Abstract

PASSAGE 7: John Cage

incidents, texts, conversations, and music

Roger Reynolds

One in a series of intermedia creations by Roger Reynolds, this centers on a poet in America: John Cage as composer, writer, philosopher, visual artist, and performer. The presentation offers a personalized perspective on (and around) Cage and his work. Subjects for Reynolds’s texts include ENCOUNTERS (his first meeting with Cage), CHANCE AND INDETERMINACY (as manifested in life), SHARING (meals), THE SPACE OF SILENCE (doing an interview with Cage), CONTEXT OR FEATURES (an exploration of how musical experiences mean), and CHAGRIN (a detailed discussion of an interaction with Cage involving his “Themes and Variations” text). Also included are recorded passages from a conversation between Cage and Reynolds at the University of Toronto (on Duchamp, cooking, Thirty Pieces for Five Orchestras, and Cage’s view of his work), as well as some of the Indeterminacy stories as recorded by Cage. The texts are spatialized, both live and recorded readings, and are interpenetrated by projected images and also performances by pianist Jenny Lin of Cage’s SEASONS (excerpts), Quest (complete), and ONE (complete), the first of the late number pieces.