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Understanding Indeterminate Music through Performance: Cage's Solo for Piano

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2013

PHILIP THOMAS
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Abstract

This article demonstrates how performance may further understanding of – and offer new perspectives on – indeterminate music, and in particular the ways in which performers realize the indeterminate aspects of the scores. Cage's Solo for Piano (1957–8), one of the most celebrated indeterminate scores, is used as the model for such an approach. The close involvement that performers have with the score and the music over what is often a prolonged period of time leads to a particular kind of understanding, different from that of non-performers, which, when articulated, can offer valuable insights. After a brief outline of the score, the article begins by discussing the performances of other pianists, notably David Tudor. It then examines in detail the author's own approach to making a realization, discussing the implications of such an approach from both practical and aesthetic perspectives.

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Articles
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Twentieth-Century Music , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , March 2013 , pp. 91 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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References

Discography (in order of date of recording)

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Danuser, 1971. Concert for Piano and Orchestra with Solo for Voice 1 and Solo for Voice 2. Hermann Danuser (piano), Bell Imhoff, Doris Sandrock (voices), Ensemble Musica Negativa, cond. Rainer Riehn. CD, EMI 2 344542 0, 2008.Google Scholar
Kubera, 1992. Concert for Piano and Orchestra. Joseph Kubera (piano), Orchestra of the SEM Ensemble, cond. Petr Kotík. CD, Wergo WER6216-2, 1992.Google Scholar
Schroeder, 1992. Concert for Piano and Orchestra. Marianne Schroeder (piano). The Barton Workshop Plays John Cage. CD, Etcetera KTC 3002, 1992.Google Scholar
Tudor, 1992. Concert for Piano and Orchestra. David Tudor (piano), Ensemble Modern, cond. Ingo Metzmacher. CD, Mode Records MODE57, 1997.Google Scholar
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