From owner-silence-digest@mail2.realtime.net Mon Jul 13 09:49:29 1998 Received: from mail2.realtime.net (mail2.realtime.net [205.238.128.216]) by mail.cyberwerks.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id JAA14878 for ; Mon, 13 Jul 1998 09:49:22 -0700 Received: (qmail 12892 invoked by alias); 13 Jul 1998 16:43:12 -0000 Delivered-To: silence-digest-outgoing@mail2.realtime.net Received: (qmail 12888 invoked by uid 201); 13 Jul 1998 16:43:12 -0000 Date: 13 Jul 1998 16:43:12 -0000 Message-ID: <19980713164312.13172.qmail@mail2.realtime.net> From: owner-silence-digest@mail2.realtime.net (silence-digest) To: silence-digest@lists.realtime.net Subject: silence-digest V1 #245 Reply-To: silence@mail2.realtime.net Sender: owner-silence-digest@mail2.realtime.net Errors-To: owner-silence-digest@mail2.realtime.net Precedence: bulk Status: O silence-digest Monday, July 13 1998 Volume 01 : Number 245 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 09:51:42 -0700 From: Anomalous Records Subject: Re: Cage and recordings An interesting point about the 25-Year Retrospective 3 CD is that the performances are apparently quite awful. Malcolm Goldstein was quick to point out how many of the players were just playing whatever and not really following the score and that these recordings are really representative of what Cage actually wanted them to sound like. As there are a variety of performers featured there, I imagine it doesn't apply towards the whole disc. Also, "Five Stone Wind" / "Cartridge Music" is on Mode, not New Albion. Eric Lanzillotta Anomalous Records P.O. Box 22195, Seattle, WA 98122-0195, USA telephone: (206) 328-9339 fax: (206) 328-9408 - - [Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/] [How to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt/Cage/] [ or email majordomo@lists.realtime.net with the text "info silence" ] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 14:21:30 +0000 From: "John P. Giunta" Subject: Re: Cage and recordings Hello, > [...] Malcolm Goldstein was quick to > point out how many of the players were just playing whatever and not really > following the score and that these recordings are really representative of > what Cage actually wanted them to sound like. I've rehearsed with groups doing music of this type when at least one musician would be playing "whatever" and winked about it. I guess if John Cage thought the sound was what he wanted, so be it, but that's a hell of a way to run a composition and performance effort. [I've been off the 'net for awhile. Nice to read your posts once again.} J. John Giunta Spiritual Voyager Teacher of yoga and meditation Multi-Instrumentalist and performance artist Calligrapher Observer of Human Nature days: (703) 993-2236, studio voice mail: (703) 281-5498 "Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes." --Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself" "When it is a case of mastering life, we must listen for life's secrets. These lie behind the sense-perceptible." --Rudolph Steiner, _The Four Temperaments_ - - [Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/] [How to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt/Cage/] [ or email majordomo@lists.realtime.net with the text "info silence" ] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jul 1998 12:02:18 -0400 From: "Douglas Cohen" Subject: RE: Cage and recordings > Malcolm Goldstein was quick to > point out how many of the players were just playing whatever and not really > following the score This reference is largely focused on the "Concert," which Cage often pointed out in his lectures ("Indeterminacy" for example) was not taken seriously by many of the performers even though he had worked with them individually to discover which extended techniques they were capable of and liked to play. It's also clear that Cage was not happy with their resulting performance. It is an historically important performance, however, and heard in context with Cage's comments, very educational. The smaller ensemble works on the concert were often well played by the performers they were composed for. The 25 Year Retrospective Concert CD is a live recording of a concert which took place in the 1950s, so naturally it has sonic limitations. Still, I echo Matthew in suggesting that this is a good place to start when coming to Cage's music for the first time. For a good overall introduction to Cage I would add the Folkways recording of "Indeterminacy" as an example of Cage performing one of his lectures and the Cage book "Silence" as an introduction to writings and the history of his music. - - [Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/] [How to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt/Cage/] [ or email majordomo@lists.realtime.net with the text "info silence" ] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jul 1998 12:12:57 -0400 From: "Douglas Cohen" Subject: RE: Cage and recordings - Clarification Just to clarify for anyone new to Cage, the "Concert" is a specific composition (namely the "Concert for Piano and Orchestra") featured on the CD of "The 25-Year Retrospective Concert of the Music of John Cage." - - [Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/] [How to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt/Cage/] [ or email majordomo@lists.realtime.net with the text "info silence" ] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jul 1998 11:10:39 -0500 From: "Ronsen, Josh" Subject: Cage refs in The Living Theatre The following quotes are from "The Living Theater" by John Tytell (Grove Press, 1995), about Judith Malina and Julian Beck's life and theater group. I can never help reading a book index first... "One of the artists Judith wanted to attract to her chamber theatre was John Cage, whom she had seen playing piano with his elbows early in May [1951?] and then conducting a piece for 12 radios. 48 years old, mercurial but soft-spoken, Cage was a genuine innovator who had introduced chance elements into his work as a principle of musical composition. Cage argued that harmony, the unifying structural principle of classical music, had been replaced by the variable time lengths of Anton Webern and Erik Satie. Contemporary music was simply sound without any hierarchy. Squealing auto brakes, for example, were as valid a source for musical composition as the violin, and the musical revolution Cage suggested would come to incorporate street sounds. Judith met Cage again in the middle of May at a downtown art show. ... Cage told her how he had come to New York in 1943 to stay with Peggy Guggenheim, who abruptly rejected him when she discovered he was planning to give a concert at MOMA instead of Art of This Century. Guggenheim's rejection of Cage, similar to her treatment of Julian, had been a sexual motivation, and this was another link between Cage and the Becks." - pg 68-69 "At the end of September, they visited Cage and Cunningham who had expressed an interest in sharing a place that could be used for concerts and dance recitals. Gracious, unassuming, the two men lived in a large white room, bare except for matting, a marble slab on the floor for a table, and long strips of foam rubber on the walls for seating. The environment reflected their minimalist aesthetic. Cage proposed to stage a piece by Satie that consisted of 840 repetitions of a one-minute composition. He advised them not to rely on newspaper advertising, but to use instead men with placards on tall stilts and others with drums." - -pg 72 "She had been introduced to the I Ching by John Cage one night in the San Remo." -pg 84 "Cage, Lou Harrison, Remy Charlip, and Goodman had all tried to persuade Judith and Julian to come to Black Mountain, but at that point they had already rented the Cherry Lane. They had wanted to extend the boundaries of poetic and experimental theatre while at the Cherry Lane, and to some extent, they exceeded; but the really giant step had been taken by Cage. ... Early in July 1952, Cage performed a series of his sonatas and interludes in a large tent. Charlip had printed programs on tiny pieces of toilet paper and placed these programs on a table next to the entrance. Also on the table was a large bowl of tobacco. During the concert, the audience was invited to roll cigarettes with this tobacco, using their programs as cigarette papers. ... Near the end of the summer, Cage conceived a theatre piece where each performer was assigned a time bracket determined by chance... Cage read a lecture on Zen, then the Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence... [more description of Black Mountain happening] While Goodman's reports of Cage's accomplishments at Black Mountain fascinated Judith, they were also a bit depressing in light of the failure at the Cherry Lane." -pg 87-88 "A week later, they were in Hoboken with Cage, Cunningham, and Paul Goodman watching experimental films to the mournful music of Hudson River foghorns. The evening led to an invitation for Julian to play a bartender in a scene set in a Brooklyn waterfront gay bar, which was shot at the end of February by a drunken Maya Deren." - pg 93 "the only person Judith admitted caring about was John Cage, "mad and unquenchable" with his "hearty, heartless grin." With Julian, she visited Cage in Stoney Point in the Hudson Valley. ... Julian thought Cage was the "chain breaker among the shackled who love the sound of their chains." Cage