Cornelius Cardew’s Music for Moving Images: Some Preliminary Observations

Clemens Gresser

Some initial thoughts

Whereas Cardew’s autonomous music (especially within a modernist or more experimental framework) has received some attention, his music for moving images and for radio has been little discussed to date.1 Such applied music seems to fit none of what could be seen as the four core areas of Cardew’s musical activity: 1. his modernist and avant-garde music (all his works before starting his early experiments with the ),2 2. his experimental and improvisational music (Scratch Orchestra, AMM), 3. his overtly political and tonal music (mainly songs, and often performed by PLM3 or the Songs for Our Society Group), or 4. his programmatic, indirectly political music (mostly piano music, such as Thälmann Variations).4 However, film and radio music might also feature (or can have traces of) any of the approaches found in other areas of his oeuvre.

This research was supported by a three-month British Library Research Break (an annual scheme for BL staff). I am extremely grateful to my former colleagues in Music Collections, and particularly to Nicolas Bell and Sandra Tuppen, for allowing me to have access to uncatalogued material and generally answering all my questions; to Trish Hayes (BBC Written Archives), for helping me with BBC archival materials; and to Susan Reed for not interrupting my research work with queries relating to my previous library position. 1 , (1936-1981): A Life Unfinished (Matching Tye, Essex, 2008), and Eddie Prévost (ed.), Cornelius Cardew: A Reader. A Collection of Cornelius Cardew’s Published Writings (Matching Tye, 2006) hardly mention Cardew as a composer of film music, but cater well for other areas of his musical output, as do numerous articles and some academic theses such as Virginia de Vere Anderson, ‘Aspects of British as a Separate Art-Music Culture’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of London, Royal Holloway, 2004) and Kathryn Gleasman Pisaro, ‘Music from Scratch: Cornelius Cardew, Experimental Music and the Scratch Orchestra in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, 2001). 2 Cornelius Cardew, ‘A Scratch Orchestra: Draft Constitution’, The Musical Times, cx:1516 (Jun. 1969), 617-19. 3 The People’s Liberation Music (PLM) was a political music group, founded in 1972 by Laurie Baker, John Marcangelo, Brigid Scott Baker and John Tilbury. Tilbury left in 1973, and Cornelius Cardew and became members. Vicky Silva was the main vocalist; the group was dissolved in 1978 ‘under directive from the Communist Party of England (Marxist-Leninist) [CPE (M-L)]’; it was reformed as the band of the Progressive Cultural Association (PCA) (Tilbury, Cornelius Cardew, pp. 728-9; also see Tilbury, Cornelius Cardew, pp. 682-3 for further info on PLM). 4 Such a categorization is somewhat problematic as the first two categories are more about compositional style and approach, whereas the third and fourth describe the works’ function. However, it is obvious that some of the music for moving images could fit into one or two of these categories. Nicholas Cook has described Cardew and his music in just two phases: as an ‘avant-garde (and hence inevitably élitist) composer up to 1970, and the musically reactionary populist of the last decade’ (Nicholas Cook, ‘Orchestral, ’, The Musical Times, cxxiii:1673 (1982), p. 490). John Tilbury has avoided such a broad division of his oeuvre, even though he acknowledges the almost exclusive focus on composing political songs in the last decade of Cardew’s life; for example see Tilbury’s entry on Cardew in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. by Stanley Sadie, vol. v (2000), pp. 119-20, or see his biography of Cardew.

1 eBLJ 2013, Article 4 Cornelius Cardew’s Music for Moving Images: Some Preliminary Observations

Another reason why this music has been largely ignored is the issue of whether such commissions and projects give a hint of capitalist or at least of commercial interests and intentions. For some, this might not fit the conventional view of Cardew (as either a modernist, or experimentalist or an overtly political composer and musician). One could speculate that Cardew himself maybe felt that these more ‘applied’ compositions for radio or moving images were not as noteworthy as his ‘proper’ music (as they were neither art music, nor ‘in scope’ for being politically useful).5 From some of Cardew’s correspondence of the 1960s and 1970s, it is clear that lack of sufficient income was of crucial concern to him and to his family’s life;6 therefore, one can imagine that Cardew may have primarily composed music for moving images in order to generate income. He was involved in providing music for a couple of moving image productions (mostly TV documentaries and teleplays), and also at least one contribution to a radio programme.7 Whereas most of these compositions pre-date Cardew’s very pronounced communist stance (i.e. the musical contributions listed below were composed pre-1971), it is nevertheless clear that prior to his self-declared political motivation for composing, these works show a side of this composer who is not primarily focusing on a modernist or experimental agenda. Such an attitude, which is very pragmatic and aims to fulfil a function of serving a visual context, can also be deduced from an example of Cardew trying to find his stance as a composer; a composer, like many others, who would like to live from his music-making; however, this was not easy as he seems to have been on the one hand uncertain how to combine the monetary side of composing with his stance as non-capitalist composer. On the other hand, there is a definite need to make money, and to gain recognition for his work: Cardew’s reply to a critical letter from Michael Chant might have been laced with a good amount of irony and even sarcasm; however, it indicates that he was aware of how to exploit his skills to make money: ‘I don’t see myself as a great composer, but yes indeed as a business musician investing my life in music, and yes I will create a market if short-shrifted in the common or commercial ones’.8 Though not proof that Cardew was thinking about how to make money from his compositional work, his letter to (20 December 1974) asks Skempton whether he could obtain a (free?) ‘copy of The Composer in the Marketplace if you are in a position to swing that kind of thing’ (this refers to Alan T. Peacock’s book published by Faber in 1975); the idea of Cardew being interested in a book-dealing, amongst other issues, with the financial aspect of composing, is probably not surprising – after all, Cardew was a freelance musician and composer who had to feed his young family. His struggles with trying to make money with his musical activities are also evident in the same letter: he calls the Composers Guild ‘that feudal organisation’, but also refers indirectly to being unsuccessful in becoming a composer represented by Faber Music, and that his scores were (at that time)

