This is a review of the New York Philharmonic’s premiere of John Cage’s Atlas Eclipticalis for orchestra under the leadership of Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein gave a didactic introductory lecture to the conservative New York Philharmonic audience beforehand that explained the philosophy and notation behind chance operations, insisting that the works are serious and should be taken seriously because of the rigor of their compositional procedures. The reviewer documents the fiasco that took place at the performance itself. This was a period when Cage and David Tudor made considerable use of amplification, and Cage’s score stipulates that contact microphones be attached to the instruments of the orchestra. The result was louder and more jarring than the music the philharmonic audience was accustomed to. Many walked out during the performance and many who stayed booed and jeered upon the performance’s conclusion.
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| Title | “Far-Out at the Philharmonic,” Time, 79–80 |
| Date | 14 February 1964 |
| Type | press clipping |
| Location | Getty Research Institute, M. C. Richards Papers, 960036, box 150, folder 7 |
Cite
“Far-Out at the Philharmonic,” Time, 79–80,
14 February 1964. Getty Research Institute, M. C.
Richards Papers, 960036, box 150, folder 7. In
The Scores Project: Experimental Notation in Music,
Art, Poetry, and Dance, 1950–1975, ed. Michael Gallope, Natilee Harren, and John
Hicks. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2025.
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