Following up on yesterday’s account of the six-CD album of pianist Nicolas Horvath playing Dennis Johnson’s “November,”I wish to “shift gears” into the brevity of early compositions by John Cage. The Nicolas Horvath Discoveries series includes a short album of two Cage selections, both of which are less than twelve minutes in duration and both composed in 1948. Each was written for dance created by a different choreographer.
The first track presents “In a landscape,” which was composed for Louise Lippold. Cage specified that the music could be performed on harp or solo piano. In the latter case the performer was instructed to raise both the damper and sustain pedals for the entire duration. The pedals are released only at the final measure, allowing reverberating harmonics to sound. This was followed by “Dream,” composed for a solo performance by choreographer Merce Cunningham, with whom Cage would work for the rest of his life. Reverberation also figures significantly in the performance of Cage’s score.
For those that have been following these articles about Nicolas Horvath Discoveries, these short pieces take us back to the domain of Gita Sarabhai, who had informed Cage that “the purpose of music is to sober and quiet the mind, thus making it susceptible to divine influences.” In that context I must confess that I find the extended essay by Bertrand Ferrier (translated into English by Horvath) to be a bit on the excessive side. Presumably, there was at least a bit of irony in the third section being titled “Metaphysics of Simplicity.”
My personal conjecture is that Cage wished to provide both choreographers with an “atmosphere.” Like the air we breathe, we are barely aware of it, leaving us free to devote almost all of our attention to the dancers. Nevertheless, in the absence of the choreography, one can still appreciate “the atmosphere itself” in a performance of both Cage compositions, rather like being fully aware of a deep breath of fresh air.
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