5 This is only a hypothesis, as I am not aware of any kind of written reflection by Cardew about film music, comparable to Hanns Eisler’s – see Theodor W. Adorno and Hanns Eisler, Composing for the Films (New York, 1947) – or about ‘applied’ music for a specific, conventional form of the media. 6 When replying to a request to have a snippet of Soon reproduced in a book by Paul Griffiths, Cardew asked to be given higher reproduction fees. See letters from Julia Kellerman (Dent publishers) to Cardew (18 Jan. 1980 and 29 Feb. 1980), found in as yet uncatalogued Misc. Correspondence 2, BL, Music Collections [June 2010]. The book was Griffiths’s Modern Music: The Avant Garde since 1945 (London, 1981), where sixteen bars of Cardew’s Soon appear on p. 183. 7 ‘Project ‘67 : Silent Spring in Palomares’ produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (producer: Howard Engel); produced on 15 January 1967 (date of broadcast unknown). Available at National Library of Ottawa (Catalogue number: 670115-12). The catalogue description reads: ‘A documentary on the January 17, 1965 in-air explosion of two American planes carrying hydrogen bombs, over Palomares in the South of Spain.’ 8 Letter 23 Jun. 1969, Jun. 2010 uncatalogued, BL, Music Collections, Misc. Correspondence Box 2, Folder Cardew-Chant correspondence.

2 eBLJ 2013, Article 4 Cornelius Cardew’s Music for Moving Images: Some Preliminary Observations

with Chappell, ‘but heaven knows if they’ll bite’.9 This might indicate Cardew’s ambivalence about being a composer in the market place and trying to make a living from being a composer. Whatever the exact motivation Cardew might have had for writing applied music, Table 4 (below) gives an overview of how he contributed to moving image projects and at least one programme for a radio broadcast. This list goes beyond the works listed in John Tilbury’s biography,10 while some works mentioned elsewhere in his book are included; for most I was able to find more evidence than a reference by Tilbury, proving their existence or that Cardew wrote music for these projects.11 Nine ‘film’ projects are listed, of which seven were created in the 1960s, and two in the 1970s. Most of the 1960s works were documentaries produced or directed by the Canadian film director , and were predominantly for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.12 Whereas this might be at a first glance somewhat surprising, it is less so if one realizes that King resided in Europe for a long time during the 1960s, and that Cardew and he were friends.13 The first of Cardew’s collaborations with King wasThe Pursuit of Happiness: Beyond the Welfare State (1962), which is also the very first moving image project for which Cardew wrote music (I have been unable to track down information about any earlier film projects with which Cardew was involved.) The two film projects for which the British Library holds scenarios and ideas for music are A Search for Strindberg (1971; BL, Music Collections, Add. MS. 70759), and Sugar (1976; BL, Music Collections, Add. MS. 70760). Even though I contacted various institutions to try to obtain a copy of these documentaries, I was unable to see the films.14 There are, however, some points which can be made, basing my comments solely on the scenarios and the written music. Obviously, such an analysis, without comparing the written material to the final film or documentary, cannot assess the impact of the music fully, or even judge whether the music synchronizes well with the moving images. However, it is exactly following the composer’s approach: working from a given scenario to the score. So what can

