Quartetski--the Montereal quartet of Isaiah Ceccarelli on percussion & synthesizer, Bernard Falaise on electric guitar, Philippe Lauzier on bass clarinet & synthesizer and Pierre on Yves Martel on electric bass, perform John Cage's 1992 Numbers work "Four6" and "One7", a variation on "Four6", an incredible and insightful interpretation of this fascinating work.
"Cage, the group's fourth release on Ambiances Magnétiques, is at once entirely consistent with the group's ethos and a radical departure. Those familiar with Pierre-Yves Martel's broader body of work -- with or without Quartetski stalwarts Philippe Lauzier, Bernard Falaise, and Isaiah Ceccarelli -- will recognise qualities in these pieces, "Four6" and "One7", that characterise his own music more directly than the group's previous, excellent releases: Thoroughly deliberate sound-making, attention to timbres in their manifold richnesses, space, and a calm spirit of discovery.
And yet, like all Quartetski projects, Cage declares its fidelity to the radical vision of its composer-namesake. In this way, by underscoring the affinities shared by both interpreters and composer, this may be the most 'personal' Quartetski record, but achieves this condition, paradoxically, by purging the personal, ridding this music's execution of the ego in such a satisfying, consummately Cagean way."-Scott Thomson
"Four6
Date
Begun in 1990, returned to and completed in 1992. Premiered in New York, July 23, 1992.
Ensemble Type
Quartet
Work Length
30 minutes
Instrumentation
For any way of producing sounds. Can be performed as a solo (first player's part) with One (EP 67208).
Comments
This work was later used as music for the choreographed piece by Merce Cunningham originally entitled Tune In/Spin Out (later Rondo, and still later and ultimately, Installations). In Cage's work, performers on unspecified instrumentation choose twelve different sounds each, with fixed amplitude, overtone structure, etc., and play within flexible time brackets. The first player's part may also be performed as a solo, thus entitled One7.
Dedicatee(s)
Pauline Oliveros to celebrate her sixtieth birthday and for Joan La Barbara, William Winant and Leonard Stein One7 dedicated: Pauline Oliveros on her sixtieth birthday"
"One7
This piece is the first part from Four6. The performer chooses 12 different sounds and plays within flexible time brackets.