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Between freedom and control: the role(s) of

composers in the composition, performance and

reception of the 1960s avant-garde

Unlike 1500s etc, composers form a central part of post-war music histories,

leads to possible Biases e.g Ligeti in Charles ilson article. !his is an age where

a composer is not simpl" ac composer, but is also a critic, a scholar, historian

and anal"st# $elps an" possible biases towards their music.

Recap of so far:

%$istorical periodi&ation of post-1'(5 art music into eras) modernism and

postmodernism

*+ostmodernism indicates a return to the past late 1'0s * 1'0s/

*nd of serialism 1'0s/ end of modernism

%!ensions identi2ed in the use of modernism and postmodernism to

simultaneousl" de2ne)

*3t"le

*+eriod

%4odernism and postmodernism conate a work-centred histor" st"les,

composers, compositions/ with a wider cultural histor"

%!aruskin6s model of two a7ant-gardes in the 1'50s and 1'0s

*4odernist uropean/ a7ant-garde

*8perimental 9nglo-9merican/ a7ant-garde

%Born6s model for a similar grouping of composers and acti7it"

*4odernism 3erialism, high control etc/

*+ostmodernism Linked to e8perimental abo7e. 9 lot more

open:pluralist:indeterminac" etc. ;e * 4odernism/

%3uch grouping depend on the e8tent to which one feels a7ant-garde and

modernism are s"non"mous

Indeterminacy of Compositional Method:e.g ?ohn Cage6s @4usic of Changes6/

Lots of methods to obtain this i.e ?ohn Cage used the A Ching Chinese

book of random numbers/ book later on in his compositional career, others

rolled dice. Basicall" Cage6s idea of chance# =Catholic notion> Brett

Boutwell article/ of composer ha7ing:bearing an" inuence or agenda to

his music.

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bsession o7er method of getting this# $owe7er both e8perimental and

modernist a7ant-gardes arri7e at similar sonic results as discussed/

Indeterminacy of Performance:e.g 4orton eldman6s Antersections D/

eldman6s use of Eraphic notation is a great e8ample of this, uses a grid to

onl" roughl" indicate pitch and how man" notes to pla" etc. see Fuotebelow on how to use it)

Gote

argument whether this is along the similar lines of Cage6s idea of

indeterminac" in performance, eldman talked of still e8erting control o7er

the performance and not completel" relinFuishing it, but Cage

championed it as an e8ample of this idea of indeterminac"# Brett Boutwell

article/

$ow a composer created music was 7er" important at this time, with the

cold war, a looser st"le of composition can be seen to identif":represent

the est in the Cold ar Climate.

reedom of control or ;omantic geniusH - @hile the meticulousness of

Cage6s chance determinations, Brown6s anal"tical total sound continuum,

and olI6s permutations of minimal @rows6 could be lined up with thecurrent uropean methods e7en though intentions diIered radicall"/,

eldman6s abilit" to escape from methodolog" as the @controlling

metaphor of composition6 was accomplished through a reliance on instinct

at a time when uropean composers were more than e7er before seeking

refuge in methodolog" and den"ing the force of instinct.6 - 4ichael G"man,

Experimental Music : Cage and Beyond 1''' J1'(K/, 5D. !his goes along

with what Boutwell claims he argued#

Indeterminacy and method in the modernist Avant-Garde

4usical e8amples of 3tockhausen6s la7ierstuck MA, Ligeti6s 9tmospheres

good e8ample of his =micropol"phon">/ and Menakis6 4etastasis gi7en

here

3tockhausen +erformer decides which pre-composed sections go in

which order. Andeterminac" of performance, not of composition# 4obile

orm/

9 lot of people recoil from this music due to the wa" it sounds as opposed

to taking an interest into how it6s composed, which is the o7erriding

feature of it in musical histories

Amportant) orchestral music 7er" diIerent demands on the composer than

music for soloist or small ensemble

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he Composer spea!s "or #rites$

%Composer writings emphasise method

*How the msic is made is not the onl! interesting element*3ee !aruskin, @!he +oietic allac"6 hat are listener6s thoughtsH h" some

composers come to prominence and some notH @Eatekeepers6 like ensembles

who are willing to pla" new works/ $ow our understanding has been eIectedH/

3uggested reading)

%?ohn Cage, @Andeterminac"6 1'5N/

%+ierre Boule&, @9lea6 1'(/

%$istoriographical implications

*$ow do we treat composer writingsH * 3cholars shouldn6t