9 Cardew to Skempton, letter 20 December 1974 (photocopy), uncatalogued, BL, Music Collections, Misc. Correspondence Box 2. 10 Tilbury, Cornelius Cardew (1936-1981): A Life Unfinished, pp. 1045-8. 11 Two films are listed in the table below, even though there is no further evidence, other than the given references by Tilbury that Cardew ever wrote music for them. The first isGreat Escape, apparently a film on which Allan King worked in the 1960s (1965?; such a film is not listed onAllan King Film, http://www.allankingfilms. com/, accessed 31/12/2012), and the second is King’s filmWarrendale (1967). The reason for including these two titles is two-fold: even though I have been unable to find any information about the first film, and rely on Tilbury’s statement (Cornelius Cardew, p. 216) that Cardew’s music was not used in the second film, this information might be useful for a researcher who is able to invest more time in researching this area of Cardew’s oeuvre, or indeed might manage to find some of the films, or even the film music for them. 12 One of the unfortunate constraints on this research and the limitations on the results in this text here was not being able to travel to : the Allan King Collection at the Film and Media Department of Queen’s University () would have been especially useful, and the National Library of Canada (in Ottawa) seems to have some film material relating to King. I have also not had replies from the CBC archives. 13 Tilbury states that the dinner on Cardew’s wedding day (when he married his second wife Stella) in June 1962 ‘had been arranged by their friend the Canadian film director, Allan King, who had around that time commissioned some film music from Cardew’ (Tilbury, Cornelius Cardew, p. 134). 14 Sugar was sponsored by Tate & Lyle (see http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/110609?view=credit ; accessed 28/6/2010); in 2012 an online finding tool for London archives and libraries holding films was launched: http://www.londonsscreenarchives.org.uk/ ; last accessed 31/12/2012), and allegedly a copy of the film is available from Newham Local History Resource Centre (archival reference LSA/0637). Unfortunately, my queries to them remained unanswered. A Search for Strindberg (1971) was a Swedish-US co-production, and neither the Swedish Television station nor the US-American production company was able to provide a copy. Also the Strindbergmuseet in Stockholm had no copies of this film in 2010. Digital Scans of US TV listings (found via Google Books) confirmed that the title of the teleplay was the one used here.

3 eBLJ 2013, Article 4 Cornelius Cardew’s Music for Moving Images: Some Preliminary Observations

be discussed are the musical ideas employed by the composer, based on what he saw in a scenario. Of course, such observations on a unity between visuals and audio in moving images can lead to very simplistic analytical statements. I have found no details of how Cardew composed this music, but believe that it is likely that he saw some of the visual material whilst composing his music for these projects; one hint that this was the case is that Cardew created a more detailed scenario for A Search for Strindberg (see fig. 3), which he must have done whilst watching this documentary. On the one hand, this must have been an aide mémoire for Cardew whilst he was composing; on the other hand, brief descriptions or even a single word of what was happening on screen written into the score act as cues or signposts for the musician recording the music. This is actually more than just an issue of practicality: one could speculate that Cardew’s wish to have a more refined scenario would probably have resulted in an aesthetic approach with the music expressing and highlighting obvious visual events and actions on screen. Clearly, Cardew accepted in using such an approach that his music should support the moving images, not dominate them.15 Whereas in A Search for Strindberg the music seems to be intended to add a broader emotional tone to visual images and the voice-over, in the case of Sugar – with a much faster flow of ‘scenes’ the notated music underlines much more closely direct visual snippets and processes – it is seductive to consider the relationship between scenario and music manuscripts as an exact one, due to this documentary’s relatively straightforward approach of depicting the production of sugar. Overall, the purpose of the following descriptions of the music is to highlight the musical ideas used. Originally, it was hoped that broader conclusions could be drawn from this research, but owing to the lack of further scores or information about Cardew’s other music for moving images, making more global assertions about his film music would be disproportionate. Given the relatively young age of these compositions and projects, one could be forgiven for assuming that finding further materials or indeed scores will only be a matter of time; however, there are three problems with such an assumption: first, even for Hollywood blockbusters of that era many scores have been lost, or were simply destroyed (it seems that their value for musicology, or even as cultural artefacts, was not considered); second, copies of the films themselves were not kept (the issue of the relevance of documentaries for future generations might have been underestimated); third, and more specifically relevant to Cardew, Cardew’s film music as surveyed below, while in terms of craftsmanship accomplished miniatures for film, neither add anything to a scholarly biographical narrative (where the apprentice composer matures in his late works) nor in themselves might have been considered even by Cardew himself as noteworthy (to date, no statements have been found about his film music work). Thinking of these more generic as well as some more Cardew-specific points, it seems unlikely that these scores will be found.16

15 The scores found also employ very small forces, and mostly create sparse textures. This is, however, not just an aesthetic issue: obviously, the productions did not have the budgets of the mainstream film industry, and Cardew could (and did) record the music for some of these films himself, with the help of his musical friends, which might have been motivated by his own financial considerations: Cardew’s involvement in providing all aspects of the film music would mean he could charge money for all these services. Finally, Cardew might have preferred to have as much control as possible in providing music to the film: from accepting the commission, via composing to performing and recording the music. 16 Of course, without either being able to hear the film music through the films, or ascertain which musicians recorded the ‘missing’ film music, one could also imagine that some of the music was improvised whilst seeing the film. (Cardew undoubtedly had the skills to do this, and a lot of his musician friends would have been happy in such a recording situation.) Judging by the scores available, one does, however, need to consider that Cardew’s professional attitude to compositional tasks at hand would have led him to write down a score to fit the moving images better and to coordinate the interplay between music and screen via a fixed notation to enable the musicians to supply a recording quickly.

