ENGLISH DEUTSCH FRANÇAIS , de facto rge, mobile rge, was composed a nd l i itch tones. e p id beh no, a large Chinese cymbal Chinese no, a large ngl i a i nd h Imaginary Landscape No. 1 Imaginary No. Landscape equency tones records, one of sliding apes backdrop to, a black set against in sh by Paul Cox Paul by ish’s “Hilarious Dance Concert” March in Dance “Hilarious ish’s c laboratory where Cage created and c laboratory i Imaginary Landscape No. 1 Imaginary Landscape No. The Cornish radio studio radio served as The Cornish ny a rather curious dance about dismember- curious dance ny a rather ctor fr ack i a nd the other of s considered one of the first electro-acoustic considered one of the first score Cage’s America. works composed in calls for muted p and two variable-speed turntables playing playing turntables two variable-speed and V a mus broadcast the debuted and on Bird by Bonnie for a dance Corn perfor- about the first striking is What 1939. the was performed in the music that is mance studio, radio then broadcast to the Cornish theatre next where it was used to accom- door, p Cunning- Merce ment. The nineteen-year-old that of the troupe of dancers was part ham moved among a bl discovery of new sounds. Cage found an ideal found an sounds. Cage of new discovery and percussion interest in for his incubator Seattle, in School at the Cornish electronics where accompa- he worked as composer and to a access With program. for the dance nist and instruments of percussion collection large “Imagi- first studio,a radio created Cage his he reservedfor works a title Landscape,” nary technology. electronic using Im- — Cage John ., who built a ., who built is experimental is ng h ri i (1942) and the five the five and (1942) n he calls for the cre- sp n ei , period in capture a crucial s living room lamp. Cage room lamp. s living , John Cage, Sr aboratories to promote the to promote aboratories ly’ nd radios, a vast array of new a vast array nd radios, cal l i o,” wher Credo in Us nventor ectro-acoustic music in America. in ectro-acoustic music ed l s father for i i aphs a nto the fami c: Cr its h i Cage declares his interest in new electronic interest in his Cage declares “It’s not a physical landscape. It’s a term It’s landscape. not a physical “It’s the pioneer- of age during John Cage came ed nd for expanding the boundaries of what was of what the boundaries nd for expanding Cage’s development as he established the found- ation of e aginary Landscapes Cage’s Credo: The Discovery of Discovery The Credo: Cage’s of Sound Imaginary Landscapes New sounds in his 1940 manifesto, “The Future of manifesto, 1940 his sounds in Mus reserved for the new technologies. It’s a land- It’s the new technologies. for reserved used you as though future. It’s scape in the go off the ground and to take you technology the looking glass.” like Alice through the 1920s. in technology of electronic era ing of the fidelity improving inventions new With phonogr voices, sounds and music entered the American home. As a boy, Cage witnessed father, through his new technology of this theings inner work- the noted i cr ation of mus radio that ran on alternating current plug- and on alternating ran that radio ged i approach to composition; an approach charac- approach an composition; to approach quest obsessive terized by an sounds for new a acceptable in music. this in The works included recording, 4:26 6:49 4:29 ) 951 1 (1942) (1942) ( 6:52 4:06 3:07 3:09 ch No. 2” ch No. 939) 1 ( (1942) (1952) (1952) . 4, “Mar . 1 Percussion Group Cincinnati Group Percussion , James Culley, conductor , James Culley, 15:00 12:58 (1942) (1942) JOHN CAGE: The Works for Percussion 1 Percussion for Works The CAGE: JOHN ecordings of Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No.3, Amsterdam Concertgebouw Symphony No.3, Amsterdam of Ludwig van Beethoven: ecordings Y LANDSCAPE No Y LANDSCAPE No 1837-A ercussion Ensemble GINAR GINAR A Victor 1 SECOND VERSION CCM P for 12 radios.VERSION FIRST 12 for conductor Ensemble,Percussion CCM James Culley, for percussion quartet (including piano and radio or phonograph. FIRST VERSION FIRST percussion quartetfor or phonograph. (including piano and radio Bernstein Philharmonic/Leonard York Symphony No.5, New With DimitriShostakovich: DSCH-Publishers.Published by