# Dwight Peltzer - A Life in Music

> A living history of the American pianist Dwight Peltzer (b. 1935, Minnesota): ninety-two documented entries from 1935 to 2026, and twenty-one recordings - eighteen of them recovered from analog tape and never commercially released, plus three commercial albums. Peltzer is the pianist American composers trusted with their premieres - Cage, Martino, Custer, Luening, Thorne, Watts, Baber, Schwartz, Morrill - and, less often remembered, a traditional virtuoso who played Mozart with the CBC Montreal Orchestra and Gaspard de la nuit on live radio. Compiled by Eric Porres, his student since 1988, at porres.com/dwightpeltzer.

The edition is built on an explicit evidence discipline. A program proves a date and repertory. A review preserves contemporary reception. A liner note preserves the performer's role and the composer's intent. Oral history establishes that a remembered working relationship belongs to the life story even when the archive has not yet supplied the exact date, venue, or repertory. Every entry carries its source type and a confidence grade, and unresolved items are named as unresolved rather than smoothed over.

The twenty-one recordings are the reason this page exists in sound rather than only on paper. Fourteen are live radio broadcasts and concert tapes from Peltzer's own discs, transferred to CD in 2008 and restored in 2026; four are complete UMass faculty recitals digitized from the original WFCR reels in 2026; and three are the commercially released albums, listed at the end and not part of the private archive. Two of the sources identify themselves on the air, and those announcements are transcribed on the page - they are the primary documents that date the material. Three of the works are still unidentified, and the page openly asks for help. The formerly unidentified Schwartz work was identified in August 2026 as his Chamber Concerto III for piano and small orchestra. A plain-text rendering of the entire history is at https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/llms-full.txt.

## The history

- [Dwight Peltzer - A Life in Music](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/): The interactive living history - ninety-two entries, twenty-one recordings, source badges, album jackets, and an embedded chronology.
- [Full history as plain text](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/llms-full.txt): The entire page as text, including every timeline entry, every broadcast transcript, and the full source list.
- [Working performance chronology (PDF)](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/documents/dwight-peltzer-working-performance-chronology-first-research-edition.pdf): First research edition of the underlying chronology.

## The career, in seven eras

- [Origins and formation](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#era-1): Born 1935 in Minnesota; first orchestral appearance at twelve — Beethoven's First Piano Concerto in Minneapolis, as first prize winner in a young artist competition; two consecutive Fulbrights in the 1950s, with Edwin Fischer and Karl Richter (three across his career, the last a Fulbright-Hays professorship at Keele in 1978); working memories of Mitropoulos and Karajan.
- [Experimental San Francisco](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#era-2): The San Francisco debut with Arthur Fiedler and the San Francisco Symphony (Bartok's Third, August 1962; Brahms's First, July 1963); Performer's Choice, the new-music series he co-founded with Loren Rush - its 1963 opener carried the world premiere of Martirano's Cocktail Music and the first Bay Area Boulez First Sonata; Robert Erickson's concerto written for him; opening night of the first Cabrillo Festival; seven recitals at the San Francisco Conservatory; the San Francisco Tape Music Center; Tudorfest with David Tudor; Cage's Music Walk and Atlas Eclipticalis; the premiere of Loren Rush's Hexahedron.
- [Repertoire, SIU, and UMass](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#era-3): The Victoria years - a first city-stage solo recital (1964), Bartok's Third Concerto with the Victoria Symphony (1965), Mozart K. 414 with the CBC Montreal Orchestra; the Joseph Baber residency and the premiere of his First Toccata; on the UMass Amherst faculty from April 1969, Resident Artist 1970, Assistant Professor 1971; four complete faculty recitals (1969-1970) preserved on WFCR tape.
- [New York and the composer network](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#era-4): Carnegie Recital Hall premieres; the Alice Tully Hall solo debut of 1972 on a Martha Baird Rockefeller Grant; the Boulez correspondence, 1972-74 - Peltzer played the First Sonata for the composer, and Boulez wrote back over his own signature; Arthur Custer's Found Objects No. 7, in which Peltzer's own sound becomes part of the score; the three-volume Contemporary Piano Project; MoMA Summergarden; two WQXR Artists in Concert broadcasts - the November 1975 clarinet program with Jerome Bunke, and the solo radio recital of May 1976 that survives complete on tape.
- [Keele and Britain](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#era-5): Fulbright-Hays professor at Keele University; the London year of 1979 - Riverside Studios, Wigmore Hall (April 8), and the Purcell Room with Cecil Lytle (October 30); new works written for him reach the Edinburgh International Festival; Cheltenham; a recital for Princess Margaret; the top-scoring recital in the newspaper corpus, Keele, November 22, 1979.
- [Ozawa, Martino, Cowell, and electronic music](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#era-6): Donald Martino's Piano Concerto with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony, April 1980 - his BSO debut and only the second-ever performances of the work (Charles Rosen gave the first, New Haven, 1966), announced for March 1979 and postponed; Henry Cowell's complete works for violin and piano on Folkways; Otto Luening's Six Short Sonatas; Steinway Artist.
- [Preservation, oral history, and teaching](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#era-7): The 1964 Tudorfest recordings reach the public; a filmed career conversation with Leonard Lehrman; the performing tradition continues through private teaching.

