Episode 68

Numbers

Playlist

1. John Cage, “49 Waltzes For The Five Boroughs” from The Waltz Project (17 Contemporary Waltzes For Piano) (1981 Nonesuch). Piano, Alan Feinberg, Robert Moran, Yvar Mikhashoff. Cage worked by using chance operations to make decisions about key aspects of his works. So, by the nature of his method, he worked strictly by the numbers. But the choices become multifaceted when you consider how he applied these random choices to the matrix of sound sources available for a given piece. “49 Waltzes for the Five Boroughs for performer(s) or listener(s) or record maker(s)” is a case in point. Think of the numbers. The work translates a graphic map containing 147 New York street addresses or locations arranged through chance operations into 49 groups of three (consisting of five players each). Cage used “hundreds of coin tosses and the I Ching” to arrive at a “tapestry” of sound, combining hundreds of traditional waltz fragments. First realized by Cage in 1977, the recorded version heard here uses three pianists playing the waltzes plus other ancillary sound making devices plus pre-recorded environmental tapes made in various parts of New York. 5:15

Background music:

• Numbers stations remix (Holmes) based on tracks found on “Recordings Of Shortwave Numbers Stations” by The Conet Project (1997 Irdial Discs).

Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.

Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.

For additional notes, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.