source file: mills2.txt Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 16:52:53 -0700 Subject: Re: Cage and microtonality From: Greg Schiemer On Sat, 20 Jul 1996, John Chalmers wrote: > As for John Cage, whether one likes his music or not, he was the > major 20th American experimental composer. I must admit that I've never I am pleased to see that Cage's works before 1951 have not been overlooked. I presume that Johnny included "Sonatas and Interludes" as microtonal for the same reasons as I would. I find the charm of the timbres in some of the more reflective and melodious of the "Sonatas and Interludes" is in the beatings that occur in some of the sounds. They sound out-of-tune in a really nice way. There are probably two reasons why Cage's prepared piano work has rarely been considered microtonal : one is that the most obvious surface feature of the music is its rhythm; the other is that the 'tuning' is not systematic. The prepared piano was an ingenious and musical way of breaking free of a notational system developed for writing in 12-TET. I suppose they've never gained Cage the reputation as a microtonal composer because the method of inventing the timbres - with their quirky tunings - is not as systematic as some would like. Indeed the timbres are often the invention of the performer and not the composer. Hence, it is easy to discredit Cage's contribution by making something monumental out of his later philosophical statements at the expense of these earlier works. I'd love to hear what Brian has to say about the "Three Dances for two Amplified Prepared Pianos". Every performance I have heard of that work - live and recorded - has left me breathless. I can't say the same for works post 1951. Thanks for the information on the later works. Greg S Received: from eartha.mills.edu [144.91.3.20] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Sun, 21 Jul 1996 19:30 +0100 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id KAA11564; Sun, 21 Jul 1996 10:30:34 -0700 Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 10:30:34 -0700 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu