Yesterday's New Music AM THOUGH he station of mus the end of Word War Iwas undeniably chao, there were important super cal renons for optimism, The days which public musa ie ad been ura or even halted by bombing nd bombardment were safely pst Musi, with other nds of clare, seemed 62 belong the new word of peaceful construction, In undamaged sn prosperous America the flo of refugee musians, come ‘posers and performer alike, had changed the domestic mis Scone, sna parallel strengthening of aniences byte euleted ‘mie public was providing both aesthetic approval and material Suppl of concert tivity. And in Europe, sole ew gener: thon of att, denied aces othe world stage fr altot a de tad by the dications of wa, ws rey to come forward. Pe haps mos important, pew electronic technology, bated pos the Germaninvented magnetic pe recorder and (er 298 the American-developed long paving phonograph rear, ere avalale to provide the possiblity ou hitherto unimagined di Fanon of the eat work of muse Temight have been sapped thal hese phenomena, which were to prove so beneficial to the performance of exstng mse, ‘woud bene new eveition a wel. For wile wascal compos tio ha need shown hacked signs of autumnal declines the Interear ped, twas arly denied tat sme mgt works Yesterday's New Music sos ud been writen in the 1920s and 1ggs, and Id been widely accepted as such by scaled widen ‘OF the most important composers who had made their mark in the preceding to dacades, ony Berg was dea the end ofthe ‘war While Hartsk ws to die shortly thereafter, even the nine teenth century survivor Richard Stas il alive at the age of cighty-one, asin 14 nthe mide of writing sonnei most eau and acting music The two most wey respected oder masters, Arold Schoenberg and Igoe Stavnely, were Imus active, Schoenberg wou ontinue composing unt is eath i 1958, and Stavingy, hi conversion to fwelve-one writing Sever years in he fate, wa stil noled in the neo ‘lasses which wat calminate in his opera The Rake’ Prop rest of 1958 ‘Among those newer gues whove downplaying of modernity sssscompensitedforby greater public acceptance, Prokofiev and Shostalovich were prolific as eve, and only ther diful polit cal situation i the Soviet Uaion seemed to standin the way of the highest achievement. In England and Frnce the erstwhile ft tribes Wiliam Walton ad Darius Milhad the ater Sn alterate-year resident inthe United Sates) contin to ‘write, and the very American Aton Copland was comsaliating tnd extending his meputation a5 our most conderable usa Faw Tes posible retrospect to ce that al thi sty co poston, though hardly as central t the wier culture se the works of earier composers hal been, belonged tothe sain Stream «kind of writing tational In bth aesthetic nd tech nique One can even see ths Kind of mide of the-oud at a& loyal prodct of burgenis socket) nowhere more sy paradox telly, than in zevolutionary Rusia, whee Stalin and Zhdanoy were ying to resuscitate the corpse of Victorian esthetics, Bat Whatever the sca sytem sm which these moderate comers worked, and whatever ther pst innovations, by Ig4s they seemed neither toe breaking new ground inthe charter of {heir muse nor tobe disturbing their esentlyaommodating relation tothe audience and t sity,106 ‘THE Music Tis mainatream activity, inthe work sch ney important figures ax Benjanin Briton in England and Willa Schuman sad Leonard Bertin in Ameri, ws to conte and remain ‘oll the present day ponblechace fr contemporty com psiton. Bat the survival pst way ofersting int the present oes not alter the ft that fr at leat ee pt tity yeare the word new” in compostion had two es. Rsodinay wae has Then simply a consey that work heist been writen is ore Important we hasbeen to convey the Wesogkal message that ‘he workin question posesies qualities of style which lace itn the avantarde, a movement revolutionary és purpor, bit cally impaled in techie, eves in reference t the pat ‘al andacius in regard to the present “The history ofthis advanced se since Workd War Is the stoy ofthe development, aft separate but ter merge of two conceptions—fcedot and order. The redo Sought Was the possi for compotes (and aero performers to se any resaare they might nd attractive a any poit fom the writing ‘fhe music tot reception bythe stone. The order sgh Solved the subjection a the musical material by the compose to the mst rigorous