collected wild mushrooms, which Julian interpreted as a tribute to his reliance on chance as much as to his exquisite taste. ... [Paul] Williams wanted to help them find a new location that Cage and Cunningham could share with The Living Theatre." -pg 121 "In the middle of 1957, they saw Cunningham dance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music to Cage's music. At a party afterward, C&C laughed all night like "two mischievous kids who had succeeded in some tremendous boyish escapade."" -pg 125 "[they] visited Cage in Stoney Point, where they made strawberry jam and gathered mint, wild watercress, and asparagus for dinner. Feeling a surge of confidence in his own writing, he gave Cage a group of poems to set to music." -pg 128 "With Judith, Julian, Cunningham, and Paul Williams, John Cage drove from "columned loft to aerie garage" in his Volkswagen bus, smiling despite the traffic and the fact that their search was now in its 4th month. Finally, they found an abandoned building, formally a department store on 14th st and 6th ave, which Williams declare would be suitable for sharing as a theatre and dance space." - pg 129 "Early in December, with Cage's assistance, [Cunningham] moved some of his backdrops into the space. Cage brought with him a variety of percussion instruments--he owned more than 300 at that time--which he donated to the theatre. Julian thought there was a distance about Cage that prevented intimacy and the fullest communication, but he felt Cage's gift was a real sign of the artistic support that would be crucial to the success of The Living Theatre." -pg 140 "One afternoon, Judith and Julian watched their friend John Cage performing on "I've Got a Secret," an inane television program. With a Waring blender full of ice cubes in front of him, a vase with roses, a grand piano with 5 radios on it, and a bath full of water, Cage began wildly striking the piano, drinking a soda, lowering a ringing gong into the bath, and pushing the radios off the piano. It was outrageous and absurd, Julian thought." -pg 163 So far, I've just started reading the book. I've never heard of Judith Malina or Julian Beck or The Living Theatre, but I am interested in experimental theater, especially the obstacles facing setting up long-term performance situations. And plus the book was on sale… Completely off-topic, my comrades Michael Northam and John Grzinich will be in Europe doing performances as ERG from August through December. They will be in Austria, France, Ireland and elsewhere performing their new electroacoustic work "journeythroughsolids." If you want more information, or can offer any assistance or performance opportunities, please contact Michael at . I have performed with ERG in the past and I appear on the new MSBR/ERG/Das Synthetische Mischgewebe collaboration CD: their work produces rich and organic soundscapes out of recordings and found objects. - -Josh Ronsen jronsen@timcmortgage.com http://www.nd.org/jronsen - - [Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/] [How to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt/Cage/] [ or email majordomo@lists.realtime.net with the text "info silence" ] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 14:02:35 +0300 From: dd Subject: Announcement A new net artwork by Dimos Dimitriou. "OPEN" URL http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/addfield/open.htm An artwork related to the user's actions. There are no direct relations to the machine's components, but to the user's interactivity behaviors. User's behavior actions are presented as the mediums for the execution of the scripts. Human actions are distanced from the executed scripts. dd - - [Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/] [How to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt/Cage/] [ or email majordomo@lists.realtime.net with the text "info silence" ] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 11:53:39 -0400 (EDT) From: Fleur de Vie Weinstock Subject: Re: Announcement It's pretty snazzy. dd-- Can I forward the URL to other folks? On Wed, 8 Jul 1998, dd wrote: > > A new net artwork by Dimos Dimitriou. > > "OPEN" > URL http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/addfield/open.htm > > > > > An artwork related to the user's actions. > > There are no direct relations to the machine's components, but to the user's interactivity behaviors. > > User's behavior actions are presented as the mediums for the execution of the scripts. > > Human actions are distanced from the executed scripts. > > > > > > > dd > > > > > - > [Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/] > [How to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt/Cage/] > [ or email majordomo@lists.realtime.net with the text "info silence" ] > - - [Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/] [How to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt/Cage/] [ or email majordomo@lists.realtime.net with the text "info silence" ] ------------------------------ Date: 11 Jul 98 19:42:29 EDT From: Charles.E.Hamm@Dartmouth.EDU (Charles E. Hamm) Subject: fish & ponds Dear silencers, I can't agree with a recent post calling John Cage a big fish in a small pond. While it's true enough that Cage was known only within a small, specialized circle several decades ago, the pond is a much bigger one now. Try feeding "John Cage" into your net browser and see the quantity and variety of what you get. As I've written on several occasions (bibliography on request), Cage anticipated the world as it was to be, rather than looking back on the world as it had been. A comparison with Milton Babbitt is instructive. Though Richard Kostelanetz classifies both Cage and Babbitt as members of the "avant-garde," in fact Babbitt represents the end of modernism in his writing and his music. "Terminal modernism," I call it. Cage, on the other hand, was a proto-postmodernist from the mid-1950s on, and is now constantly cited in writing on postmodernism, in the arts and more generally. Cage has much more to do with today's world than does Babbitt (or Boulez, etc.), and his music is played and recorded more, not less, as time goes on. Check out, for instance, the eye-opening list of available CDs with one or more pieces by Cage offered by such on-line stores as CDnow. Cage and his devotees make up an increasingly large school of fish in a large and growing pond. Comments? Charles Hamm - - [Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/] [How to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt/Cage/] [ or email majordomo@lists.realtime.net with the text "info silence" ] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 16:18:41 -0400 From: Daniel Wolf Subject: fish & ponds Charles Hamm wrote: ''Though Richard Kostelanetz classifies both Cage and Babbitt as members = of the "avant-garde," in fact Babbitt represents the end of modernism in his= writing and his music. "Terminal modernism," I call it. Cage, on the othe= r hand, was a proto-postmodernist from the mid-1950s on, and is now constantly cited in writing on postmodernism, in the arts and more generally.'' Cage readily identified himself with both the avant-garde and modernism, = at Darmstadt saying (as I recall it) 'We need an avant-garde because without= an avant-garde, nothing would get invented'. His identification with all = of the major streams of modernism is well known - he was authoritative on Dada, on Duchamp, Miro, Graves, Rauschenberg, Johns, a reader of Stein, Pound and Joyce, though a student of Schoenberg, he seemed to share Stravinsky's reprieve that Schoenberg's music was 'not modern'. = I have no problem with identifying Babbitt with the avant-garde as well, but qualified as a part of the avant-garde focused, in the end, on a smal= l detail or cul-de-sac in musical history, that based upon the premise of avoiding tonality and, by extension, metricity through constant exhaustio= n of aggregates of the total chromatic or metric, yet guarantying cohesion through equally exhaustive self-similarity. The characterization of Babbitt's work as 'terminal' is interesting in light of his work as a teacher. The exhaustiveness of his techniques are manifest in his own compositions as a body of work, leaving precious room= for further interesting additions by his students. Cage, on the other han= d, while avoiding formal appointments as a teacher, through his work and person proved to be suggestive, inviting, encouraging, permitting and indeed, instructive to countless composers and artists over a broad field= of work. That Cage abandoned exhaustion as an aesthetic priority after hi= s earliest works suggests an early intuition of the limitations of such an approach. = What utitily is seen by adoption of the term 'postmodern' with regard to Cage? At all points in his career he seems to be consequently following a= thoroughly modern path, with his work continually building upon earlier work. I just don't know where one could locate a break where it suddenly all becomes post-modern. Daniel Wolf Frankfurt = - - [Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/] [How to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt/Cage/] [ or email majordomo@lists.realtime.net with the text "info silence" ] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 13:54:55 -0700 From: Larry Solomon Subject: Cage and postmodernism I'd like to respond to Charles Hamm's post about