John Cage’s “Winter Music” and “Variations I”
Item Type: Sound Recording
Duration: 55 min
Event Type: Music
Program Origin: KPFA
From a live broadcast on KPFA, recorded on May 20, 1968, Robert Moran and Howard Hersh perform two works by John Cage, “Winter Music” and “Variations I”. Both are aleatoric works featuring a single stark piano mixed with occasional taped sounds, but mostly filled with long periods of silence. The prerecorded bits seem to include a lot of wind and water sounds and taken together certainly seem to evoke the pristine barrenness of a winter’s day, although there is nothing in Cage’s or the performers comments that would indicate that this was it’s purpose. However, freed from the need for meaning this performance will stand in its own right, as a thing of simply being.
Musical Selections: Winter Music (1957) / John Cage -- Variations I (1958) / John Cage
Performers: Robert Moran, piano Howard Hersh, tape realizations
Genres: 20th Century Classical; New Music
Subject: 20th century classical; New music; Piano music; Aleatory music; Piano and electronic music
People: Cage, John ; Moran, Robert, 1937-; Hersh, Howard
Recording Date: 5/20/1968
First Broadcast Date: 5/20/1968