John Cage is sitting in a hotel room in Stockholm late September 1958. He is about to prepare for a lecture he will give in Brussels the following week. Whether he is doubtful how to go about the task the story doesn't tell but pondering what to write he recalls a remark made years earlier by David Tudor that he should give a talk that was nothing but stories. Cage liked the idea, but had never acted on it, until now. He decides to write a series of stories and present them as a lecture. The title he gave his Brussels talk was Indeterminacy: New Aspect of Form in Instrumental and Electronic Music. That was the beginning of the compositional and collaborative process that led to the composition that we know today as Indeterminacy.

 

The rendition of Cage's composition that Radioart presents here is also made in Stockholm but fifty-seven years later. It is a rendition with a unique form and setup, while honouring the original intention of the composition the ensemble expands the performative possibilities. The stories are interwoven with a multilayered soundscape created by double bass and electronics, into which the listener is invited to co-compose her own experience.

 

Robin McGinley - voice

Niklas Billström - double bass

Ricardo Atienza - electronics

 

Recorded by Niklas Billström

Produced by Niklas Billström and Radioart

Recorded at The Studio, University of Arts and Crafts, Stockholm 2015.