Understanding the Concert for Piano and Orchestra

This chapter considers the way in which the Concert for Piano and Orchestra has been interpreted by commentators, from musicologists and other composers to professional philosophical thinkers. It shows the way in which these interpretations played a part in the initial receptions of the piece, especially in Europe, made a major contribution to discussion of the nature of musical form in the context of openness, and became a significant part of later discussions regarding the nature and limits of the musical work.

Performing the Concert for Piano and Orchestra

This chapter examines in further detail the practical work undertaken by the early piano soloist within the piece, David Tudor. It details the work he undertook to realise the piece for performance in three separate versions, which function in three separate contexts: with orchestra, as a part of Cage’s piece ‘Indeterminacy’, and alongside choreography. The chapter also discusses the additional frames in which the piece might be read when it is thought of in the context of that choreography, Merce Cunningham’s Antic Meet.

Presenting the Concert for Piano and Orchestra

This chapter examines the public presentation of the Concert for Piano and Orchestra in four guises, in its New York premiere, in the development and release of the recording of that performance, in its European premiere in Cologne, and its centrality to Cage’s publishing history. It critically examines narratives of the allegedly catastrophic early performances, and reveals too the complex network of individuals involved in bringing them about, as well, as a result, of the enormous importance of a relatively small number of influential promoters and supporters of Cage’s work.

Introduction

This chapter introduces the Concert for Piano and Orchestra—its physical and musical characteristics—the circumstances of its commission by Elaine de Kooning, and its relationships to a range of other pieces by Cage, including Music for Piano, Winter Music, Fontana Mix, Aria, Solos for Voice I and II, WBAI, the Rozart Mix, and Song Books, alongside some of which it can simultaneously be performed and many of which appear literally as notational resources within the Solo for Piano. It discusses the centrality of its notations to various histories of post-war music as well as the comparative lack of understanding about what (at least some of) those notations connote. It sketches out, too, in headline form, the various concerns of the subsequent chapters of the book.

Situating the Concert for Piano and Orchestra

This chapter provides the background and the conditions for the composition of the Concert for Piano and Orchestra. It discusses, on the basis of sketch material, how Cage composed the predecessor pieces, Music for Piano and Winter Music. It discusses the hidden influence of Cage’s teacher, Schoenberg, on his thinking about musical process, and details Cage’s imperfect, but significant, knowledge of jazz.

Interpreting the Solo for Piano

This chapter develops the insights of its predecessor, turning the analytical gaze onto the notional piano soloist’s part, the Solo for Piano. It details the ways in which the many notations of the part are related to one another, through repetition, variation, and invention, and relates this to Schoenberg’s influence. It shows that the Solo for Piano is a sort of network, like the instrumental solos, but one of a rather different kind, in that the network is an internal aspect of the Solo. It analyses many features of the notations, both within individual notations and as recurring features of many notations.

Interpreting the Concert for Piano and Orchestra

This chapter provides an analytical overview of the parts of the Concert for Piano and Orchestra, other than the Solo for Piano. It provides and deploys an analytical framework to explore the commonalities between the various instrumental parts as well as the distinctions between them, construing them as a sort of complex network of relationalities. It also unpacks the way in which the conductor of the piece functions, providing a detailed explanation of the part provided for the conductor and a speculative description of how it might have been made.

Sketching the Concert for Piano and Orchestra

This chapter discusses Cage’s sketches for the Concert for Piano and Orchestra. It outlines both what can be said about Cage’s compositional process on the basis of sheets which directly detail aspects of it and on the basis of the traces of his process which can be found in the manuscript of the Solo for Piano. It details his work with jazz musicians in developing the instrumental parts for the piece, as well as unpacking further aspects of the actual process with reference to Music for Piano.