The full two-hour performance of Cornelius Cardew's entire 193-page legendary Treatise graphic score, performed at Iklectik in London, England on January 28, 2017 in an 11-member ensemble of some of London's most interesting improvisers including participants in Scratch Orchestra, in a double CD release with liner notes by AMM founder Eddie Prevost.
Label: Split Rock Records Catalog ID: SR18001 Squidco Product Code: 25593
Format: 2 CDs Condition: New Released: 2017 Country: USA Packaging: Jewel Case Recorded at Iklectik, in London, England, on January 28th, 2017, by Rick Campion.
Cardew was a part of the British experimental artist movement, a member of ground-breaking London improvisation ensemble AMM Music, and a contemporary of Stockhausen, Cage, and Young. He was one of the most prominent avant-garde composers of the 20th Century, and founded many influential improvisation groups including the Scratch Orchestra. His compositions include Treatise (1963-67) a 193 pages graphic score, and The Great Learning (1968-1971).
Once described as ÒThe Mount Everest of graphic scoresÓ, Treatise raises questions about the purpose and interpretation of scores, forcing the performers to rethink their engagement with both the intentions of the composer, and their own instruments. As such, the usual practice of pre-performance rehearsal is replaced by the need for pre-performance reflection:
ÒReflection before a performance. A musical score is a logical construct inserted into the mess of potential sounds that permeate this planet and its atmosphere.Ó
Ð Cornelius Cardew, Treatise Handbook, p.vii col. 2 pp.5
We have respectfully expanded upon this quote with our secondary theme: ÒA Shared Sense of UncertaintyÓ. This is our response to CardewÕs writings, his recorded intentions, the Treatise Handbook, John TilburyÕs biography, and other recordings by Cardew and AMM, which have all fed into our considerations for this performance. Rather than organising the performers in the usual manner of a score, Treatise engages the performers using the uncertainties of notation, magnified to such a degree by the composer that the performer must rely, in the moment, upon their experience and intuition as they respond to the score and to their fellow performers alike.
It is modestly hoped that this performance will help to highlight that Cardew remains an extremely important modern British composer who passed on much too young, and we hope to honor him and his legacy.
The performance will run approx. 2 hours in length (two, one hour halves with a break in between). The score will be projected on a screen behind the musicians and the musicians will have monitors in front of them. The audience will be able to follow exactly what the musicians are seeing in real time.
We feel this approach will be highly interactive musically as well as involving and enveloping the audience fully. Many of the people performing met at the regular Friday improvisation workshop run by CardewÕs band-mate, Eddie Prevost, which has continued regularly for 16 years.
Performers:
Antonio Acunzo Olie Brice Tony Hardie-Bick Ken Ikeda Daniel Kordik Ed Lucas Elo Masing Keisuke Matsui NO Moore Jordan Muscatello Ed Pettersen A Young PersonÕs Guide to Treatise: http://www.spiralcage.com/improvMeeting/treatise.html