4 eBLJ 2013, Article 4 Cornelius Cardew’s Music for Moving Images: Some Preliminary Observations

A Search for Strindberg (1971)

Thanks to Google’s efforts to digitize local US newspapers it was possible to identify this teleplay not just as a ‘Strindberg film’ (see British Library’s catalogue entry), but asA Search for Strindberg (1971); the given synopsis in the newspaper also guarantees that this is the moving image project Cardew saw when composing the music. Compare the following description given in the St. Petersburg Independent with the available scenario of the film:17

Table 1

St. Petersburg Independent18 Cardew’s own scenario of the film With Sweden’s foremost actor, STRINDBERG Music sections Max Von [sic] Sydow, doubling as M1 Max von Sydow driving in voice-over Narrator and occasional Stockhlmn [sic] (1’2”) onscreen performer, Sweden’s greatest M2  Sunrise over the lake (41”) (gap of 10” playwright, August Strindberg (1849- only) 1912), comes alive as a haunting and haunted, moody figure, plagued by an unhappy childhood and a persistent feeling of being unwanted, which turned in his maturity into a succession of love-hate relationships with women, memorialized in his unforgettable plays.

Fig. 1. Unknown hand, scenario for A Search for Strindberg (as given to Cardew), BL, Add. MS. 70759, f. 1, top of first cell.

17 The highlighted text emphasizes the correlating parts of both descriptions. 18 ‘Strindberg Comes Alive In Haunting Biography. NET PLAYHOUSE BIOGRAPHY’, St. Petersburg Independent, Thursday 23 March 1972, 19B [Television Previews] (last accessed 16/8/2010, via http://news. google.com/newspapers?id=UuILAAAAIBAJ&sjid=51cDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6963%2C2278803).

5 eBLJ 2013, Article 4 Cornelius Cardew’s Music for Moving Images: Some Preliminary Observations

Whereas, of course, it is possible that Max von Sydow was involved in several documentaries on Strindberg’s life, without further evidence we can assume that this mixture of von Sydow acting Strindberg and narrating over the story of the famous playwright’s life was unique. Looking at a further part of the teleplay listing and comparing this with Cardew’s scenario shows a number of similarities (Table 2):

Table 2

St. Petersburg Independent Cardew’s own scenario of the film The drama of his life is evoked here M3 Strindberg’s life. Childhood. 1’4” through stills, newsreel clips, and M4 (transition) He works in the library – excerpts from his autobiographical Marriage with Siri (3’7”) (gap of writings, but above all through pivotal 33” ‘House of nobility’) scenes from three of his plays, ‘Miss Julie’, M5  (transition) Siri’s children – Walk ‘The Father,’ and ‘The Bond,’ performed through the woods (1’12”) by Swedish actors. Tune in. There’s a M5A Echo of the preceding after excerpt particularly worthy filler at the end of the from The Father (5”) Strindberg biography featuring Robert M6 Feeding ducks and walking 1’6” Ryan and Frank Converse in a choice M7 Sailing (1’52”) reading of the poems of our own American M7A Echo of sailing (about 15”) wizard, Walt Whitman M8 Funeral and end titles (3’55”)

However, all this circumstantial evidence is surmounted by proof in the scenario; according to f. i (a cut envelope, and turned into a quasi title page), the music for A Search for Strindberg was written on 14 February 1971. The proper title for this project never appears accurately as a heading anywhere; instead a working title of ‘Strindberg’ was used. The only exceptions are two lines in the film’s scenario, on f. 1: first, ‘Search for Strindberg’ is added in red ink to the introduction section; second, within the Main titles section, is written in black ink Dissolve [Titles Search for S.].

Fig. 2. Unknown hand, scenario for A Search for Strindberg (as given to Cardew), BL, Add. MS. 70759, f. 1, bottom of first cell.