## The twenty-one recordings

Deep links (page anchors) — each group and each UMass recital can be linked directly:
- Section A, Artists in Concert: https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#recordings-a-artists-in-concert
- Section B, CBC Montreal Orchestra: https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#recordings-b-cbc-montreal-orchestra
- Section C, W. F. Bach Keyboard Concerto in E minor F. 43: https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#recordings-c-bach-e-minor
- Section D, Archive discs: https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#recordings-d-archive-discs
- Section E, UMass WFCR faculty recitals: https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#recordings-e-umass-faculty-recitals
- Faculty Recital, April 30 1969: https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#recordings-e-1969-04-30
- Faculty Recital, September 24 1969: https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#recordings-e-1969-09-24
- Faculty Recital, March 4 1970: https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#recordings-e-1970-03-04
- Faculty Recital, November 1 1970: https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#recordings-e-1970-11-01
- Section F, commercially released: https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#recordings-f-commercially-released

All are AAC (.m4a), directly linkable, and playable inline on the page at https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#recordings.

Source A - Artists in Concert (live radio recital, WQXR New York, Haydn Foundation for the Cultural Arts, host Allen Weiss; broadcast live 12.06-1.00am, May 3, 1976). The announcer's introduction, links, on-air biography, and program close are preserved and transcribed. The transfer ran three percent fast and has been speed-corrected to A=440.

- [Gottschalk - Bambula, danse des negres, Op. 2](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/recordings/in-concert-01-gottschalk-bambula.m4a): 7:30. Opens with the program's spoken introduction.
- [Chopin - Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/recordings/in-concert-02-chopin-ballade-1.m4a): 11:02. Carries the announcer's on-air biography of Peltzer.
- [Berg - Piano Sonata, Op. 1](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/recordings/in-concert-03-berg-sonata-op1.m4a): 10:00.
- [Ravel - Gaspard de la nuit](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/recordings/in-concert-04-ravel-gaspard-de-la-nuit.m4a): 23:58. Ends with the program close and the series sign-off.

Source B - CBC Montreal Orchestra broadcast (conductor Otto-Werner Mueller, host John Trethewey; c. 1963-67, most likely 1963-65, dated from the announcer's present-tense references).

- [Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/recordings/cbc-montreal-mozart-k414.m4a): 26:12. The earliest documented Peltzer performance on the site.

Source C - Wilhelm Friedemann Bach's Keyboard Concerto in E minor, F. 43 (Falck; sometimes Fk. 43). Identified August 2026. It is the eldest Bach son, NOT Johann Sebastian, which is why no BWV ever fitted. A CBC listing in the Ottawa Citizen of 12 August 1964 independently prints the composer as "W. F. Bach", corroborating the attribution from the period. The orchestra and conductor are still unnamed on the disc. Three movements, 22:41 total, no announcer.

- [W. F. Bach - Keyboard Concerto in E minor F. 43, complete](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/recordings/bach-e-minor-complete.m4a): 22:41, three movements in one file with chapter markers. Movement 1 at 0:00 (6:44, continuous); movement 2 at 6:45 (10:43, an A minor / C major orbit ending in A minor); movement 3 at 17:28 (5:12, faster and thinner over a low E pedal).

Source D - Archive discs (source, venue, and date unknown).