Columbia ML 5445 (LP) IMAGINARY LANDSCAPE No. 5 No. LANDSCAPE IMAGINARY CREDO IN US IMA IMAGINARY LANDSCAPE No. 2, “March No. 1” 1” No. 2, “March No. LANDSCAPE IMAGINARY 3 No. LANDSCAPE IMAGINARY IMA IMAGINARY LANDSCAPE No. 5 LANDSCAPE No. IMAGINARY 2” No. 4, “March LANDSCAPE No. IMAGINARY CREDO IN US CREDO SECOND VERSION, using recordings of Cage’s music. Michael Realization by Barnhart of Cage’s recordings using VERSION, SECOND for 2 variable-speedfor turntables, frequency piano and cymbal, recordings, muted Hassel With Joey Van broadcast. or as a recording to be performed Hawkins, percussion sextet. With Matthew for Mark Katsaounis, Jacent Mraz for any 42 recordings, score to be realized as a magnetic tape as a magnetic realized to be score any 42 recordings, for using period MichaelVERSION, FIRST Realization by jazz records. Barnhart for percussion quintet for Orchestra/Willem Mengelberg, Capitol EFL-2502. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.4, Capitol EFL-2502. Pyotr Ilyich Mengelberg, Tchaikovsky: Orchestra/Willem Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra/Dimitri Mitropoulos,Wagner: M-468. Richard Columbia Lohengrin, Symphony Orchestra/Frederick to Act III, Chicago Stock, Prelude RCA Victor 7386-B. von Suppe: Light CavalryFranz Overture, BBC Symphony Orchestra/Adrian Boult, RC SECOND VERSION With 78-rpm r 8. 9. 7. 5. 6. 4. 2. 3. 1. part, create the illusion of floating body parts. tact microphone. For the coil, Cage suggested World War came along, I talked to myself, what made by Merce Cunningham and Jean Erdman Bird explained: “I discovered I could do things to the Group using an amplified Slinky ® (yes, do I think of the Second World War? Well, I (both members of the Martha Graham Dance like create a body that covered the whole the toy also known as the “original walking think it’s lousy. So I wrote a piece, Imaginary Company at the time), which was premiered stage… . You would see a head, Merce’s head, spring toy”); they create sounds ranging from Landscape No. 3, which is perfectly hideous.” on a program of works by young choreogra- ENGLISH way up, and then sliding down the side while rumbling thunder to explosions by striking or To depict this dark mood, Cage uses a bat- phers at the Bennington School of Dance in two sets of legs walked down the stage. It was stroking it with different materials, like a finger- tery of extra large tin cans and muted gongs August 1942. Subsequently performed in New fascinating. And I would have the rectangle nail or cloth. Other instruments include gradu- combined with an expanded electronic sound York City and Chicago, Credo marked the start interrupt the two, and they’d skitter away. Or ated tin cans, conch shell, ratchet, bass drum, palette using an oscillator, variable speed of Cage and Cunningham’s life-long collabora- you’d see only hands moving in space.” buzzer, water gong, metal wastebasket and a turntables (again playing frequency record- tion. As a dance-drama, a genre popularized Cage’s electro-acoustic score served as an lion’s roar. ings), a buzzer, amplified coil and amplified by Graham during the 1930s that combined ideal backdrop for Bird’s experiment in move- The designation “March” is ironic, perhaps marímbula (a Caribbean instrument with metal narration with dance, Credo departed from ment. By broadcasting his mix of electronic a reflection of Cage’s ambivalent feelings about tongues that are plucked, attached to a reso- Graham’s tidy narratives based on myths and and acoustic sounds, Cage created his own World War II. After a loud cacophonous intro- nant box). The work opens with a massive per- patriotic themes. Inspired instead by James disembodied soundscape — an ideal accom- duction, Cage teasingly introduces a quiet cussion and electronic noise texture followed Joyce, Dada, surrealism, and popular radio paniment for the macabre (yet humorous) march rhythm played on a tin can. This dra- by an eerie descending drone (using a record- dramas, their work explored the nuances and theme of the dance. matic contrast in dynamics, particularly the ing of an electric generator’s whine) sounding shadowy recesses of everyday life. DEUTSCH There are two versions of the Imaginary use of quiet sounds, are key elements of like an airplane about to crash. Cage returns The