition to the vocal soloists. Talk about a budget challenge!

RB: What aspects of the production was Linda herself involved in?

DJ: Almost all. The only sessions she didn't personally attend were those in London at the famous Abbey Road studio. John Boylan and I recorded some obscure glass works with the classical guitarist John Williams (a duo by Naumann) and the renowned Netherlands-based cellist Annar Bylsma (for what would have been the world-premier recording of a hitherto unknown C. P. E. Bach Armonica and 'cello sonata).

RB: How was the interaction between Linda, Ruth Ann Swenson, and Veronique Dietschy?

DJ: I can't say about Linda with Ruth Ann for that session was done in Tucson that I did not attend. It was a post-session overdub for the orchestra and Cristal tracks initially laid down in Los Angeles. The Veronique Dietschy tracks were excerpts on license from a previously issued complete recording of the complete Hasse cantata "L'Armonica" initially issued in France. I had the great pleasure to tour throughout France and then record the work together with Veronique and the historical instruments Ensemble Stradivaria. I'll never forget the thrilling late night recording sessions that were held in an historical church located in the Alsace-Lorraine area of France.

RB: The articles I read mentioned the Mozart pieces you chose for the album...written specifically for glass. Was this a tribute?

DJ: The two Mozart pieces are the most famous works for glass instruments and were included because of their stature within that repertoire. Most important for the album, we accomplished the first recording of one of the works, the K. 617 Adagio and Rondo in C in the form it was most heard back in its period of composition. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was no doubt impressed by the astounding virtuoso technique of the blind Marianna Kirchgassner, the reigning viruosa of the Armonica during the late 18th c. Despite the fact that her reviews were nothing short of dazzling, it seems more probable other reasons prompted Mozart to compose for her. She was related to Mozart, and her traveling companion for life was Rath Bossler, the famous and influential music publisher. Kirchgassner commissioned the work, and its original scoring for was for Armonica, Flute, Oboe, Viola and 'Cello. It is obvious (as ascertained from numerous recently discovered concert programs) that Kirchgassner, once out of Vienna and Mozart's influence, never used the original scoring again. She substituted two violins for the original woodwinds, and it is in this String Quartet version we decided to record the K. 617 Concertantequintet with the Emerson String Quartet.

RB: What an interesting story. What is your favorite on the album?

DJ: The Mozart K. 617 Adagio and Rondo mentioned above. The playing of the Emersons was idiomatically delightful, and they exploited every bit of the joyful spirit and playful interplay with the glass revealed in the score.

RB: John Boylan was Linda's producer in the 60's and now back working with her again .How did that seem to work?

DJ: She was completely comfortable working with John at every level and throughout the project. It was really a meeting of two old friends, and tales of their early days performing and working together abounded.

RB: Who did what?

DJ: They shared every decision.

RB: What hats did they wear?

DJ: In production they were co-producers going over every aspect of the recording process. In session John oversaw the production elements, freeing Linda for her artistic role in front of the microphones.

RB: What were the challenges presented in making this album?

DJ: The greatest is the one now faced- what decisions to be made throughout to enable the greatest exposure for the product and to enable the largest sales volume.

RB: Were there completed pieces that did not make the album?

DJ: None of the tracks left off the album went through the final editing process and were actually completed

RB: What are your plans to promote the album?

DJ: My plans are to respond to every invitation and to work closely with Sony-Classical to enable the maximum exposure.

RB: Are there things already lined up for this (TV,Radio, print).

DJ: None for me by Sony-Classical. I have, however, on my own done a 1/2 hour PBS television special for San Diego's KPBS, a one-hour radio feature for KPFK in Los Angeles, and upcoming this month a 1/2 hour interview on Seattle's KUOW. In late March I'll be doing a feature for WOSU in Columbus, Ohio

RB: Will Linda join you on any of these?

DJ: Linda has been participating in some of my interviews via ISDN hookup to her home in Tucson. I understand she has been doing a number of interviews on her own as well.

RB: What is next for Dennis James?

DJ: In the glass music world, next up will be a one week run of Elliott Goldenthal's OTHELLO ballet being staged in San Francisco with the San Francisco Ballet, a performance that will be seen later this year on the PBS television series "Great Performances." I performed the West Coast premiere of this ballet three years ago and have performed it with the company ever since, most recently at the Paris Opera Garnier in France last year. After that I'm doing a six week run (from April 12 to May 5) of THE GLASS MENAGERIE, the famous play by Tennessee Williams in Madison, Wisconsin with the Madison Repertory Company. I will be onstage throughout performing a newly composed all glass music incidental music score by Paul Boesing. For upcoming projects that are currently in the works, I'm pleased to mention here for the first time I'm in the formative stages of a major touring project with the Kronos String Quartet involving both my exotic instrument passion and my silent film activity. If all goes well, the premier will be in Seattle sometime next season.