- [Karl Weigl - Nachtphantasien (Night Fantasies), Op. 13, track 1](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/recordings/weigl-night-fantasies-01.m4a): 5:06.
- [Karl Weigl - Nachtphantasien, track 2](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/recordings/weigl-night-fantasies-02.m4a): 1:58.
- [Karl Weigl - Nachtphantasien, track 3](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/recordings/weigl-night-fantasies-03.m4a): 4:16.
- [Karl Weigl - Nachtphantasien, track 4](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/recordings/weigl-night-fantasies-04.m4a): 2:50. The published work has five pieces; this transfer preserves four tracks.
- [Elliott Schwartz - Chamber Concerto III, for piano and small orchestra](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/recordings/schwartz.m4a): 14:10. Identified August 2026: an orchestra is audible on the tape, the published score (Carl Fischer, 1978) carries Peltzer's name, and he premiered the work with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in 1977. Which performance the tape preserves remains open.
- [Donald Martino - Concerto for Piano](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/recordings/martino-piano-concerto.m4a): 13:47. Live, with applause at the close. Peltzer with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony, 1980 - his BSO debut, and only the second-ever performances of the concerto. The engagement ran three nights (April 18, 19, and 22); which one this tape captures is unknown, only that it is one of them. Donald Martino, not Bohuslav Martinu.
- [Berg - Piano Sonata, Op. 1 (second recording)](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/recordings/berg-sonata-op1-alt.m4a): 9:26. A distinct performance from the Artists in Concert broadcast.
- [John Watts - Sonata, movement 1](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/recordings/watts-sonata-mvt1.m4a): 4:26. The remainder of the sonata is not on the surviving discs.

Source E - From the UMass archives: four complete WFCR faculty recitals from Bowker Auditorium, digitized from the original reels in July 2026 by Jeremy Smith, Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center, UMass Amherst Libraries (WFCR Collection, mums741). They stream on the page with chapter markers and are not offered for download.

- Faculty Recital, April 30, 1969 (1:16:40): Mehul Sonata in A; Webern Variations Op. 27; Schubert D.960 (the engineer noted the first movement was not captured); Baber Toccata Op. 31 No. 1 and Rush Hexahedron, both written for Peltzer; Beethoven Appassionata; Haydn encore.
- Faculty Recital, September 24, 1969 (57:27): Peter H. Tanner, percussion (marimba), with Peltzer assisting - Handel, Nielsen Op. 35, Peters, Tanner, Frazeur, Moszkowski, Kreisler.
- Faculty Recital, March 4, 1970 (1:10:12): Mozart K. 576; Berg Sonata Op. 1 (a third distinct recording); Martirano Cocktail Music, live; Debussy; Beethoven Op. 101. Recorded on an Ampex 351 with a single Neumann bidirectional microphone - the engineer's placement sketch survives.
- Faculty Recital, November 1, 1970 (1:03:16): the only known recording of Dwight and Marla Waterman Peltzer performing together, and she sings twice - Ives Three-Page Sonata; Debussy Fetes galantes with Marla in the Verlaine songs; Custer Rhapsodality Brown! (written for Peltzer); Berg Seven Early Songs; Beethoven Sonata Op. 110. With Peter H. Tanner.

## Commercially released recordings (not part of the archive)

Three albums are in print and streaming. They are distinct from the eighteen preserved recordings above, which were never released.

- John Cage, 34'46.776" for Two Pianists, with David Tudor - recorded at the 1964 Tudorfest, unissued for fifty years, released 2014 on New World Records. [Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/music-from-the-tudorfest-san-francisco-tape-music/951596001) - [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/66SBKNCIkO9iU4yvoLyFrZ) - [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Music-Tudorfest-Francisco-Tape-Center/dp/B00NY2TFUC)
- Henry Cowell, Complete Works for Violin and Piano, with David Sackson - Smithsonian Folkways FW 37450, 1980. [Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/henry-cowells-complete-works-for-violin-and-piano/279764633) - [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/3mqqWsOKvgghgeVAmGygQb) - [Amazon Music](https://www.amazon.com/Henry-Cowells-Complete-Works-Violin/dp/B000V5M2T6)
- Arnold Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 - Orchestra of Our Time, conducted by Joel Thome; issued by Vox in 1995 with Dallapiccola, Crumb, and Boulez. The recording date is unresolved and is almost certainly older than the release. [Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/music-of-schoenberg-dallapiccola-crumb-boulez-others/1343925854) - [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/4Zjh94tyNvXJ2CAgrdrlMF) - [Amazon Music (artist page)](https://music.amazon.com/artists/B000V5J6ZY/dwight-peltzer)