at conscious intellectual control in the wrt Ing and to silly conscious physical contin perma, thisconto! was tobe tase bth upon the generation ofthe om poston from musi clements a careily dented ws possible and wpon the excson from their treatment of structural 2c ‘ident or sentimentality The rot of both thew ukimately metaphysical els ay, ax Iniht be expected, i peor developments ong back tothe cay typos: To asian extent these gal were both exenoplie in the Me and mush of the most elects sigiea om ost ofthe pst century. Amold Schoenberg From his bea ‘ings a Tosh hyperromanticit extending the sole forms of ‘Wagner, Strauss and Mahler, Schoenberg had exhasted the posites of complexity and sheer size alike; ater the Fist ‘Quartet (903), he ventured increasing int expressionism, into Yesterday's New Muse v7 ted depo of previously rpresed mations Ahrough mail means of hitherto uninagned dsonance ad seeming orlesenens. Though infact ingens constructed, this musie—Best known ie Parra Luna (aa) ae writen Stl sgn called fre atonal” and struck teers a ‘madness ad antrhy Tt hase om the word ‘But this kind of sting did nt sata Schoener’ rete ‘raving fr order Soin gat was born hs gest bert com tribution to muse: "the method of compsion with wel tones related only teach ober” in this mocentsounding phrase was ‘contained both the destruction of tonaiy—the euphoria trol of chords and keys whi under what we hea aya Sea" muse and «new ste rigiro enough atacand Sat the most cholate inclined of nade compen Given Sehocsherrspropensty toad theory a dpi, eas tone hough perhaps Biting the igh a iss ntl ‘nee hat hie mot consequential pupil during his years of Ame. ‘ean ele shuld have een the compo, writer and sometime Imyelogt Jon Cage. Under Cage's benign exterior lisa streak ‘ot aethetie lin which has wot oly infaenced the Kind of ‘usc tdiy’suptndite composers writ, but lo our very en af what means tobe an avant gure composer Indeed inthe words of Schoenberg himsel, Cae was perhaps nota composer tal but rather "an vento of yeni” Fell {ng wpom his eal faterest In eres mie in 598 he i seated the prepared plano, by which the insertion of met ‘wo, and ber abjees between the pan strings produces ex ‘te pitched and unpitched sounds diferent fr each note so treated. is earch for now suds led hi rer long the lines explored by Edpw Varese and by Cage's vm teacher Henry Cowell the inventor othe tone cuter, a which the keys ‘ofthe plano were smacked by palm, 8st, am, ors tat even more totes might be sounded at once-—by a bord. Whereas Schoenberg hud med aand inthe eyes a is supporters sc ceeded inthe emancipation ofthe disonance fom the fy108 THE MUSIC what was accepted as consonee, Cae nos seal 81907. sought the liberation of aconstal phenomens themselves frm Whit he regarded as "s-ciled musical sound For Cage, the ature of msi ay with the vst by of sounds in the past alle note. At must Instruments seeted tthe time iacurbly specialized fr the production of msl sands notes and harmonies —Cage began by working with clot sound sources, writing fn 1399 Imaginary Landscape Xe tf two vaable-sped phonograph taraables plying frequen re ‘cording long wth mated uno and cymbal. Twelve year ter head vanced to magnary Landscape No.4 fr 12 alos, 4 players, and conductor. The realy revoltionary aspect of this ‘work is detonstated bythe ft that ts ntl lure in pero ‘munce-by the time Cage's pace was gen toon the evening's program, to fe radio stations were leon thew fo prove the ecessry sound material—hardly batered the corpner and ‘onfimed fr hi (as fare In revolution always des or is ‘sppoters the conceptual sperionty ofthe enterprise "Arcane sen fom his seo radios to prove material, Cage Id become interested in the possi fleeing compowes From the neces to choose and write down each indivi ote ‘on the basis of 5 relation tothe preceding notes Ths, i the ‘ame year sis pice for radios, he composed Muse of Chon, 2 work for piano solo i whch the notes to be played by the Pianist were determined ia thei pitches, does, dunton tempos, and sequences by consttion, through the mediation of coin tose, with the Chine orale book I Ching ‘One yur later, in 1952, Cage achieved the ltinate chance composition and perhaps not quite by aden! thie reached 8 level of publi notoriety grate to ew arise creators in oo time. Deciding thatthe nls whch ineitalysuround we ane a