Broadcasting
Aside from being a composer, performer, and lecturer, James has been a regular contributor to Radio New Zealand (RNZ). These are a collection of some of his broadcasts over the years, mostly co-produced with the great, and long-suffering, Tim Dodd.
E.M.S. Synthi KB1 Synthesizer
These Hopeful Machines
A six-part series - first broadcast in 2013 - in which James Gardner traces a personal path through the evolving world of electronic music and interviews some of the pioneers who made it happen. Over 100 years of recording techniques, electronic instruments and gizmos ... their use in popular music, art music and their position in Western culture.
The London Harpsichord maker, Thomas Goff.
The Fall and Rise of Harpsichord 6
In August 1956, a beautiful new harpsichord arrived in Wellington aboard the RMS Rangitoto. It had been very recently made by Thomas Goff (1898-1975) of London and before being shipped, it was played by George Malcolm at a concert in the Royal Festival Hall. Goff was considered at the time to be “the Steinway of harpsichords”.
James Gardner delves into the colourful and quirky story of Thomas Goff’s Harpsichord No. 6 and of Goff himself. He talks to Peter Averi, retired musician and broadcaster, who was the first person to play the instrument when it was unpacked in Wellington, and to two British harpsichord makers, John Rawson and Peter Owen, who worked with Goff in the 50s and 70s respectively. We also hear the voice of Thomas Goff.
Frank Zappa: The Radio Is Broken
James Gardner traces a personal path through the vast output and thirty-five year career of composer and guitarist Frank Zappa in this 5 part series.
Appointment - Peter Maxwell Davies at 70
On 14 March 2016, the classical music world lost one of its most respected contemporary composers, Peter Maxwell Davies, who died of leukaemia.
In 2004, RNZ Concert marked his 70th birthday with an Appointment programme. James Gardner interviewed Davies by phone to his home on Sanday in the Orkney Islands. Davies talked about the music he wrote throughout his career, about the inspiration he gets from the landscapes of the Orkneys, about his political concerns and campaigns, about his position at that time of being the Master of the Queen’s Music, and about his qualified optimism on the state of contemporary classical music compared to the era, 50 years previously, when he was starting out.