drama’s setting is “Westward Ho!” Landscape No. 2. The first, composed in 1940 Cage’s wartime works, as he describes in his to the electro-percussion texture in the final and takes place over “three generations.” It is for another dance (about trees) by Bird, was “Lecture on Nothing:” “Half intellectually and section, which concludes with an explosive a satire on the sterile conventions of American later withdrawn. The second, a quintet written half sentimentally, when the war came along, sound created striking the amplified coil. The middle-class life told through the perspective in 1942 for Lou Harrison’s percussion ensem- I decided to use only quiet sounds. There overall effect is, as Cage intended, one of of a feuding married couple, the doubly ble in San Francisco, was later re-titled Imagi- seemed to be no truth, no good, in anything impending destruction. named “Wife/Ghoul’s Rage” and “Husband/ nary Landscape No. 2,“March”. Since many big in society. But quiet sounds were like lone- The association of sound with ideas and Shadow.” Erdman recalled that the names of Cage’s percussion works were written for a liness, or love or friendship.” Conversely, loud feelings is central to Cage’s “intentionally ex- served as a point of departure for the dance combination of amateur and experienced per- sounds for Cage signified destruction and the pressive” wartime works. He describes this and signified the characters’ public and psy- cussionists, the parts vary widely in difficulty. actions of large institutions, like governments heightened expressiveness in a catalog of his chological personas. This duality is also pre- On this recording, the Group performs all five and corporations. music that includes descriptions of the lyrical sent in the title, which Cage described in an parts with ease, in part by using specially cre- In contrast to the irony of the second prepared-piano works, like In the Name of the interview as a double entendre meaning both FRANÇAIS ated instruments (see DVD). Landscape, the Imaginary Landscape No. 3, Holocaust (1942) and The Perilous Night (1943- (“Credo”) I believe in the U.S. (United States) Composed in Chicago in April 1942, the written shortly before the second in February 44), as well as ensemble works like Credo in and I believe in us (you and me). For all three second Landscape uses two “electric” ele- 1942, is a more direct expression of Cage’s Us, one of Cage’s most popular works from collaborators, Credo was meant as a serious ments: a doorbell buzzer, and a coil of wire feelings about the war, which he later de- this period. critique of bourgeois prudishness and, more amplified using a phonograph needle as a con- scribed in an interview: “When the Second Credo in Us was composed for a dance broadly, the American myths of manifest des- ENGLISH DEUTSCH FRANÇAIS , - I Ching eparate Landscape ght s that he not that Imaginary Land n the back of a caveat . experience the piece at the Imaginary Landscape Imaginary Landscape een go i to agments onto ei 4'33'' ute silence for apparently no for apparently ute silence l way were made in the 1990s at the be- were the 1990s made in ted fr t realizations of t realizations rs as ave ever s other , for a dance by Erdman titled “Portrait “Portrait titled by Erdman , for a dance e… it had to have this enormous sound, this to have e… it had nd p no Cage’s directions for the fifth for the fifth directions Cage’s Also in 1951, Cage created his first work first Cage created his 1951, Also in “My fi ng I h i er and speaker system, and it was the biggest it was the system, speaker and er and ad eason.” tracks. The resulting collage, Erdman recalled, Erdman collage, The resulting tracks. was loud: “He made me rent the hugest ampli- fi th theatr drums. And then there ear he just about split would be abso r of a Lady.” The work came about after Erdman about after The work came of a Lady.” ideas for Cage by im- her initial demonstrated records. to jazz she finished, When provising records.to borrow her forty-plus Cage asked with the She consented for magnetic tape, tape, for magnetic the records break he transferred them. Instead of then, with the help and to magnetic tape, of the the guidance and Tudor David style. open to any of music the choice leave who created the Barnhart, Composer Michael