Even though a copy of this film could not be found, it is still very interesting to see how Cardew created a soundscape to accompany the moving images. This soundscape is mostly minimal in terms of number of instruments used, but also with regard to its complexities and loudness. The score suggests that the music definitely tries to stay within its supporting role, and judging by the incomplete score available, Cardew did not aim to have many sections where the music bursts out, as a strongly perceived layer of the overall end product. Notably, there are very few dynamic markings in the score. There could, of course, also be a more pragmatic reason for this: lack of time (for composing and recording) and availability of some very talented and trusted musician friends. Cardew was scheduled to record the music with the AMM and the score bears the names of the instruments in front of the

6 eBLJ 2013, Article 4 Cornelius Cardew’s Music for Moving Images: Some Preliminary Observations

first system; whether employing AMM colleagues was a decision made at a later stage, or whether he had to submit the score to someone for ‘approval’ who might not have known this group well enough, is not known. What is noteworthy though, is that Searching for Strindberg indicates the instruments’ names clearly, whereas Cardew in the later music for Sugar features the first names of the AMM members instead,19 which probably meant that he felt that he could broadly trust the ability of all the musicians to interpret his music accordingly. This trust might also be discerned in more subtle ways when studying the score. There is one example in the score which uses forte: at the beginning of section M6 (page 1, f. 46v, after 30), and one section of section M5 (page 2, f. 48r, after 105) where Cardew wrote ‘loud’ into the xylophone part. Interestingly, Cardew created (at least partially) a much more detailed scenario,20 which actually was preliminary work for the composing process proper. For an example see the page of A3 (f. 34) which relates to the section M4 [(transition) He works in the library – Marriage with Siri; see Table 2, second column].

Fig. 3. Cornelius Cardew, more detailed scenario for A Search for Strindberg, BL, Add. MS. 70759, f. 34 top.

19 According to Tilbury (Cornelius Cardew, p. 301) Cardew was a member of AMM only between 1966 and 1971, so one could wonder when exactly in 1971 he left, especially in relation to the date(s) of recording the music for Sugar; however, this improvisation group, originally formed by , Eddie Prévost and Keith Rowe (Lawrence Sheaff joined later), included not only Cardew but also at various times different musicians and composers, such as , John Tilbury and Christian Wolff: see Edie Prevost, ‘Improvisation’, in [Programme for the] Cornelius Cardew Memorial Concert: 16th May 1982, Queen Elizabeth Hall ([London, 1982]), pp. 4-6 (p. 5). Prévost has confirmed in personal correspondence that Cardew was still a member of AMM at the time of recording (Prévost, correspondence with the author, e-mail: AMM and Cardew, Mon 12/07/2010 15:56). 20 Only one page of graph paper for this more detailed scenario by Cardew has survived (see below for reproduction).

7 eBLJ 2013, Article 4 Cornelius Cardew’s Music for Moving Images: Some Preliminary Observations

This is actually a much more exact transcription of the film and the timings of speech (mostly as voice-over) and other significant activities (and objects) which mark out the time Cardew could use for adding music; compare the above with the scenario provided by the film production company:

Fig. 4. Unknown hand, scenario for A Search for Strindberg (as given to Cardew), BL, Add. MS. 70759, f. 11, 3/4 bottom of first cell.

The voice-over, which probably comes across as a distancing comment on the life which is seen in the film, does not just get an added layer of music to punctuate the gaps in the heard commentary: rather the soft notes of the two celli before 20", and before Strindberg/ von Sydow enters the library, allow the narration to be heard, yet the pitches of both celli support the build-up to the seen library, and create a dramatic development, which is not really inherent in the spoken text. Compare the following spoken text with the music, given in the example below:

I can still see myself in the Royal Library in the main reading room, with its beechen wainscoating, brown with age, like the meerschaum of a well smoked pipe. This enormous room with its rococo beadings, around which at the heaight [sic] of the second floor was a gallery railed in by Tuscan columns, was yawning like a small chasm beneath my feet.21

21 From the Scenario at BL, Add. MS. 70759.

8 eBLJ 2013, Article 4 Cornelius Cardew’s Music for Moving Images: Some Preliminary Observations

Fig. 5. Film Music for A Search for Strindberg, composed by Cornelius Cardew, used with the permission of the copyright holder Horace Cardew. BL, Add. MS. 70759, f. 43, first system.

The music starts, and the speech has already talked about the library before we actually see the inside of the library. At this very moment, Cardew changes at 20" to an eight-second bar which consists of slow-moving chords: e-g-e, f-a-f, f#-a#-f#. This leads to the flowing melody, from 28"; unfortunately, neither the scenario, nor Cardew’s pre-compositional scenario with more exact timings, helps here in understanding how the music interacted exactly with the spoken commentary of this section of this teleplay. However, one can speculate that the commentary might have reached the point of either talking about the Tuscan columns (quoted above), or even that the moving images showed the ‘100,000 volumes which resembled a gigantic brain’ at the beginning of this melody:

Fig. 6. BL, Add. MS. 70759, f. 43, second system. Film Music for A Search for Strindberg, composed by Cornelius Cardew, used with the permission of the copyright holder Horace Cardew.

