[silence] Performing Number Pieces with Major Orchestras

[Clemens Gresser]

I completely agree with that: to me, the whole point of the number
pieces, and Rob Haskins might have something to add here, seems to me
a conductorless performance. I would hope (!) that orchestral
musicians can follow the instructions without a person constructing a
score or parts (there are parts already, why create performance
parts?), and I have seen the Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt
perform some of the number pieces at the Frankfurt Feste in 1992, and
they looked happy enough and concentrated - following their part and
the synchronised clock being shown on several monitors.

Indeed, I think a rehearsal (e.g. as in playing the whole piece with
the ensemble) or a "run-through" couldn't be more counter-intuitive,
as some traditional-minded musicians might try to find nice
harmonies/clashes etc... I just think Zurich and Europeras here. This
is also somewhere more eloquently expressed in my Ph.D. thesis, but
I'm actually trying to do something other than reading through that,
at the moment  :-)

Clemens

2008/12/14 Glenn Freeman <glenn@ogreogress.com>:
> Based on my experience recording these works with orchestral players
> (both in Grand Rapids and in Prague) here is my suggestion to
> conductors:
>
> Instead of a rehearsal or rehearsals provide a copy of Cage's written
> instructions along with the parts. The conductor meets alone with each
> musician for 10 minutes or longer. Ask each musician to play his part
> (from the beginning) for 1 minute and then randomly choose another 4
> minutes of the piece to be played. Make comments based on what
> happens. Take questions from the performer. The conductor is
> encouraged to not provide any approach or interpretation but rather to
> simply be there in order to help increase the other musician's
> understanding of the rules Cage makes so clear in the music. Schedule
> additional appointments for musicians who still seem unclear.
>
> There are potentially numerous other methods ... but this is how I
> would do things.
>
> Glenn Freeman
> OgreOgress productions
> http://ogreogress.com
>
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