Cage as a postmodernist. I can agree that Cage may have been a "proto-postmodernist", as Charles stated, but no more than that. There are some problems with this categorization that are partly problems with any type of generalization. Near the beginning of my inquiry into postmodernism, I thought that I knew what it was, but the more I read the less agreement I found among scholars. So, the first problem is the difficulty of defining exactly what is meant by "postmodern". (See my website for a brief essay that summarizes what I was able to garner from this study.) Do we really know what we are talking about? I think it would be helpful if scholars would unabashedly admit that any categorization is generalization, an abstraction frought with weakness, just as those characterizing "Romanticism", "Classicism", "Baroque", etc. (Thereby disposing of it as truth.) Nevertheless, these generalizations are useful tools (we continue to use them), and generalizations are what we need to define the subject and prevent being engulfed in an amorphous, meaningless concept. I find charts that contrast the abstractions of modernism and postrmodernism to be helpful in this respect. The problem is further exacerbated by an inability or unwilligness to define what we are talking about. The clearest statements, IMO, have come from architects, and the most muddled from literary critics. Secondly, I think that Cage can only be called a proto-postmodernist after 1951, but even then he is only marginal, and he is still very much rooted in modernist thought. For example, he was a self-confessed elitist, he revered authoritarians and was patriarchal: (Dad, Schoenberg, Suzuki, Mao, Eckhart, etc.) He was utopian in his aesthetics, unconcerned about populist opinions, which held no sway over his thought or music. In spite of his use of chance and indeterminacy, he was still very much a controlling person, demanding strict adherence to his conceptions. He had aesthetic problems with improvisation (a strong postmodern musical trait, IMO) and with performer freedom in general. In spite of his adored pragmatism, he theorized and expounded upon his ideas with profusion. In spite of an outward playfulness, he was quite deliberate and purposeful. All these traits seem to contradict his categorization as a postmodernist. The clincher was his commitment to art as non-communicative, a strong modernist trait. I am not saying that Cage did not have some postmodern traits, but in order to be properly understood, the concept needs better definition, and as Cage once said, "Every statement is only a half-truth and must be stated with its opposite" (my paraphrase). So, I am trying to show the other half. - -- Best Wishes, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Larry J Solomon, PhD Music Theory & Composition The Center for the Arts, Pima College Tucson, AZ 85709 http://www.AzStarNet.com/~solo *** Introduction to Theory Webcourse *** http://community.cc.pima.edu/classes/mus102/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - - [Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/] [How to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt/Cage/] [ or email majordomo@lists.realtime.net with the text "info silence" ] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 21:44:23 GMT From: brian.duguid@iname.com (Brian Duguid) Subject: Re: Cage and postmodernism >Secondly, I think that Cage can only be called a proto-postmodernist >after 1951, but even then he is only marginal, and he is still very much >rooted in modernist thought. Surely the main aspect of Cage's work which fits with post-modernist thought is that he often shifts attention away from the composer onto the listener; in a work like 4'33", the 'music' comprises the sounds that the listener pays attention to, not those that the composer provides. The 'death of the author' is not only found in post-modernism, but treating the audience's perception as central to the art is very much a major strand in such theory. Brian Duguid brian.duguid@iname.com www.hyperreal.org/~duguid/ - - [Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/] [How to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt/Cage/] [ or email majordomo@lists.realtime.net with the text "info silence" ] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 23:10:22 -0400 From: mbennett@iglou.com (Myron Bennett) Subject: Cage and recordings While Charles Hamm has started a very interesting discussion by disagreeing with someone's phrase, I'll indulge myself by expressing my amazement that there has been so much made of the seeming paradox of Cage not liking recordings, and at the same time, approving of and participating in recordings of his