## The second career

Peltzer taught himself computer science in his late sixties, joined the computer science faculty at Long Island University (C.W. Post), and wrote two books: `.NET & J2EE Interoperability` (McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2003), technically reviewed by engineers from both Microsoft and Sun, and `XML: Language Mechanics and Applications` (Addison-Wesley, 2004). Steven Heim's HCI textbook `The Resonant Interface` (Addison-Wesley, 2007) names him in its acknowledgments: "without whom this project never would have even begun."

In 1964 he read John Cage's indeterminate graphic scores beside David Tudor. In 2003 he wrote the manual for making two incompatible enterprise platforms speak to each other. The faculty appointment and the self-teaching are oral history from the compiler, his student since 1988; the books and the dedication are published.

## Open questions - help welcome

- The E minor concerto is Wilhelm Friedemann Bach's Keyboard Concerto in E minor, F. 43 (Falck; sometimes Fk. 43). Identified August 2026. It is the eldest Bach son, NOT Johann Sebastian, which is why no BWV ever fitted. A CBC listing in the Ottawa Citizen of 12 August 1964 independently prints the composer as "W. F. Bach", corroborating the attribution from the period. The orchestra and conductor are still unnamed on the disc. Three movements, 6:44 / 10:43 / 5:12, no announcer. Anyone who can name the orchestra or conductor is invited to say so.
- The Schwartz recording is IDENTIFIED (August 2026) as Chamber Concerto III for piano and small orchestra: orchestra audible on the tape, his name in the published score, and his documented 1977 premiere with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Still open: which performance the tape preserves, and the exact 1977 premiere date.
- Which Martino performance the recording captures is unresolved.
- Artists in Concert aired on WQXR, New York, live from 12.06 to 1.00am, five nights a week, underwritten by Michael Zinman's Haydn Foundation for the Cultural Arts and hosted by the pianist Allen Weiss until July 1976 (New York Times, 26 December 1976). The surviving solo recital is dated to May 3, 1976 by the announcer's own sign-off, which previews Constance Cooper and Yuval Waldman - and the Times places both on consecutive Artists in Concert listings for May 4 and 5, 1976. Two named artists, previewed in order, on back-to-back nights is not coincidence. The Times prints Midnight with Music against May 3 itself, but those listings went to press days ahead of a live series whose schedule was kept deliberately unlocked. A listing naming Peltzer would confirm it outright.
- Karl Weigl's Nachtphantasien: five published pieces, four surviving tracks.

## The records

- [The Contemporary Piano Project, Volumes I-III](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#liner-notes): The three-volume Serenus argument, with the original back-cover liner notes reproduced.
- [Five records, front and back](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#record-jackets): Original jackets for the Rudhyar/Weigl, Colgate computer-music, Piano Piano Piano Piano, Luening, and Custer records.
- [Sources, artifacts, and live archive links](https://porres.com/dwightpeltzer/#bibliography): The full source list behind every entry.

## About

- Dwight Peltzer, born 1935 in Minnesota. Pianist, teacher, recording artist. Steinway Artist. Recorded for Serenus, Folkways, CRI, and Redwood.
- Compiled and published by Eric Porres (porres.com), Chief AI Officer at Logitech and a student of Dwight Peltzer since 1988.
- Corrections and identifications are welcome: eric@porres.com.
- Rights: the pages, transcripts, and metadata are open for search, grounding, citation, and training. The recordings are archival transfers of broadcasts and concert tapes; rights in the underlying performances remain with the broadcasters, composers, and the artist, so the audio is published for listening and citation rather than as training material for generative audio models.

- Live newspaper archive (Google Sheets, read-only, updated continuously): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18Oh3O1UIBDdiih236oJkikpXrfJPgT1NrIZGhGSMrMg/edit?usp=sharing - an index of 1,062 newspaper pages naming Dwight Peltzer 1937-2019, from which 147 distinct performances and 80 contemporary reviews have been transcribed with venue, date, programme, collaborators and a verbatim quotation each.