Notes From Nonesuch H-71237:Bertram Turetzky is one of today's unique concert artists: he has directed his musical career toward expanding the repertoire for and the resources of his instrument, the contrabass. His concern with twentieth-century American music for the contrabass has in ten years more than doubled its existing chamber literature. His work over the same period in the expansion of timbral resources has been reflected not only in many of these new compositions (over a hundred have been written especially for him) but also in several published articles (Source, The Composer, Sound Post magazines). His appearances as virtuoso concert performer feature works from the new repertoire, as do his three previous solo recordings. Born in Norwich, Connecticut, in 1933, Mr. Turetzky did academic work at the New York University graduate school and at Hartt College of Music. He cites bassist David Walter, oboist Josef Marx, and lutenist Joseph Iadone as those men who most contributed to his musical development; he is presently a member of the music faculty of the University of California at San Diego.
The recent spate of recordings of the music of John Cage seems to have largely ignored his instrumental compositions. One of the major contemporary string works,
26'1.1499" for a String Player, written in 1955, is one of these; it is to be hoped that this premiere recording of the work will bring it the attention it deserves from string players. Cage's notes on the work (from the admirable catalogue of his works published by C. F. Peters) are important:
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6'1.1499" for a String Player is graphed like 59'1/2" for a String Player... but in actual time, the amount of space equaling a second being given at the top of the pages. The compositional means were complex involving both chance operations and observations of the imperfections in the paper upon which the piece was written.... The rhythmic structure is 3, 7, 2, 5, 11. This piece may be segmented at structural points indicated by dotted lines and the segments superimposed in any way to make duets, trios, quartets, etc. The graphing procedure is described in the composer's notes to 59 1/2" for a String Player:
"Tone productions on the four strings are separately graphed, individual spaces being provided for each string, the range of each of which is determined by the player. Noises on the box, vibrato, and bowing pressure are also graphed. Only indications for direction and place of bowing and changes from hair to wood employ conventional symbols. The piece may be played on any four- stringed instrument."
Cage's notation, therefore, is developed in a manner analogous to the tablature used for stringed instruments such as the lute in the Renaissance, with a separate horizontal line for each string and symbolic instructions as to what to do presented along these lines. Similarly, the tempo-marking, with the pulse indicated by the equally-spaced marks along the score, can be considered graphically analogous to the tactus used by Renaissance performers against which, and into which, the music was placed. Mr. Turetzky's "tactus" for recording the piece was a "click track" recorded from a metronome to assure fidelity to the temporal development of the notation. His performance is from a brilliant realization made by the young Los Angeles composer Harold Budd, which, following one of Cage's suggestions for the piece, superimposes different portions of the score to form a multi-tracked version.
Labels: Avant Garde Project, jodru, John Cage
