John Cage

(1912-92)

mode 296

The Works for Percussion 4

$14.99$24.99

mode 296 John CAGE: Cage Edition Vol.52, The Works for Percussion 4 — A Flower; The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs; 51’15.657” for a speaking percussionist (realization Whiting); Music for Two (By One) (realization Whiting) — Bonnie Whiting, voice & percussion + Allen OTTE/John CAGE: Connecting Egypt to Madison through Columbus Ohio, Cage, and the History of the American Labor Movement (realization Otte) — Allen Otte, voice, prepared piano, percussion. CD or Bluray. BLURAY version includes full video and 48khz/24-bit PCM audio + 73 minute video interview with Whiting and Otte, discussing Cage and his processes, the works and how they assembled them

Mode 296: John Cage Vol. 52 - Works for Percussion 4.
The Works for Percussion 4 - CD

1. A Flower (1950) 3:40

2. 51’15.657” for a speaking percussionist (2010) 51:22
a solo-simultaneous realization of 45’ for a speaker (1954) and 27’10.554” for a percussionist (1956). Realization by Bonnie Whiting

3. Music for Two (By One) (2011) 13:38
a solo-simultaneous realization of Music for _____ (1984-1987) for solo voice and solo percussion.
Realization by Bonnie Whiting

4. The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs (1942) 2:52

5. ALLEN OTTE (b. 1950) / JOHN CAGE
Connecting Egypt to Madison through Columbus Ohio, Cage, and the History of the American Labor Movement (2011) 7:18
incorporating Music for Marcel Duchamp and Variations 2
Allen Otte, voice, prepared piano & frame drums

 

John Cage allowed for some of his works to be combined and performed simultaneously. Percussionist Bonnie Whiting has created  uniquely virtuosic solo-simultaneous realizations of some of these works for “speaking percussionist.”

51’15.657” for a speaking percussionist is Whiting’s solo-simultaneous realization of all of 45’ for a speaker (1954) and 27’10.554” for a percussionist (1956). Cage wrote 45’ for a speaker to perform himself. He wrote on thirty-two subjects and added a series of gestures (gargling, lighting a match, etc.) to be performed during the delivery. Like the percussion piece, each page is one minute long.

Between 1984 and 1987 Cage composed 17 pieces called Music for______. Any of these pieces can be performed alone or together in any combination. Here Whiting combines one of the percussion versions with the version for voice.

Her recital is completed by Cage’s two beautiful, classic, early pieces for voice and piano: The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs and A Flower. Here the piano is used as a percussion instrument, never played on the keys but rather knocked and slapped on by the pianist. As in the larger works, Whiting gives a tour de force performance of both parts simultaneously.

As a bonus, Whiting’s mentor Allen Otte (of Percussion Group Cincinnati) performs his work for speaking pianist/percussionist which is created around works of Cage and utilizing Cage’s compositional “tools” for both the music and text.

Liner notes by Bonnie Whiting.

Language : Sung and spoken in English.

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