Cage, John
Etudes Australes For Piano
Rare & Collectible Vinyl Records

Sealed 1979 2LP Gatefold Original. "Like Cage's Magnificent Piece Atlas Eclipticalis, Scored For A Soloist On Up To An Orchestra Of Soloists, The Etudes Australes Are Also Composed Of Notes Derived From Star Maps. These Thirty Two Piano Etudes, Each Two Pages/eight Systems Long, Are Divided Into Four Books. There Are Two Kinds Of Written Notes To Be Played: Completely Filled (Sometimes Attached By A Single Line Like A Chord But Most Often Isolated Points), Or Empty Circles. The Pianist's Right Hand Part Is Indicated On Two Staves And The Left Hand Is Indicated On Another Two Staves. Both Hands Play Notes That Are Located Over The Entire Range Of The Keyboard, Including Many Large Jumps Between Extreme Registers. But Since There Are No Tempo Or Dynamic Indications Given In The Score (These Are Left To The Performer's Discretion), A Performance May Be Technically Virtuosic Or Not. Consequently, Any Apparently Expressive Or Emotional Events That Occur Are Created By The Performer Or A Listener's Sensibilities (Including Habits). Concerning An Overall Tempo And The Difficulties Of The Piece, Cage Invites The Performer To "Shift Gears" When Necessary, As May Sometimes Become Necessary "When Traveling Through Space".

Diamond-shaped Notes Or A Single Note At The Beginning Of Each Etude Indicate Keys Which Are To Be Pressed Down Silently For The Entire Etude; This Is Usually Accomplished By Using Rubber Wedges To Keep The Key Or Keys Depressed. The Depressed String(S) Is Affected By The Notes Played Around It, And Will Produce Corresponding Harmonics In Reaction To Them.

" ... The Correspondence Between Space And Time Should Be Such That The Music 'sounds' As It 'looks'. " The Proportions Between The Notes Create The "Time" In This Score. The Notion Of A Linear, Progressive (Historical) Time Is Abandoned. As A Note To Performers, Cage Has Remarked That He Prefers That The Notes Be Allowed To Stand On Their Own Integrity, Without A Performer-imposed Sense Of Forward, Linear Motion.

Of The Four Defined (But In Reality Not Entirely Separate) Components Of Sound (Amplitude, Phase, Frequency And Time), The Time Parameter Is Perhaps The Essence Of Music, Because Music Fundamentally And Uniquely Deals With The Maintenance Of Time. The "Zero" Or Suspended Linear Time That Cage Proposes Here, Is One Of Several Kinds Of Time." AMG - Gene Tyranny.