Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm

“Song Books” consists of ninety Solos for Voice, Nos. 3 – 92.  Nos. 1 and 2 and Nos. 93-97 are independent.  Solos should be chosen to fill a performance time.  Multiple performers, they should choose their performance independently and let them overlap as they may.  The performance may also include simultaneous performances of other indeterminate music.

Each solo is “relevant or irrelevant” to the phrase “we connect Satie with Thoreau.”  Solos may involve songs or theater, with or without electronics, as indicated by the combination of letters after the title (S = Song, T = Theater, E = with Electronics).  Many of the electronic pieces have references to dials, referring to electronic manipulation devices, which I guess Cage assumed would have dials.  This aspect of the work is not quite clear to me.

A short version that can be used as an index precedes the more detailed description of the solo.  Hopefully I am not violating any copyrights.  In italics under individual pieces are random notes of my own, usually on the content of the score, some of which is amusing.

The first “book” comprises Solos 3-58, and the second Solos 59-92.  The separation into two books is a bit peculiar, since the second references the first extensively.

There exist several recordings of some of the solos, especially “The Year Begins To Be Ripe.”  The vast majority of solos have never been recorded, even those which are not theatrical.

Studiengang Gesang/Musiktheater der Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst

Spieler: Hye-Jin Lee, Jolana Slavikova, Maren Schwier, Dalila Denic, Andrea Cueva-Molnar, Paul Yan, Johannes Meyer, Aiofe Gibney * Klangregie: Andrés Fernandez * Szenischer Unterricht/Regie: Alexander von Pfeil * Ausstattung: Lisa Nikstatt * Szenische Gesamtleitung: Jan-Richard Kehl * Musikalische Gesamtleitung: Günther Albers * Musikalische Einstudierung: Irina Buch