Either way, it is clear that the music becomes more lively and potentially more dramatic, either emphasizing the movement and impression of the visual images, or indeed creating this effect in the first place. Lacking much further and detailed visual proof, it is impossible to analyse the music available in manuscript form in a meaningful way. If, however, this was for Cardew a significant scene of this documentary, then one can more easily understand why this moment in the accompanying music should be the more expressive and dominating.

Sugar (1976)

If one reads through the whole of the scenario for the documentary about sugar production, entitled Sugar (BL, Music Collections, Add. MS. 70760, ff.1-10), three important characteristics emerge: first, there is the idea of motion; almost every shot involves movement or some kind of activity. Therefore, one could imagine that an accompanying music would match this level of activity and busyness. Second, whereas most shots depict very transparent depictions of processes and objects, there are a couple of shots which seem to demand some kind of explanation; on the one hand, either spoken or with subtitling to give an idea of what is shown, on the other hand, the music itself might have been envisaged to create unity between the disparate, visual elements (particular children running or being physically very active; crystals; the gymnast; and the sugar production, as is the case in one short part of this documentary), and to create a fluidity between the different scenes or fragments.

9 eBLJ 2013, Article 4 Cornelius Cardew’s Music for Moving Images: Some Preliminary Observations

Even though a copy of this documentary has proved elusive, in addition to the scenario there are also Cardew’s sketches (Add. MS. 70760, ff. 11-29) and a pencil score (ff. 30-60). Interestingly, in the sketches Cardew marked some significant moments of the moving images above or in between systems. This means that it is much clearer how Cardew envisaged a correlation between key moments of what can be seen and the music he imagined. One example of this is in section M1; first, an extract from the scenario:

Table 3: Transcription of Cardew’s scenario for Sugar (1976)

M1. Titles [f.1r] Shot No. [Description] [Minutes] [Seconds] 1. Black Screen. 0 0 Molecule floats into frame. 0 3 ²/³. Stops & Title comes on. 0 14. Title off & Zoom in 0 22 ²/³. 2. Dissolve to zoom into Sun. 0 29 3. Dissolve to crystal & Light change. 0 36 ²/³. 1 Title on. 0 48 /³. 1 4. L. Angled Short children down Slide 0 54 /³. 5. M.S. Children on Swings 0 58 ²/³. 6. Dissolve to Crystal & Light change 1 ²/³. Title on. 1 7.

Fig. 7. Unknown hand, scenario for Sugar (as given to Cardew), BL, Add. MS. 70760, f. 1, top half.

10 eBLJ 2013, Article 4 Cornelius Cardew’s Music for Moving Images: Some Preliminary Observations

Whereas this might seem less detailed (in comparison to the Strindberg scenario), especially in terms of what is being described or any possible post-production text (voice-over), it explains much smaller parts of one shot or scene than what Cardew had to deal with in A Search for Strindberg. This translates into Cardew picking markers, i.e. events and objects in the film which would act as foci for developing musical ideas around them. The following sketch illustrates this:

Fig. 8. BL, Add. MS. 70760, f. 11, first to third system. Film Music for Sugar, composed by Cornelius Cardew. Used with the permission of the copyright holder Horace Cardew.

As the score shows, the floating-in of the molecule is prepared by a fast two-bar flute motive (the first bar consisting of a rising scale covering an octave, the second bar starting one whole tone below the first bar scale, and then with the last quaver of the bar dropping down a third); the theme then comprises a downward scalic movement, as each bar’s starting note is one note (within the scale and key) lower than the previous bars; so if reading just for the first note of each bar’s scale, one has 2c -b-a-g-f-e-d (not reaching c1):

Fig. 9. BL, Add. MS. 70760, f. 30, first system. Film Music forSugar , composed by Cornelius Cardew. Used with the permission of the copyright holder Horace Cardew.

If one compares the first seven bars of the pencil score (see above) with the sketches (see example [f. 11v]), one can now appreciate why, when revising the sketch for the pencil score and synchronizing the written music with the film, Cardew added one further occurrence of this 2-bar musical idea: firstly, to start on 2c (this means that the concept of an upward scale motive is also mirrored by each motive’s starting note forming a downward scale); secondly, to stretch the time before the title sequence, and to increase the build-up. This means that

11 eBLJ 2013, Article 4 Cornelius Cardew’s Music for Moving Images: Some Preliminary Observations

the floating-in of the molecule into frame is not accompanied with a sudden change of music; Cardew uses a musical idea which resembles the molecules’ multi-faceted shape with a linear, yet one-dimensional musical idea. The molecules’ musical idea thus supports what the film presents visually. However, this musical idea with its seven bars leading into the title sequence means that the music is – at the beginning of the film – slightly ahead of what is depicted: the molecule appears on the screen after the musical idea which relates to it has been heard. Then this musical idea moves to a more chordal and static moment, right when the film shows text on the screen (the static moment equals the frozen time, the words of the titles):

Fig. 10. BL, Add. MS. 70760, f. 30, second system. Film Music for Sugar, composed by Cornelius Cardew. Used with the permission of the copyright holder Horace Cardew.

