Music 421, Fall 2007: Materials of Contemporary Music
Class 8: October 24, 2007 - indeterminacy: Cage and Lutoslawski
next concert tomorrow (Thursday October 25, 7:30 pm, Recital Hall)
Roger Admiral performs Ligeti, Xenakis, Carter, Kurtag, ...
Pritchett: “Indeterminacy”
moving from the use of chance as a new means of creating traditional, fixed compositions
towards a strategy in which each performance can (and should) be different
through the overlay of multiple compositions
through notational devices that allow certain kinds of performer flexibility (not freedom...)
and the extraordinary graphics from this era of Cage’s work that result....
through performer deployment of a “composition kit” (Concert for Piano and beyond)
John Cage Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano I
the prepared piano as a variation on music for percussion ensemble
binary form (repeat signs!)
structural proportions: 5/4, 3/4, 5/4, 3/4, 3/2, 3/2
in first seven measures (28 beats): 5 beats, 3 beats, 5 beats, 3 beats, 6 beats, 6 beats
in next five measures (28 beats): doesn’t fit....
third group of seven measures (28 beats): 5 / 3 / 5 / 3 / 6 / 6
fourth group of seven measures (14 beats): 2.5 beats / 1.5 / 2.5 / 1.5 / 3 / 3
John Cage Music of Changes Book III
algorithmic construction: tossing coins to select precomposed material from charts
composed as a companion piece (and competitor?) to Boulez’ 2nd Sonata
indeterminacy is now central to the algorithmic (and aesthetic) approach
a way to free the composer from habit, cliché, and limitation
basing the technique upon charts (derived from the Concerto for Prepared Piano)
8 x 8 structure = 64 possibilities (suited to extraction via tossing coins / I Ching)
separate charts for sonority, duration, and dynamics
even though chart elements are intuitively composed, their combination is not
duration and dynamics applied to sonority
(and spatial notation assists with the unusual rhythmic results)
importance of timbre in sonority charts (although the piano is not prepared)
parameters determining whether chart elements are replaced after use, layering
process of layering affects duration in turn
still using large-scale rhythmic structuring techniques from Credo etc.
but now adding tempo change - “space” + “speed” rather than duration
tempo is also a chart-derived parameter
proportional notation as a notational analog to the equation of time and distance in tape music
John Cage Fourteen
a much later work, but also an algorithmic one: partially specified by computer
”time-bracket” technique: extending meaningful indeterminate choice to the performer
and inviting a model listening as a crucial aspect of performance
(where the early pieces are all about constraining the performer)
long durations as an opportunity for timbral mobility
Europeras as another example of the “time-bracket” technique
