ジョン・ケージ、デヴィッド・チュードア、一柳慧
John Cage, David Tudor, Toshi Ichiyanagi

ジョン・ケージ・ショック Vol. 3
JOHN CAGE SHOCK Vol. 3

￥2500（税抜)
Overseas: $19.99

※写真は帯付きの状態です。(cover image with an obi)

+ All tracks are previously unissued
+ Joint production of Omega Point + EM Records
+ Tribute to the John Cage centenary and the
50th anniversary for his first Japan tour
+ Many scarce photos
+ Japanese - English liner notes including a
commentary by Toshi Ichiyanagi
+ Cardboard / gatefold paper jacket + obi + liner

In October 1962 John Cage and his great interpreter/co-visionary David Tudor visited Japan, performing seven concerts and exposing listeners to new musical worlds. This legendary "John Cage Shock", as it was dubbed by the critic Hidekazu Yoshida, is the source of this series of releases, three CDs and a "best hits" double LP compilation. Recorded primarily at the Sogetsu Art Center in Tokyo on October 24, 1962 (with two performances from October 17 at Mido-Kaikan in Osaka), all recordings in this series are previously unreleased. A major historical trove, unearthed.

The performances on this tour featured Cage and Tudor with some noteworthy Japanese musicians playing pieces by Cage and a number of other composers. Volume 1 begins with Toru Takemitsu's Corona for Pianists (1962), played by Tudor and Yuji Takahashi, an indeterminate piece scored using transparencies, a sign of Cage's influence on younger Japanese composers of the era. Following this is Duo for Violinist and Pianist (1961) by Christian Wolff, written specifically for David Tudor and violinist Kenji Kobayashi. The final piece, a near-twenty-minute realization of Variations II (1961), is a rare example of the rougher side of Cage, work that presaged much of the live electronic music and noise of the following decades, an aspect of his oeuvre which is woefully under-represented on CD. Cage and Tudor, using well-amplified contact microphones on a piano, deliver an electrifying performance, alternating distorted stretches of harsh 60s reality with bountiful silences.

Volume 2 lifts off with a fiery example of Tudor's piano virtuosity, his mastery of dynamics well evident in a performance of Klavierstück X (1961) by Karlheinz Stockhausen. The titular shock of this series is delivered even more forcefully with the next piece, Cage's Aria and Solo for Piano with Fontana Mix (1957-58/62), which was first performed the year before in Darmstadt by Tudor and Kobayashi, a combination of two of Cage's solo pieces. The performance here, from Osaka, has a slightly altered title and the composition becomes a seismic quartet with the addition of Toshi Ichiyanagi and Yoko Ono, with the four performers providing acutely-angled blasts of sound.

The final CD of the series features Cage's 0'00" (1962), also referred to as 4'33" No.2, performed by the composer, with daily activities such as writing and drinking coffee amplified by contact microphones into sonic abstraction, following the score's directions: "with maximum amplification (no feedback), perform a disciplined action". Next is Composition II for 2 Pianos (1960/61) by Michael von Biel, lovely and sparse, performed by Tudor and Ichiyanagi. The disc closes with Ichiyanagi's Piano Music #7 (1961), performed also by Tudor and Ichiyanagi, beds of silence disrupted by pianistic stabs, music box madness, traffic recordings, percussive thumps, tape manipulations and more.

The "John Cage Shock" series features truly historical recordings, all previously unreleased, of compositions by an amazing roster of international composers. The intensity of these performances by Cage, Tudor, Ichiyanagi, Kobayashi, Ono and Takahashi has remained hidden and unheard for half a century, but remains undiminished. These three CDs, as well as the special double LP (including a vinyl only bonus track), feature rare photos plus Japanese and English liner notes.

TRACKS:

1. John Cage - 0'00" (18:09)
Performer: John Cage

2. Michael von Biel - Composition II for 2 Pianos (6:12)
Performer: Toshi Ichiyanagi (pf) + David Tudor (pf)

3. Toshi Ichiyanagi - Music for Piano #7 (14:59)
Performer: Toshi Ichiyanagi (pf) + David Tudor (pf)

　2012年はジョン・ケージ生誕100年。そして1962年の初来日からちょうど50年でもある！この歴史的節目に、門外不出で封印されていたケージ幻の初来日ツアーの衝撃音源の数々を一挙公開！！
　ケージ本人やデヴィッド・チュードアが繰り出す爆撃のようなノイズの「Variations II」、日常的な行為を音楽として提示する「0分00秒」の世界初演、そして小野洋子が爆音の中で咆哮する「Aria and Solo for Piano with Fontana Mix」・・・彼らが本国やヨーロッパでさえ無理解の嵐に打ちひしがれながらも、真の前衛精神で創造しつづけた驚愕の音が、まだ実験音楽の芽もない日本でいきなりブチまけられたのだ。いわく「ジョン・ケージ・ショック」。

　CD店の棚の一角を占めるほど並ぶケージのディスク群に、このような作品は見あたらない。国内外を問わず、これら劇薬作品は作曲当時以外にはほとんどリリースされていないからで、ケージの容赦ないハードコアな側面を知ろうとしてもムリなのだ。しかし今からでも遅くはない。この「本当の衝撃」を即刻体験せよ！


＝JOHN CAGE SHOCK Vol. 3＝

1. John Cage - 0'00" (18:09)
Performer: John Cage

2. Michael von Biel - Composition II for 2 Pianos (6:12)
Performer: 一柳慧 (pf) + David Tudor (pf)

3. 一柳慧 - Music for Piano #7 ピアノ音楽第７ (14:59)
Performer: 一柳慧(pf) + David Tudor (pf)

　かの有名な「4′33″」の第２番として書かれたのがこの「0′00″」で、この演奏が世界初演。「最大の増幅が得られるようにし、抑制された行為をせよ」という指示書きに従い、文字を書いたりするガサゴソという音がノイズとなって放出される。一柳の初期のグラフィック作品「ピアノ音楽第７」も、ピアノや玩具などを使って炸裂するソリッドな音響が怪しくも美しい！他にビールの「Composition II」を収録。

・全曲未発表／世界初登場
・貴重・初出写真多数掲載
・日本語・英語解説ライナー封入（一柳慧氏による巻頭辞収録）
・2 面見開き紙製ジャケット・帯付属