HPSCHD, John Cage's legendary Gesamtkunstwerk is a mass media orgy, considered by many as the wildest, largest and loudest musical composition of the 20th century. Its very nature is inextricable from the tumult of the year it premiered, 1969.
Issue Project Room presents this spectacle on May 3 and 4 in collaboration with Electronic Music Foundation and Eyebeam Art+Technology Center, as part of the 2013 Darmstadt Essential Repertoire series.
This new production features composer Joel Chadabe, who has directed performances of HPSCHD throughout the world, as artistic advisor. Keyboardist Neely Bruce, who performed at the 1969 premiere, plays in the harpsichord ensemble. Artist Bradley Eros curates an extensive body of film and video artists to interpret the immersive visual score.
Performances take place at Eyebeam Art and Technology Center on Friday, May 3 from 5 to 10 p.m. and on Saturday, May 4 from 1 until 6 p.m.
The audience is invited to arrive and leave at any time during the performance. Refreshments are available.
A collaboration between Cage and the electronic composer Lejaren Hiller, HPSCHD is known for being Cage's first and most significant foray into utilizing the computer to execute the chance operations of the I-Ching. The inspiration for the piece came from a commission for harpsichord, an instrument disliked by Cage.
Starting with material from Mozart's Dice Game, Cage and Hiller plucked from virtuosic repertory by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Gottschalk, Busoni and Schoenberg. Hiller's programs in the FORTRAN computer language reshaped this material for the scores. Hiller also produced multiple tapes of microtonal electronic sounds to be played simultaneously with the harpsichords.
The event premiered in May of 1969 at the University of Illinois's Assembly Hall, within a visual environment of hundreds of projected images and films, many supplied by NASA. Thousands came to experience the event.
Presented on the heels of the Cage centenary, Darmstadt's presentation of HPSCHD offers a 21st century audience the opportunity to reflect on how this totality of ideas has transformed in the 44 years since its inception.
Harpsichordists: Neely Bruce, Joseph Kubera, Karl Larson, Emily Manzo
Electronics: Greg Davis, Ben Vida
Artists contributing visuals to the Lightcircus include: Lea Bertucci, Linda Burchill & Andrea Monti, Maria Chavez, Chika, Lili Chin, Peter Cramer & Jack Waters, Kenny Curwood, Zac Dempster & Wendell Seitz, Thomas Dexter & Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Luke Dubois, Bradley Eros, Lorenzo Gattorna, Tim Geraghty, Stephanie Gray, Rachael Guma, Sarah Halpern, Genevieve Havemeyer-King, Jay Hudson, Victoria Keddie & Scott Kiernan, Andrew Lampert, Zach Layton, Josh Lewis, Katherine Liberovskaya, Shona Masarin, Brock Monroe, Mike Olshan, Rachelle Rahme, Ursula Scherrer, Joel Schlemowitz, Lary Seven, Jessie Stead, Richard Sylvarnes, Keiko Uenishi, Matt Wellins, Joshua White & Briged Smith, Tim White, Dan Winckler, Stephanie Wuertz, Erik Z.
Sound Design: Daniel Neumann
Installation Design: Brock Monroe and Joshua White (Joshua Light Show)
HPSCHD by John Cage and LeJaren Hiller performed on Ableton Live by Philip Jackson from Fidelitarean on Vimeo.
