The thirteen orchestral parts for the Concert are essentially solo instrument parts with single attacks and a wide range of extended techniques. Many of them were created in conversation with individual performers who introduced John Cage to various nontraditional possibilities of each instrument. The performances of these parts displeased Cage. As the recordings featured here attest, these performers often played loudly and frequently competed with David Tudor. Some players strayed from the score with what Cage later described as “unprofessional” and “foolish” playing. Some responsibility for the difficulties seemed to lie with Cage; indeed, he was unaccustomed to writing for an orchestra, and the piece’s lack of traditional orchestration was inevitably going to lead to the different sounds stepping on one another’s toes. We might speculate: Did Cage realize he needed a stronger (dare we say “intentional” or “expressive”) hand in sculpting the result? Whatever the case, the difficulties exemplify a recurring problem Cage had when he was not working with trusted collaborators like Tudor. For his book Experimentalism Otherwise (2011) Benjamin Piekut interviewed the original performers from the New York Philharmonic who participated in the slightly later, and even more controversial, premiere of Atlas Eclipticalis (1964) under the direction of Leonard Bernstein.
Concert for Piano and Orchestra by John Cage © 1960 by Henmar Press Inc. Permission by C.F. Peters Corporation. All rights reserved.