hasta otereting a anything u composer might write, he ‘onovived the ntorios 433" 4 work in thee movements af presence for any combination of istraments whatever, with nly exact durtions and abence of sound specied. This was not ‘se but pure theater, the “performance” by pianist David “Tudor proved, Tudor simply st at he pan losing fl bord Yesterday's New Music 109 (the fit which covers the kes) atthe beginning of each of the works movements in acordance with the compose’ dietions inthe atherwse empty score A about the sme time Cage became futher involved in elae- tronic mas, composing Willams Mis for eightrack tape By 198 he hal ured tape muse to chance in Fontana Mfr, de tered asa «score fr The production of one or ore tape trac) ofr any number ofinsrument, orb prerecorded tape smateral to he performed in any way.” Chance techniques were Applied to purely instrumental pieces at well, im Variations 1 (G99 for "payer an any kind nd number fetes” the former) 5 (ae) required to choose nates and ayes with Yegard only to chats containing schematic nation and weten instructions. The ltr Variations Vhs no us crea all in Ateplce the performer sien general deseription of past pr Jormances,snong them one (acording to an article on Ce by Is flyer Chetan Wolf containing “dance by Merce Cun ogham, film material by Stn Vanderbeek seca electronic fuipment inloding electric eyes 50 thatthe movements of No dancers would tigger sound soquenses, television sate sl by Nam June Pa. and lighting and senery by Robert Rauschenberg Inthe meantine svant-gade muse Europe had started out after 1945 by choosing a compostina aesthetic based upon the ‘ther side af Schoenberg, his concer with order: Only nthe ‘ery Bint year afer the war wat the influence of Schoener Uirough the teaching of his pup René Lebowite, anything Ike Aiety felt. Soon Schoenberg was being deiivey over Shadowed as war his mort ditinguised diple Alban Berg — bythe manic and even more the example of Anton Webern 0 Schocnbergs pupil and with Berg and Schoenberg member of the Viennese serial ii, Webern's small body af mature work ‘onalsted of short, spuse sounding works of the est complex ‘nd ingenions onntzaton: his ater works were careflly wren ‘ccording to Schoenberg+ method of twelve-tne oganton ‘But whereas both Schoenberg and Berg hd comprsed worksno ‘THE Music of essentially romantic sensibility, diss in their open emo- tonality and abated selinulgence, Webern constant ped down his here, xcesring masive combinations of i struments infor of tdi razmented mele Bes: We emis fw notes, writen in say utlzing preci cm trapuntal devices, seed work! smal, peret, ad totaly ‘ontalled. Weber this hrcae a beavenent model for the Widely fle masa reaction agaist bith classic and rman tissm. And nt ony was Webern valid hero forthe new ‘seneraton by the nglet he and his marie had slr Set an eternal seal on his martyrdom, he ad been killed in {o45~but ater the war was over—by an overeagey Americ solder who mistakenly thought the gentle composer wae tack ng i These general considerations of Weber 3 an example of the nisi predicament ride, what ceed well a young Ee eam composes about his work was what they sw eh atempt to bud ie compositions out of » very few “preored” ele ‘ments, stat the entre composton seed the inevitable out ‘ame herent ine constituents. In Weber tees constivents ‘were largely melodic and thus based on pitch ut they lo clued color dynamics, and shyt, Now composers aternpted to tet all the parameters of musi among them pitch, drt tion, amplitude, timbre. and articulation as Schoenberg had required pitch tloge be weated. Thos i = quasimathemtia sy, each element of muse could be avembled fat own Series, with each undupisted pitch, duration, ete signed ‘numeral vale based epom the order in which was fist stated the series ands parts cou be inverted, retrograded, and tan posed according toa predetermined scheme which grveraed to {great an extent x powble what occurred and where such ce. ‘utrenoes took ple “The Girt tempt (hough oly analogical seri at sch pre formation was mie s 3949 by the French composer Olver Messiaen, in his etude Mode de eleurs ct dintnsitis. Mes: siten wae vy more infuenced msl by his French Catho- Te religiosity and fondness for birdaong thin by any aesthetic Yesterdays New Music a sympathy fr Schoenberg and Webern, and so he didnot follow Up is