Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

["Christopher L Shultis" <>]

An interesting question--what role should Cage's verbal 
and written instructions and/or opinions about his work, 
often after his having composed the piece, play in a 
performer's interpretation. In the case of Speech it may 
be a little simpler than in other places. In the Symphony 
Space concert Cage himself is "interpreting" his own 
score. As you point out this instruction is nowhere to be 
found in the score. Composed in 1955, transistor radios 
had been invented but it is unlikely that these would have 
been what Cage was thinking of when he wrote the piece. 
Meaning that when it was written the radios would have 
probably been plugged into electrical outlets determined 
by their location (or by extension cords) in the 
performance space.  Cage's application of more modern 
technological possibilities to his interpretation of a 
piece written in the 50s shows (I think)  the flexibility 
of what is possible interpretively from his perspective at 
the time of the concert. But that doesn't necessarily make 
it something to apply to a performance of Speech if one 
wants to be true to the original intent of what was put in 
the score in 1955. That's another story altogether, 
connected to the subject of performance practice, and I 
might add in a very traditional way. I'm thinking here (as 
but one example) of differences between what Beethoven 
piano sonatas sound like on original  versus modern 
instruments. Not a question of what might be right or 
wrong but I do find it useful to know the options 
concerning what a piece would have sounded like on 
"original" instruments and deciding whether or not it 
makes sense to go for that rather than just accept the 
conditions of what is currently available. I address this 
related to his percussion pieces (where I think getting 
the "historical" sounds is in some sense a question of 
right and wrong) in the chapter I contributed to the 
collection of essays on Cage edited by David Patterson 
(John Cage: Music, Philosophy and Intention 1933-1950). 
And concerning the spatial dimension, this I think points 
to something sonically important. Did Cage want the sounds 
of Speech to be heard in their entirely and at the same 
time? As a collage of radio sounds in combination with the 
reading of text? My educated guess is that this was what 
he had in mind as a composer in 1955. And if you listen to 
what's happening in the Symphony Space performance, by 
moving freely in that relatively large concert space you 
don't really get that sonic experience. As an interpreter 
I'm not sure I would follow Cage's directions concerning 
Speech as I'm not convinced it would be faithful to the 
score when he wrote it. In any case, there is a big 
difference (in my opinion) between what Cage says (or 
does) with one of his pieces as a performer or what he 
says about his compositions in his role as the composer. 
And, of course, also noting the time period of when he 
said or wrote something and then comparing that to the 
dates when the pieces themselves were written.

Chris Shultis

On Tue, 1 Nov 2011 17:00:08 +0200
 Dionisis Boukouvalas 
<>
 wrote:
> Excluding indeterminate works, I always thought that one 
> has to perform Cage's music as accurately as possible.
> Nevertheless, there is an example from the marvelous 
> "American masters" documentary where Cage and co are 
> performing "Speech" and where Cage instructs the others 
> to move freely in the space "as people with radios do". I 
> have performed the piece and I recall that the score does 
> not mention something like that. It's really a pity that 
> I didn't know before the performance because I would have 
> loved to do it that way too. So, what it is?
> a) Was the idea dropped when the music came to be 
> printed?
> b) Are such liberties concerning the space/scene and not 
> the music itself allowed by Cage? But in that case, 
> doesn't the movement in space radically change the music 
> itself?
> 		 	   		  

Christopher Shultis, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor
Regents' Professor of Music
University of New Mexico
MSC04 2570 Center for the Arts
Albuquerque, NM 87131
PH:(505) 264-3078
email: 

website: www.chrisshultis.com

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Thanks! cs