recording, describes on this two realizations of working: process his evening of ’modernism.’” For much of the For much of ’modernism.’” evening a quiet the audience 4’40” in sat haze work’s of sound — next to his prelude a possible “absurd” work, cut a scape No. 5 No. 5 No. hest of Allen Otte for the simple reason that we reason that Otte for the simple hest of Allen h lve n ch is i fter a ayers at l nuity of wh , each of the twe ng sounds a i eas l master chart, which corre- which master chart, Landscape ition the conti th I Ching ); each hexagram refers to a specific ); each hexagram rt.” thur Berger noted “the wordthur Berger ’Korea’ re- cal compos i In the four The discipline and time required to create and The discipline lumbia University one evening in May 1951. in one evening University lumbia adios is “played” by two players, one to change c Ar Co of new on a long program last Appearing the performers turned on the radios music, midnightnear — stations when many a time air gone off the had — mostly static leaving a few tidbits of sound. The composer-crit- and i greeted bits of a Mozartcurred, applause and came as a balm to lis- concerto, which violin teners eager for such p field in the in field r timbre. and frequency the other volume and p Cage conducted the twenty-four sponds to the same field in Cage’s sound chart, Cage’s in same field sponds to the found. is where the answer of not thousands the hundreds and if the charts tosses needed to determine even single coin to contemplate. staggering is of music minute these works was “to make a goal in Cage’s mus fields for silence and the rest the frequen- and for radio for silence fields Cage were charts the Once complete, cies. questions,asked should there be sound or the moment? Determining at a specific silence times six three coins required tossing answer the in found (pictograms a hexagram to build I Ching free of individual taste and memory (psycholo- free and taste of individual of ’traditions’ and of the literature also gy) and the a lve and for twe structed) , the Chinese ng. i d e-con can never be heard can nd the fourth and a I Ching ecor nd r s r i Credo nce works, Cage created a on th etz Suzuki. In his 1948 lecture, 1948 etz In his Suzuki. s tructed (a s Credo in Us y Landscape No. 4 No. y Landscape ai Imaginary Landscape No. 4 Imaginary Landscape No. er’s Confessions,” Cage announced Confessions,” er’s eate the ch e con ginar r a ding to chance procedures. In recogni- procedures. to chance ding o cr Landscapes Ima Cage’s random use of the radio and phono- and use radio of the random Cage’s T Both the sm with D i ance allow for an infinite array of outcomes of array infinite for an allow ance fth ions each of ions n performance, the Group includes two ver- the Group includes n performance, much larger picture. larger much inde- into forays earliest one of his mark graph to the performer control By ceding terminacy. record and sounds samples, radio the to select that Cage guarantees “Book of Changes.” Thus, the sound chart for Thus, the sound chart “Book of Changes.” the radios resembles a spreadsheet resembles with thirty-two radios accor and both indeterminacy tion of the fact that ch i s fi detailed charts (listing sounds, dynamics, (listing charts detailed square rhythms, etc.) based on the sixty-four the master found in chart the same way twice in live performance. live in twice the same way had part Cage in Through indeterminacy, from own intention to removefound a way his he devel- however, decadethe work. A later, oped a more effective method of ego removal procedureswith the adoption chance of — a study of Zen Bud- by his informed process dh No. 5 “A Compos future:for the near works two “absurd” chance for twelve a composition and piece a silent radios. - nce- nal da gi on this disc specifi- disc on this , though Erdman , though gnal the way Ameri i Credo uding a cowboy song, uding Minotaure ncl -French constructions. He -French constructions. es, i only to provide a satiric tone for to provide a satiric only faux c tone. In the ori ife’s flashbacks to memories of an to memories flashbacks ife’s ri d classical music as representing the music d classical r ama, but also to s s sati cal genr i d on the phonograph (or radio), but rather (or radio), d on the phonograph

˘ák, Beethoven, Sibelius or Shostakovich, ˘ák, Beethoven, Sibelius r Cage’s score for piano (sometimes muted Cunningham’s scenario and script are full are script and scenario Cunningham’s s hea

n ealized past with her husband past ealized — the samples ama, the phonograph samples are used only samples ama, the phonograph

n “Indian” tom-tom rhythm, and a boogie- tom-tom rhythm, and n “Indian” two performances of two performances ca past, Including high-culture. world, and the old function not cally the W id the dr to accompany moments of nostalgia, specifi- of nostalgia, moments to accompany dr hea a in artifacts these arbitrary items are that not a music particular on any commentary cally addresses the issue that Cage’s is intent

work’ Dvor add to the etc.”playedphonograph on a sounds and samples of “classical” recordings, of “classical” samples sounds and “ woogie for piano. In addition, random radio In addition, random woogie for piano. a mu-s both radio and phonograph juxtaposes diversejuxtaposes phonograph and both radio by hand), tin cans, buzzer, muted gongs, and muted gongs, buzzer, cans, tin by hand),

Rage Motto And la vie bid them well to use it.” them well vie bid And la Rage Motto the satiric tone, “But Credo Ghoul’s US was in the satiric written into Cage’s manuscript score, manuscript captures Cage’s written into the author. The final line of the script, hand- line The final the author. later revealed that Cunningham himself was himself Cunningham that revealed later

Surrealist journal Surrealist claimed that the script was drawn from the from was drawn the script that claimed

of puns and and of puns tiny and unbounded technological progress. progress. unbounded and technological tiny

ENGLISH DEUTSCH FRANÇAIS , founded in c From i eated by Cage am “Mus ieces cr rogr ncinnati. ncinnati. s in Europe and in Ameri- in Europe and s in r p c of John Cage, having made c of John Cage, having ion i ad p . ccas ng h s particularly respected for its s particularly ists with symphony orchestras, and with symphony orchestras, ists avi tivals, concert halls and schools of schools tivals, concert and halls ented thei lo ion Group Ci nd festival appearances with him on a on with him nd festival appearances es r nnati i nd h i Percussion Group Cincinnati Group Percussion cuss to so nc the BMG Archive. BMG Archive. the these are also used records, in which for supplying Landscape No. 3 Landscape nge of the mus as p ities, fes a 2. The original RCA Victor recording files are held by held are recording files Victor RCA The original 2. Kurt and Nauck Beardsley indebted to Roger are We 3. Scratch” to tens of thousands of children of thousands to tens Scratch” Group across North Percussion America. Ci experience with the entire of and knowledge r tours a number of o ca, a h 1979, consists of members Allen Otte, James of members Allen consists 1979, are fac- all of whom Burge, Russell and Culley, at ensemble-in-residence and members ulty of the Uni- of Music the College-Conservatory appeared have They Cincinnati. of versity the major in internationally nationally and c addition In to Asia. Europe, and America, concerts, master- and community workshops, as con- appears the Group regularly classes, cer especially for the Group. Over the past 30 Group. Over the past for the especially young composers from the United many years, Asia and Europe, Africa, America, Latin States, often body of new and created a large have of talents for the unique music experimental Per -rpm — 3 ⁄ 1 Landscape . Each player . Each 3 er has found that er has eate ll ecr a Mi t ained these from Ralph Gundlach. ained nd, though Le a e and somewhat playful performance. playful somewhat e and as it was heard in 1939. Cage’s auto- Cage’s 1939. in as it was heard ds on h ch was equally influenced by Cage’s spirit- by Cage’s ch was equally influenced Our objective was to r i ecor tup, albeit for two-channel stereo: One mic two-channel tup, albeit for Cage actually obt of Bonnie husband was the psychologist (Gundlach modern program.) dance of Cornish’s director Bird, formance/recording, frequency undoubtedly had test r at were later deleted for the Peters edition, deleted at were later e according to notations in the score, and player the score, and in according to notations by raising as indicated, rhythms one produces the lowering and stylus. recorded We the piece which RCA 44-BX microphones, two using live of the original approximation in were placed s cymbal; the Chinese and covers the piano of the turntab- up the performance other picks used a We a studio speaker. monitor via lists, of the playback reduction in of noise minimum the tones. records, muddying to avoid graph score, which includes some notations includes score, which graph th for our interpretation, servedas the basis wh ed, loos one of the disk, survives on a transcription This recorded of his works. earliest switches speed — 33 between 78 and No. 1 FOOTNOTES: per- studio, of the 1939 radio site School Cornish The 1. 1,000 cycle and 200 cycle tracks used turn- by tracks cycle 200 and cycle 1,000 the same two spins player one; player table Frequency Record Cage used (Victor that disk at key fre- signal buzzer with its odd 84522-A) slow glissando its in quencies 1 e numbers uency of each eq was the first was the first ; thes nd fr iece. , giving us detailed , giving 2 e of the p red. Landscape No. 1 ized live electronic work, a proto- work, electronic ized live ui ng gnatur eal eq i escending frequencies, or a single, frequencies, escending ned either a selection of discrete tracks ned either a selection isks were used for checking the frequen- were used for checking isks d r ai In the present recording, Brunswick and In the present recording, Brunswick Those tools wereThose 78-rpm test tools tone records maginary Landscape No. 1 maginary Landscape fully r ecor nformation on the type a they have heard ’noise,’ but will then hear hear then will but ’noise,’ heard have they life.” everyday their in beauty unsuspected between life, artboundary the and By blurring everyday even hear we would Cage hoped train or a passing fan, buzzing a traffic, noises, to be waiting landscape as a vast imaginary discovered. i I score catalogue includes Cage’s Fortuitously, he used in disks numbers for the RCA Victor performi Imaginary Landscape No. 1 No. Imaginary Landscape Eric (on DVDby Levin only) were easily referencedwere easily HMV 78-rpm disks supply, respectively, the respectively, supply, HMV 78-rpm disks r concrete admixture of the familiar (piano and (piano concrete of the familiar admixture (electronic the alien cymbal) and Chinese tones). Cage composed it expressly for perfor- the sonic studio utilized a radio and in mance there he found the distinctive to form that tools sound s phono turntables. on variable-speed played The d cy response of audio typically equipment, and cont with d of slowly descending pitch. unbroken track c i ng our i atory works, son lor e goal of open e’s Cage releases, on Cage releases, e’s e exp r s one theme that runs through runs s one theme that trospective” version wherein Cage wherein trospective” version e i ection of Mod e ll