The first trombone, the first trumpet and the flute then join forces to create a second inversion C-major chord (the brass and woodwind instruments are given mezzo pianos presumably to alert the players not to drown out the flute). The trombone moves from g via g# and a to b, culminating in a VII-chord at 19 and 20, at which point the violoncello picks up the quaver motivic material (in an inversion of the previous idea: first the seven scalic notes plus the drop by a third, followed by the scale from one note to its octave). One can assume that this further swift change to the previous idea should coincide with the end of title sequence, and prepare from bar 13 for the idea of the sun perhaps being depicted in bar 17.

Fig. 11. BL, Add. MS. 70760, f. 31r, first system. Film Music for Sugar, composed by Cornelius Cardew. Used with the permission of the copyright holder Horace Cardew.

12 eBLJ 2013, Article 4 Cornelius Cardew’s Music for Moving Images: Some Preliminary Observations

The sun featuring in the film is, again, just as the title sequence was, a more static moment in the film, which Cardew seems to have mirrored by making the music less active too. In this very brief, maybe even tantalizingly short, description of the music and how it relates to the moving images, it is obvious that there is an underlying correlation of two musical and visual ideas; in very basic terms: between one idea of movement (molecules with divergent layers of growth) versus an idea of a more static situation (title sequence and sun). Solely basing my impressions on examining the scenario and score, this seems to summarize Sugar well: it is a much clearer depiction of a visual world of contrasts than A Search for Strindberg. However, Sugar is, of course, a descriptive, educational documentary, and does not have any of the more complex narration: A Search for Strindberg might have aimed to create subtle undertones, hinted at psychological sub-meanings and maybe even created a ‘mystery’ around the story of Strindberg’s life; one could say that Cardew’s approach to writing music for both these documentaries mirrors the different characters of the two films. Nevertheless, both of the above observations of the two films, based solely on the scenarios, sketch materials and pencil scores, indicate that it would really be necessary to see the final moving images with the recorded sound track in order to enlarge on some of the points made, and turn some of these speculations into solid statements of fact.

The speculative nature of these interpretations shows the limits of such an approach. However, the two films do indicate that Cardew, for practical and maybe even aesthetic reasons, preferred a film sound which was simpler than some of his earlier avant garde music (and such simpler musical language also fits Cardew’s music of the 1970s); without knowing the other scores, or at least having seen the other films, any such statements are only based on a very incomplete picture of his work for moving images. One further observation from this insight into his film music is possible: Cardew seems to have balanced the need to serve the film with the ambitions to create solidly hand-crafted music: i.e. as is shown with the musical, overarching idea in Sugar, he tried to contribute to the art work with something which would be practical, yet artistically sound. Comparing only the above two film music projects of 1971 A( Search for Strindberg) and 1976 (Sugar) with ‘non-applied’ compositions by Cardew, it is still obvious that they are not in the realm of, say, the ‘Romantic’ Thälmann Variations (1974, for piano), either in terms of the complexity of ideas or in terms of their sophistication of presenting an autonomous musical composition. And unsurprisingly, Cardew’s music written for film is in many ways different from his political songs of the 1970s, and his compositions of his last years in the 1980s. Obviously, they do share a similar, more tonal musical language, and the syntax and phrasing is not experimental – but one would not expect this with music which is supposed to support a film. Making more far-reaching claims, or even attempting to contextualize Cardew’s film music within the environment of his other music-making, has its limitations; being able to study only two scores, once again, does not allow for more than the above preliminary observations. One can hope that more of the scores will be discovered, and that an assessment of the films themselves, and Cardew’s music, will then be supported by perceiving the whole picture.

13 eBLJ 2013, Article 4 Cornelius Cardew’s Music for Moving Images: Some Preliminary Observations

Table 4: Overview of moving images projects for which Cardew provided music

Key: CR = Eddie Prévost (ed.), Cornelius Cardew: A Reader. A Collection of Cornelius Cardew’s Published Writings (Matching Tye, Essex, 2006) JT = John Tilbury, Cornelius Cardew (1936-1981): A Life Unfinished (Matching Tye, 2008) SF = Seth Feldman, Allan King: Filmmaker (Bloomington, Indiana, 2002)