ist experiment. In any ease, the inflece ofthe exper tment hardly stemmed fom st ati achievement. Rather tres theft ofthis short work to be natied by the fo sein ‘rind ofthe poster avantpirde, Pierre Bole and Karlhela? SocShasee, In thi epurate waya—Baen savagely polemical ted pasonately intellect and Stockhausen inlined toward Technolog inmovation and. peronal mysicm-these two ‘en person he erly search for total determin a muse The rationality with which they worked now seems both a ‘Weiland teeing For example, Houler’s most totaly pre Formed compostn, Stracres 1 (35-5a)—tbaeed onthe pth ‘order of Mestaens 19g Mode de eaeury—mas writen flowing the preparation of matric ables consisting ofthe numerical val esl he orignal series of plone retogrdes and thei iver Som, and ther transpositions. These tables were then used to determine all ote durations, dynamics, nd modes of tack, well sto determine the onder in whic the mote series the selves wore used ‘Thongh Boer ws tobe infuentil—among many ater re sons prciely fo his achievement of tal controle ieell Soon abandoned the rigyousapplietion of his ox former pein ‘pes Stockhausen, by contra, remained fr many year (pe Tap bess he ws ot intersted, as Boles deeply ws, athe performance ofthe rns of eters commited tothe role of the ‘omporer a itaor over bath his composition and the mis ‘Gans who ply them, More seduced by the posits of ma neti tape than Boule ever was StocKhauen a i tape aoe ‘ium which ered total conta to the composer Fr on tage though working with these early yours was ineficien and horribly tie-consuming, pitch cold be com tele both by the signa the tape was electron fed an by the speed at which the tape as run by the payback head Fythm and duration werent only mater of tape speed but ‘even ore conveniently of tape length to be determined by ‘measurement sith ale; tire was 2 mater bath af salae be tn na THE MUSIC generators and Frequency fering and dynam were spl Aletermined by stings ofthe gun contol In fact the compan ‘ul now be the performer and once it pe war made, scan (aed sown permanent and uavarying retin Ie isla to avo the impression tt what aninated Stock uses and his flowers whether they worked with ape alone ‘or ar Stockhausen often dd, wth conventional intraments sed Insuch away a erssingly to resemble electronic sources—was the desire terete a ne sanding msc from srt, Stock Tuten put well the Gist ine of De he, x prods devoted to the new muse which peated fam 1955 019 A sound which eso a cern mde frre there n> ‘eevance ote the pata companion fr nih ha be ede. For ths the ue prepared leet the se sono he ‘Ste stpes” can ever be chad ieee, ed al Std whch have Ben rested scr othe sacar pater of ‘nc conpontion ve estoy when te empeton competed Not only does this apply to the did work of one com poser; the destruction af which Stockhausen wrote could be ‘lied in wider sense to mise memory self and the block lays presents tothe acceptance of anything ne: This poston yas hen bilan and sympathetically pu in a ecet history of avantgarde muse by the English componer and writer Renal Smith Brindle nthe ptr er, oa th sot dialtone ogapin’ was our oun ml menorin: Ost winds eran Get ‘nota what meni spats Tg ‘Zeenble anlar gator To ld thi waders a [Eee rsonngand the a of hugh proces int wich meee ‘Stat hee Tl wu recy the aro the ng integral sera, I an theory a leat se af compton ‘thch age comport hk obec nd chant emery, sb ‘Sate nel tage foe pnt be ot nee ‘ma cae Yesterday's New Music ny Te needed litle imagination to predict the reaction ofthe msc public to the demand thats purtcipte in the destrcton of ‘scl memory. But even within the avant gue movement Sel this ata of ttl conto, a ater how lea impecca be and psychologically sitting, could bury ast. Upon com posers it ld the obligation te thinker rather than instinctive Imusic: fom performers when they wre allowed int the leture all stdemanded absolutely Gath execution of the uel detailed notation ofthe extreme completes required by Seralzton. And upon even the mos favorably disposed kt ‘ners placed the Burden of hearing and dcriminaing sang sound evens whose very complesty and direntition iad ‘her sem both opal, Forall of Stackhausen's commitment t intel control— has daring his career subjected other, non spesflly musical shenomena to sich manipulation scading compeehensblty fd confsin, density and