compositions. I say, "seeming paradox," because it would only be one if Cage demanded that no one else should listen to recordings. This was not the case. And far from advocating that all should follow his example in this or other matters, I know of several times that he gently steered enthusiastic would-be disciples away from following him too closely. =20 =46rom my conversations with him in the '60s, and from his writings, the reason he did not like recordings is that he wanted to hear things he had not heard before, surprises. - -- Myron Bennett mbennett@iglou.com - - [Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/] [How to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt/Cage/] [ or email majordomo@lists.realtime.net with the text "info silence" ] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 23:45:14 -0400 From: Joseph Zitt Subject: Re: fish & ponds Daniel Wolf wrote: > I have no problem with identifying Babbitt with the avant-garde as well, > but qualified as a part of the avant-garde focused, in the end, on a small > detail or cul-de-sac in musical history, that based upon the premise of > avoiding tonality and, by extension, metricity through constant exhaustion > of aggregates of the total chromatic or metric, yet guarantying cohesion > through equally exhaustive self-similarity. What do you mean by "exhaustion" here? I've seen the term used in similar contexts but haven't been able to nail down what is meant by it. > What utitily is seen by adoption of the term 'postmodern' with regard to > Cage? At all points in his career he seems to be consequently following a > thoroughly modern path, with his work continually building upon earlier > work. I just don't know where one could locate a break where it suddenly > all becomes post-modern. What utility is seen by such terms in any such cases? It's rare that an artist will officially declare "I have renounced {this}ism and my work is now {that}ist." [Only Cornelius Cardew comes immediately to mind, and that may be due to my not having researched what I know of his work very deeply.] Perhaps the closest we can mean is that certain of the artist's work to which we are pointing has enough things in common with other artist's works that we think of in a grouping to also be considered in that group. I think Cage did things in both camps at the same time. In terms of modernism and (what I'm guessing you mean by) "exhaustion", the Freeman Etudes come to mind as modernist. But he wrote these at about the same time as Roaratorio, which I've heard described as an epitome of post-modernism. - -- - ---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------- |||/ Joseph Zitt ===== jzitt@humansystems.com ===== Human Systems \||| ||/ Maryland? = <*> SILENCE: The John Cage Mailing List <*> = ecto \|| |/ http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt ====== Comma: Voices of New Music \| - - [Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/] [How to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt/Cage/] [ or email majordomo@lists.realtime.net with the text "info silence" ] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1998 05:21:47 -0400 From: Daniel Wolf Subject: Re: fish & ponds Joseph Zitt wrote: Subject: Recording Cage's 103 July, 1998 AN APPEAL FROM: THE ORCHESTRA OF THE S.E.M. ENSEMBLE Petr Kotik, Conductor We are turning to you in the hope that you will be able to help us with the largest single recording project of Cage's music ever undertaken. This planned 4-CD set release will contain the first and last of Cage's large orchestral works: "Atlas Eclipticalis" [for 86-piece orchestra] (1961/62) with "Winter Music" (1957) (CD 1&2) and "103" [for 103-piece orchestra] (1992) (CD 3 & 4). It will be an extraordinary release: CD 1 & 2 has already been recorded. It is the historical 1993 live recording of the Berlin performance with David Tudor on piano and The SEM Orchestra, Petr Kotik, Conductor. (146 min.). CD 3 & 4 will be a new recording with the Janacek Philharmonic, Petr Kotik, Conductor (90 min.) The recording has been scheduled for October 9-11, 1998. Between now and the beginning of October, we will have to raise $20,000 to be able to proceed with this project. In 1991, John Cage signed several recordings of the "Music by Marcel Duchamp", to be used for fundraising purposes. We feel that this may be the appropriate time to offer these rare documents. The "Marcel Duchamp" CD contains the entire musical work of Duchamp and has been recorded by the S.E.M. Ensemble in 1989. It also contains "Sculpture Musicale", a mesostic by Cage which John recorded in his loft as part this recording. This limited edition was released by Renee Block (Berlin) and Paula Cooper (New York) and has been out of print for some time. There is also a set of 3 signed photographs of Cage (2), and Cage with Kotik (1), which were taken at the recording session. We are offering these items in exchange of a donation in the amount of $1,000 or more. All donations should be made to S.E.M. Ensemble, Inc. and are tax- deductible. Please let us know if you are able to help us. In your answer, please indicate the following: 1. Yes, I am able to send a donation in the amount of ...... 