If ther

ge co

ner into which disparate musics could be musics disparate which ner into r

rchival CDs, reel-to-reels, cassettes. CDs, reel-to-reels, These rchival emixes Cage. It is particularly striking to me striking particularly Cage. It is emixes ai a new sounds. They a in computer audio mixing software.” computer audio mixing in quest for unrelenting Cage’s these works it is saged the type of graphic interface now found interface saged the type of graphic how accurately the look of Cage’s score pre- of Cage’s the look how accurately tional “r provided a rich field of material for an addi- an for of material field provided a rich r experiments with a nobl a the group’s recorded of Cagethe group’s performances — both LP and CD, but also the entire history of history CD, but also the entire both LP and

noted: “People may leave my concerts thinking may leave noted: “People ears to the remarkable sounds around us. Cage us. sounds around to the remarkable ears

l with a suitcase (literally) filled with not only a with not only filled with a suitcase (literally) Cage at the time, I was thrilled to be presented Cage at the time, I was thrilled jazz records that would have been available to available been jazz records would have that After producing the “authentic” version using version the “authentic” After producing t admixtures. unique to produce introduced think of the piece as a sort of alchemical con- as a sort of the piece of alchemical think template on my computer, I gradually came to I gradually computer, on my template With the editing operations converted a into operations the editing With records. So, a decade it again. realized I later surface sounds, clicks and pops of vinyl pops and clicks surface sounds, an important timbral element timbral important an — the inherent templation suggested that we might be missing might we suggested that templation samples taken from compact discs) from compact taken samples further con- Paul Lansky’s RT software to mix and attenuate and mix software to RT Paul Lansky’s we were delighted with the results (I had used resultswith the (I had werewe delighted time and were quite and time Though it. about curious