complet, at well a symmetry fad asymmetry—he tao reazed the nature ofthis cl-e-sc, bythe mi-g5os he was ooking or way to ring ack see portant role forvartation and magiation in composition ard per Foemance aie. Iwas clear tht this way at ould motivo 4 return tothe past. How ponuble rch a retin was perceived to be can be gathered rom a 1g57 comment of Herbert Eimer, ‘dior vith Stockhausen, in ie Rete: ‘There iletacioa between aan expen msc andthe ] 9 stmt burs oto ot tay ether txt Singard or dosnt eu al Tiss oe ttl aera het he sng te (Gu while nas ths nether pole nordesable ge pe > Ube charetrc nd aay a reed the ene {sce por toate te ow cermin sage “hj Cn beth sr ae di of Ween a6 Staten had en Sve, lect he ‘actos Hoe the perc alone ots +ae ‘THE Music oder, determined by wherever hi eye has happened o iho the musi, in which any of the woes nneten sections ae layed: when one ofthese section met wth othe hid tine, the performance i over, More than order islet to the det ‘ofthe perfonner: he is dretd to besa the “frst” sexton a tempo, loudnes, and attack of his own chica the en ofthis section he is gen perormanceintuctions applying eval to ‘whichever section he chase o continue wth ‘Though Staciaase's une of chance a described above ws Jarl epoca the effet af chance nthe extreme ar adopted by Gage the 19598 and son oe picked up in Europe was to complete the process begun carer i 49)" of tansoring ‘musiinto form of theater. Thr kind of theater was of corse ar removed fom tational pefarmance of either the cass oF the ordinary new well-made play. The thestor in which co posers were sow involved wat much closer ns emphass on Improwstion, othe ides of ation piting as proces em ing from the painter's uncoasios and performed y the ody ‘upon the canvas Indeed, an atsctve model for ms was he pening,” frst performed by a Cage-oranized group at Blick Mountain Colege te 195, which ince Charles Olen, M,C Hichans, David Tudor, Hobere Mauschenberg, Merce Cu singh, and Cae bial. ‘Stockhausen actaully wrte a kind of happening, described by himself as“ musta theater” Oripnale (gh) consists fae nngeof elements, among them peonle ding whit they wally to in vale Two musician play Kota an eater sore by Stockusen; ctr acta technician makes recordings street Singer sings street sony, and a newsvendo comes in t sll papers. Even in works af Stockhauen where the performer a "ions do not sem in contest utes bizare, the element ofthe ser sl eame to occupy an important ple. tm Mus far ein ws (1), fr imtance, colletive composition by members of his composition clara the Darstait Vaation Causes for ‘New Muse was conceived to be performed by instrumentalists assigned to cach of teen compover Yesterdays New Musi us ‘soma tin an ial to chang hs tenn peepee tn the Howse tw Wha the tremens hyped wp by mw ‘wom al yey tty pia ne ‘he far ra le y's dieser wh te ‘yer omy rent oon te bt Sn the ms an {rom te therm. Klos ay at conte ‘om rey ofthe se ml Sr me er oe eat spe 1. precisely this profsion of vs and ther elements which makes any evaluation ofavat garde muse emusic di Felt And yet since thew pieces under the name af msi, they deal require evaluation in emul terms. So fortenate that this period sa comprehensively documented on reco Some ofthe most charsteritic work ofthe ate 990s a he fulminating decade of the agin have teen preserved by Deutche Grammophon ova serie of dc ed beeen 19683 tl 1970. Cansieting of 98 ladivideal recor released tn tee ‘posix ech the eres wa simply called the ean Crde ‘The history of these record tuned oat to be «short ove Though the ere of the English record magazine Gramophone referred tothe cease af the st group of sian anal event, ‘omething reviewer ea ook Seward fo as winter doses hin.” no freer records were to fllow in the series and tne slr sued were soon being discontinued nd (Bat he United States) emindered. By 1978 mo trace of any of thet remained in the American Schwann LP Catalog. and only to ‘vere tll ited in Bieler is German equivalent Sting produced, with each jarket save one bering (nd ferent colors} handsome cover nthe syle ofthe American ‘olrfeldpaister Kenneth Nolind, the records ave centered round the mise of Stackhavsen; to him ae devoted thre em let discs and apart of another. Hardy len space-—t com let dics and parts of to othert—is vente the Angetine Mauss Kagel. Single record are alle to the German