Activities per year
Abstract
Sixty years after John Cage began composing his most extensive and ambitious compendium of indeterminate and graphic notations, the Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1957-8) remains something of a mystery. Often discussed for its stunning array of unusual and elaborate notations, it is all too rarely performed. As this recording testifies, it is a rich, dazzling and mesmerising work; carnivalesque, a 20th-century masterpiece.
As a companion work to the Concert for Piano and Orchestra, celebrated American composer Christian Wolff - a close associate of Cage and fellow member of the 'New York School' - was commissioned to write a new work for Apartment House. The result, Resistance, was premiered in July 2017. Both works celebrate performance as a unique event, and the openness of the scores produces music which resists repetition. Both works question the nature of an ensemble, how musicians and sounds relate to one another, and the functions of musical form in ways that, like Wolff's title, seem vital to contemporary life.
This recording by Apartment House with Philip Thomas (piano) marks a long and rich engagament with the music of both Cage - in particular the Concert for Piano and Orchestra - and Wolff, whose music they have enjoyed performing for 15 years.
As a companion work to the Concert for Piano and Orchestra, celebrated American composer Christian Wolff - a close associate of Cage and fellow member of the 'New York School' - was commissioned to write a new work for Apartment House. The result, Resistance, was premiered in July 2017. Both works celebrate performance as a unique event, and the openness of the scores produces music which resists repetition. Both works question the nature of an ensemble, how musicians and sounds relate to one another, and the functions of musical form in ways that, like Wolff's title, seem vital to contemporary life.
This recording by Apartment House with Philip Thomas (piano) marks a long and rich engagament with the music of both Cage - in particular the Concert for Piano and Orchestra - and Wolff, whose music they have enjoyed performing for 15 years.
Original language | English |
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Place of Publication | Huddersfield |
Publisher | Huddersfield Contemporary Records |
Edition | HCR16CD |
Media of output | CD |
Size | 2 |
Publication status | Published - 1 Nov 2017 |
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'CC: John Cage 'Concert for Piano and Orchestra'; Christian Wolff 'Resistance''. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Profiles
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Philip Thomas
- Department of History, English, Linguistics and Music - Professor
- School of Music, Humanities and Media
- Centre for Research in New Music - Member
- Research Centre for Performance Practices - Directorate
Person: Academic
Activities
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Suggestions for action’: Notation and movement in recent music by Christian Wolff
Philip Thomas (Speaker) & Emily Payne (Speaker)
12 Jul 2019Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
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Agitating the Discipline: performing Cage’s Concert for Piano and Orchestra
Philip Thomas (Speaker)
19 Mar 2019Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Documentary and Digital Approaches to Performing John Cage’s Concert for Piano and Orchestra
Philip Thomas (Speaker)
6 Jul 2018Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
Projects
- 1 Finished
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John Cage and the 'Concert for piano and orchestra'
Thomas, P. & Iddon, M.
1/10/15 → 29/10/18
Project: Research