2. No. I am not able to send a donation at this time, but I am interested to assist the S.E.M. Ensemble (any help is welcomed!) 3. No, I am not able to help at this time, but please put me on your mailing list and keep me informed about your upcoming events. Please include your full mailing address and telephone number. We are enclosing more information about the recording project and the S.E.M, Ensemble. Sincerely yours, Sean Donovan Managing Director, S.E.M. Ensemble Last December, we were approached by Naut Humon of the Asphodel record label (San Francisco), to collaborate on a major Cage release. We agreed to release the previously described 4-CD set. We are pleased that a label such as Asphodel, with a large following of young people due to the alternative popular music it releases, has committed itself to such a recording project. This release will follow Asphodel's recent, very successful release of Iannis Xenakis' "Kraanerg". Naut believes that the success of "Kraanerg" is owed to a growing number of young listeners who are becoming increasingly interested in the American and European avant-garde as a result of various developments in current pop music. Asphodel has a large-scale distribution and their recordings are available in stores around the world. The Janacek Philharmonic is a full-scale symphony orchestra from Ostrave, Czech Republic. Last September, Petr Kotik conducted a concert of the Janacek Philharmonic at the "Music of Extended Duration Festival" in Prague. Petr led the orchestra in a 4-hour long concert which included "Four Meditations" by Pauline Oliveros (with Oliveros as soloist on accordion), "Canon" by the Czech composer Matousek and "103" by Cage (simultaneously with the film One11). The result was extraordinary. The concert by the Janacek Philharmonic closed the festival which was described by the press as "unprecedented...It created an elite situation - a forefront on the Czech musical scene - not just with the audiences, but also with the participating Czech musicians. This alternative music making is worth its weight in gold." The success of the concert led to the idea of recording "103" for a release. Although a recording of a 90 minute piece with 103 musicians seems like an enormously expensive endeavor, a recording in the Czech Republic that makes it realistic. As a regional Czech orchestra, the Janacek Philharmonic operates on a budget, which converted into Western currency is extremely low. In addition, the cost of a professional recording in the Czech Republic is equally reasonable, even though both the musicians and the recording technicians are first-class. The cost of creating a master tape under these conditions is roughly $30,000. This amount includes the cost of the orchestra, the studio, recording engineers and equipment, as well as post production of the master tape. To make such a recording in New York, for example, even on a low scale budget, would be incomparably higher. With the cost per musician at $500 minimum, the orchestra expense alone would be $51,500. With additional production costs, the budget could easily rise to $80,000. Unfortunately, Asphodel can only contribute $5,000 cash. This is in addition to their cost of production, advertising and distribution (Asphodel's entire budget for this release is $25,000 which, considering the non-commercial nature of a John Cage CD-set, is a considerable amount). To date, S.E.M. Ensemble has only been able to secure an additional $5,000 which leaves us in a deficit of $20,000. THE ORCHESTRA OF THE S.E.M. ENSEMBLE was founded in 1992 by Petr Kotik as an extension of the chamber music group, S.E.M. Ensemble. The Orchestra's debut at Carnegie Hall in October, 1992 turned into an internationally celebrated event, with audiences and critics from across the United States, Europe, and Japan. Joined by David Tudor, the SEM Orchestra, under Kotik performed a two- hour version of John Cage's "Atlas Eclipticalis" with "Winter Music". Since then, the SEM Orchestra gained international recognition as one of the foremost, large-scale ensembles dedicated to the performance of new music. Its repertoire concentrates on works by composers such as Earle Brown, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff, Alvin Lucier, Edgard Varese, Pauline Oliveros, Jon Gibson, Roscoe Mitchell, Maria de Alvear, George Lewis, Petr Kotik, Wadada Leo Smith, among others. On occasion, it also performs early music, combining modern with period instruments: works by Claudio Monteverdi, G.P. Telemann, G. F. Handel ,and the Czech Baroque master Pavel Josef Vejvanovsky, among others. SEM Orchestra toured Europe three times, performing at the USArts Festival in Berlin the 1995 Prague Spring Festival, and the Extended Duration in Music festivals in Prague and Bonn in 1997. In New York, in addition to Carnegie Hall, it has performed at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center (1993, 1996, 1998), Merkin Concert Hall, the World Financial Center, the Society for Ethical Culture and its own Willow Place Auditorium in Brooklyn Heights. In March, 1997, the SEM Orchestra performed in the Takemitsu Memorial Concert at Oji Hall in Tokyo. In 1992, the SEM Orchestra, under Kotik, recorded a CD of works by John Cage for the Wergo label: "Concert for Piano and Orchestra" with the pianist Joseph Kubera and an 40-minute excerpt of "Atlas Eclipticalis" with the full 86-piece orchestra. Composer, conductor, and flutist, Petr Kotik is known for his exemplary performances of the music of Cage, Feldman, Varese, as well as Alvin Lucier, Christian Wolff, Earle Brown, and Muhal Richard Abrams, among others. Kotik's compositions have been performed throughout the U.S. and overseas. Kotik has directed major new music events in New York and Europe and next season, (with Zsolt Nagy and Christian Arming), he will conduct "Gruppen" by Karlheinz Stockhausen in Prague, Krakow, and Warsaw, combining members of the Janacek Philharmonic with the SEM Orchestra. In 1997, Kotik received the prestigious composition award from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts. Born in Prague, Czech Republic, Kotik was educated in Prague and Vienna. He arrived in the U.S. in 1969, and has lived since 1983 in New York City. Among his best known works are "Many Many Women" (1976-78) on a text by Gertrude Stein and "Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking" (1978-81) on texts by R. Buckminster Fuller. Kotik's most recent piece for orchestra "Fragment" was premiered at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center on May 20, 1998. It is Kotik's second composition written for the SEM Orchestra. Kotik's linear compositional process combines separately composed layers, often juxtaposed and combined into a final score. This process creates unpredictable progressions, giving the music a "static," or "suspended" character. - - [Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/] [How to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt/Cage/] [ or email majordomo@lists.realtime.net with the text "info silence" ] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1998 09:42:29 PDT From: "Peter Hogaboam" Subject: Re: Cage and recordings from my conversations with him in the '60s, and from his writings, the >reason he did not like recordings is that he wanted to hear things he >had not heard before, surprises. I happen to have a tape of john cage talking about various topics for a brief period. the tape fell into my hands from a neighbor who also had an intrest in cage. he told me that the tape was a series of clips from a number of video documentaries, but I am unsure of the source. In regards to recordings, he said this. Cage:"I don't believe in recordings, and I give the example of one who lives without them," Interviewer: "well its useful to hear recordings of concerts you might not be able to attend-" Cage: "no, its not useful, It really isn't...(searhing for words)recordings...they...they make people think that they are participating in a musical experience when they are really not."... ... Cage: "I was at a concert where stravinsky was conducting one of his own works. after the performance a ten year old boy sitting in front of me turned to his father and said, 'that isn't the way it goes!'(laughter)...I told that story and got this one in return. 'a family was attending a concert, and when the orchestra was done the young girl asked why the music stopped, and the parents said that the orchesta was done. she said, 'well why don't they turn the record over?' (more laughter) Peter Hogaboam ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com - - [Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/] [How to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt/Cage/] [ or email majordomo@lists.realtime.net with the text "info silence" ] ------------------------------ End of silence-digest V1 #245 *****************************