Graph T is one of the most virtuosic of David Tudor’s graph-realizations in the first realization. Again, John Cage’s choice of words in his instructions is strange. It is not clear what an “influence” is. What is clear is that the amoebas “grab” pitch material and temporal duration that should be played as a moving cluster. As with the others, Tudor translates the amoebas into traditional notation, with sharp lines indicating swipes of the palm or finger to fill out the contours of the cluster. Cage’s system of numbered dynamics (1–64) Tudor translates to his standard conventional scale of 0.5–10.5 (in blue ink). At the premiere, as with many of the excerpts, the sonic result is something like a pianistic version of psychosis. Again, as with graph J, Tudor could have fully complied with Cage’s graph by excerpting just a few clusters and playing them at a slow speed. By playing it fast, and in its entirety, he foregrounds his own Artaudian voice—a spectacle of an abstracted, formalized, and impersonal violence. In the Town Hall performance, Tudor executes graph T between 4′20″ and 4′55″.
Solo for Piano by John Cage © 1960 by Henmar Press Inc. Permission by C.F. Peters Corporation. All rights reserved. With permission of WERGO, Copyright © 1993. WERGO, a division of Schott Music & Media GmbH. Animated score developed by Michael Gallope and produced by Greg Albers.
