John Cage
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Branches |
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Order Reference: |
EWR 9901 |
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Medium: |
CD |
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Composer: |
John Cage |
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Performers: |
Ensemble daswirdas |
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"Branches" (1976) starts with a performance of "Child
of Tree" and is then followed by a random number of variations on Child
of Tree each of it lasting 8 minutes, all of which are separated from
each other by periods of silence, lasting 1-8 minutes. |
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John Cage says in the instructions to the piece "Child of Tree"
(1975): |
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Find 10 "instruments", one of which is a pod (rattle) from a
poinciana tree. These grow in Mexico (e.g. in Guernavaca). |
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Each player decides on the course of his score of Branches by
means of the I Ching. It is used to determine the arrangement of Child of
Tree and its variations, the number of instruments that are played in a
particular part, the choice of instruments (the pod is always reserved for
the last part, the others may occur in groups, but only once each) and the
length of the rests. |
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For this piece, you should use neither conventionally tuned
instruments nor any that are made from animal materials or metal. Especially
recommended are cacti (alive or dry) whose needles are plucked by using
toothpicks. |
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John Cage gave directions for improvisation, "because the
improvisation can’t be based on taste and memory since one doesn’t know the
instruments"(John Cage in an interview, 1982). |
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For this recording, we chose a room in which the usual criteria like
neutrality of sound, clear early reflections and high diffusion were not
necessarily the predominant features. The recording took place in the
colossal dam in Val Sumvitg (Grisons, Switzerland), excluding any sounds from
outside, and at a constant temperature of 6° C. The inner space of this
concrete building is divided into 7 chambers of varying size, which are up to
20 meters high or ca. 1000 m³ in volume. Connected by two corridors, they
form a system of acoustically coupled spaces. Microphones and speakers were
arranged to reach different response times from very present with quick early
reflections to far away with long echoes. |
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"daswirdas" is a group of seven musicians who perform experimental
and conceptual concerts and do performances. Up to now the emphasis has been
on works by John Cage, Urs Peter Schneider, Christian Wolff and Istvàn
Zelenka. |
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"daswirdas" consists of 2 guitarists, 2 cellists, 2 flutists
and an accordionist. |
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When the ensemble first performed Branches on May 12th, 1991 in
Zurich, John Cage was present as a listener. |
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