Name of Film Director of film / Year Location of music / Source Production company of information / Further notes The Pursuit Production: Douglas 1962 unknown of Happiness: Leiterman for Document SF: 101 Beyond the (CBC) According to JT: 161 an entry Welfare State, Production: Allan King of Cardew’s June 1962 journal 57 min., 16mm, (1930-2009)22 states ‘Film work for Allan King, b&w Photography: Rolph £180’ (sic) Blakstad, Richard Leiterman Editing: Bruce Parsons Music: C. Cardew Running Away Production: Allan King 1964 unknown Backwards or Associates for the CBC SF: 102 Coming of Age in Screenplay: Robert Ibiza, 60 min., Goldston Photography: 16mm, b&w23 Richard Leiterman Sound: Christian Wangler Editing: Peter Moseley Music: C. Cardew Cast: Richard Gardner, Richard Suskind, Ginette Suskind, Mili Newbury, Gisella Klapdor Great Escape Allan King 1965? Unknown; JT: 216 [not found as film in SF, or ‘March [1965?] had seen Cardew on http://allankingfilms. back in London to provide com/ ] music for the Canadian director Allan King’s filmGreat Escape, for which he received a fee of £150. The experience prompted the following thought, jotted down in pencil and undated on a scrap paper: ‘What sound does the film-director hear in his mind when – watching the fine-cut of the film he is making – he suddenly cries ‘Music’ at a particular point?’ [JT: 204]

22 One wonders whether this information, obtained from SF, should read ‘screenplay’ instead. 23 From http://allankingfilms.com/ -> The Collection -> Running Away Backwards, last accessed 25/5/2010.

14 eBLJ 2013, Article 4 Cornelius Cardew’s Music for Moving Images: Some Preliminary Observations

24The Girl who written by Peter Everett 1965 unknown Loved Robots and directed by Brian Parker. letter from Peter Everett to John Wednesday Play, Tilbury (30th March 1992) BBC TV, 1965 Kenith Trodd (play producer) and Mark Shivas were involved; BBC Written Archives, email by Trish Hayes, 2/6/2010: ‘Cornelius Cardew composed incidental music (untitled and unpublished) for the Wednesday Play: The Girl Who Loved Robots, televised on the 20th October 1965. 18 minutes of music was composed, of which 15 minutes 20 seconds was used in the play. It was written for two pianos and Cardew performed and recorded the music, with John Tilbury at the other piano. He was paid 7 guineas a minute for the 18 minutes composed. There is some correspondence between Cardew and director Brian Parker in the production file.’ There is more information in a file at the Archives in Caversham: T5/1,437/1. Why Dentistry? Director: Terence 1966 unknown Macartney-Filgate http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/ Production Company: title/76562?view=credit, last Allan King Associates accessed 21/6/2010. Sponsor: General Dental Council Script: Colin H. Davis Photography: William Brayne Editor: Patricia Holland Music: C. Cardew Commentator: A. S. Prophet Warrendale, Director: Allan King 1967 unknown 100 min., b&w, ‘[…] commission for some 16mm. music, with AMM, for Allan King’s film, Warrendale, which was recorded on 20 October but was not used. In fact, no music was used’ (JT 216).

24 Uncatalogued and unindexed letters at BL, Misc. Cardew Correspondence, Box 1 (status as of June 2010).

15 eBLJ 2013, Article 4 Cornelius Cardew’s Music for Moving Images: Some Preliminary Observations

25Who is Oscar Director: William Brayne 1969 unknown Niemeyer? Production Company: ‘A survey of the work of Allan King Associates the brazilian [sic] architect, Script: Mark Peploe concentrating on Brasilia and Photograph: William the earlier ‘New Town’ Suburb Brayne of Rio-Bel Horizonte. Neimeyer Editor: Patricia Holland [sic] outlines his personal Music: C. Cardew philosophy and aesthetic ideas Sound: Ivan Sharrock and discusses the problems he experienced as a communist working for regimes at odds with his own beliefs. Made in 1969’ (from http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/ sift/title/110609, last accessed 28/6/2010) A Search for Actor: Max von Sydow 1971 BL, Add. MS. 70759 Strindberg Sugar Director: Michael Radford 1976 BL, Add. MS. 70760 Production Company: Scenario for film held at BL, James Archibald & Add. MS. 70760, ff. 1-10, Associates music held at BL, Add. MS. Sponsor: Tate & Lyle 70760, ff. ff. 30-60. Pencil score. Producer: James Archibald (This manuscript also includes Photography: Clive sketches.) Tickner ‘The story of the production of Editor: Gregory Harris cane sugar – from cultivation through raw sugar production to refining, packing and delivery’ (from http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/ sift/title/361611, last accessed 20/6/2010).

On title page of pencil score: Instruments: 1 flute, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, ’cello and 2 percussionists (Glockenspiel,Vibes)

25 From http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/110609?view=credit ; last accessed 28/6/2010; site lists film title as ‘Who is Oscar Neimeyer [sic]?’.

16 eBLJ 2013, Article 4