"A notation should be directed to a large extent towards the people who read it, rather than towards the sounds they will make." (Cornelius Cardew, 1961) Discuss.

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"A notation should be directed to a large extent towards the people who read it, rather than towards the sounds they will make." (Cornelius Cardew, 1961) Discuss.

The endeavours of some Experimentalist composers in the 1950s and 1960s, including Cornelius Cardew and John Cage (parenthetically, Cage's own quote, 'Let the notations refer to what is to be done, not what is to be heard'1 , has resonances with the title quote) were a purposeful reaction to the determinacy of the Serialists. However, the notions of integral serialism and indeterminacy shared common elements in some eyes:

There is really no basic difference between the results of automatism and the products of chance; total determinacy comes to be identical with total indeterminacy....2

The way a piece is notated allows us to come closer to understanding 'the musical culture within which [notations] operate, and of the ways in which our modes of thought are influenced by the nature of the systems we use'3. This relates to the societal view that the composer is the one who has something to say, reducing the status of the performer to that of interpreter. However, this is not a view that has always existed; composers such as Mozart and Beethoven often expected performers of their works (including themselves, to which I shall return) to create improvised cadenzas for their concerti, while, additionally, the accompaniments were improvised to an extent. Reducing this to a basic level, is it simply the case that, harmonically and stylistically, it was not as difficult to do this in Mozart's time? We no longer have a tradition, or such a tonal system embodying a guiding code, to respect in this way, which has contributed to the prioritising of the composer, and the score.

Through our traditional respect for the written word, one expects to perform music as it is written, which itself has consequences: '...it is our veneration for the urtext that leads us to the attitude that 'whatever is not in the score must be wrong'."4 The movement towards greater notational detail in the score in the 1950s and 1960s, along with the aforementioned elevated view of composer as 'master' brought performers to a situation where "interpretation" became subjugated by "execution". Attempts to exert compositional control over every element of a work -that is not only time-space relationships but forms of attack, articulation, dynamic shading i.e. those elements traditionally left to the musical intelligence of the player - do posses a certain futility. In every case which involves human input, something is left to the performer. They do not have to be aware of the extent that their unconscious 'decisions' influence a piece, which include the elements of performance out of the possible control of the composer, for example a player's personal style, method of playing their instrument, conception of dynamic level. Players still take latitude, however determinate the notation. Their personal mannerisms and inflections will inevitably influence the end result. When viewed in this way, such precision on the part of the composer becomes almost meaningless, except in cases where the end result being an approximation is intentionally part of the composer's aesthetic.
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It arises that performers must be cautious of the primacy of the score, handling it (and the composer) with 'kid gloves'. It leads to narrow scope for, and range of, interpretation "...a state in which the interaction of compulsive exactitude and permissive freedom could result in simultaneous attitudes of carelessness towards the controlled elements and a confined and repetitious response to spontaneity in playing"5. Freeing oneself from the page became an important part of the experimental aesthetic.

Conscientious performers feel a responsibility to the composer, and to their own integrity. Over-complexity in notation leads to problems ...

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