Oct 9, lecturing on 'Is John Cage dead?' conference
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- Published on Sunday, 09 October 2022 10:47
October 8-9, at the House of the Brotherhood of Blackheads in Tallinn, a conference 'Is John Cage dead?' dedicated to John Cage's 110. anniversary is held by ECCM with lectures reflecting on the legacy and possibilities of interpretation, but foremost - the relevance of Cage in present contemporary musical culture. I'm presenting a rather less known aspect of David Tudor, most notable and renowned as the pianist responsible for many of the premieres and pieces specifically written to him by the New York school of composers (Cage, Feldman, Brown). Several seminal Cage's works such as 4"33' and Music Of Changes were written specifically with Tudor as performer in mind. Not so well documented and oblique is David Tudor's progress in the mid 60s into his own performative practice with different aesthetic and instrumental approaches, specifically as the first solo electronic performer on DIY instruments and as concert installation artist. The lecture outlines the chronology and some traces of this transformation with references to You Nakai's comprehensive study on David Tudor's electronic instruments Reminded by the Instruments as well as presentations given in Berlin as part the Singuhr-projekte event 'David Tudor: Unexpected Territories' by Matt Rogalsky, John Driscoll and Phil Edelstein from Composers Inside Electronics (CIE) and Julie Martin from Experiments In Art And Technology, (EAT) who founded the 9 Evenings Of Theatre and Engineering in 1966. Talks with the presenters helped to form a personal viewpoint on the art, legacy and surroundings of David Tudor which I'm outlining in the lecture.