Work: In a Landscape (1948) for Solo Piano or Harp
Composer: John Cage
I chose to listen to John Cage just to expose my listening experiences, as I don’t usually listen to music of such a genre. I could not find a proper MP3 recording of the work, thus I listened to a YouTube upload of it. The piece was played on the piano
1st Listening
During my first round of listening, the first impression that I had of the piece was that it was extremely dreamy, smoothing and relaxing. The music was actually melodious to a large extent. It was really not something that I had expected coming from an avant-garde artiste like John Cage, because I have always had the impression that avant garde music would not be so “tuneful”.
The music was at a slow and tranquil pace throughout. It was mostly based on the use of pentatonic scales. Because of the dreamy and reflective mood and slow pace of the piece, the music sounded like a track from a sad scene of a movie. The dreamy and pastorale interpretation also brought to mind distant Gamelan echoes in the setting of European plains. The work seems to be largely based on repeated sections, which are at times repeated with different pitch centres.
Around the 6th minute, I heard chords in the lower register and this gave a slightly dramatic turn to the piece. These low-range chords were heard again closer to the 9th minute of the piece and in other points of the music thereafter too. Overall, the piece was mainly spread across the mid-range and high-range registers.
Throughout the whole course of listening, I kept having the impression that the music would have a sudden change in mood and break out of the quiet state to become more dramatic. However, the music maintained its status quo with little variation in the overall mood.
2nd and 3rd listening
During my 2nd and 3rd time listening, I listened in greater detail and managed to capture more information about the piece.
Timing Significant features
Opening - Piece opens with the note ‘A’
- It seems as if the pitch centre of this opening section is that of ‘A’
- ‘A’ occurs many times in this opening section
- The opening phrases feature ‘A’ in the mid-register
00:55 - ‘A’ is now occurring in the higher register
01:34 - Chords now occur in the lower register
01:58 - There seems to be a change of pitch centre here
- The note ‘D’ keeps occurring
- Similar material from the previous sections is used again here
- The music seems to be in the ‘D’ pitch centre this time
3:24 - The musical material here is familiar once again
- The music seems to have gone back to the ‘A’ pitch centre
04:02 - New material is heard
04:56 - The new material repeats
05:56 - Heavier-sounding chords in the lower register are heard “all of a sudden”
- This changes the mood of the piece a little, and makes it seem as if the music is going through a gloomy phase
- The first of the heavy chords sounded like a D chord
- Overall, this section sounded like it was in the ‘D’ pitch centre
06:48 - The note ‘D’ keeps occurring
07:05 - I hear what seemed like a series of repeated motives
07:35 - Material from the opening sections recur, but in a higher register
- The music here seems to be in the ‘D’ pitch centre
07:53 - The music goes back to being in the ‘A’ pitch centre
- Music goes back to the middle register
- The motives here are all familiar-sounding
8:34 to end - The lower register chords start coming back
- Familiar material here
- Music seems to be in ‘D’ pitch centre in this closing section
- Phrases keep ending with the note D
- There is a recurring melody that ends with the note D
- Music fades away and ends on a ‘D’
Post-listening
The following are some details I found out in my research done after my listening. “In a Landscape” by John Cage was dated to have been written in Black Mountain, North Carolina, in August 1948. The composition was actually written for a dance. It was dedicated to Louise Lippold and the dance was choreographed by Louise Lippold as well. The composition, together with the choreography, premiered on August, 20 1948. “In a Landscape” was published in 1960 under the Peters Edition. This same company also published “John Cage: Pianoworks (1935-1948)”.
The rhythmic structure of the piece is that of 15 x 15 measures (5-7-3), following the structure of the dance for which it was written. The piece is similar to another work of John Cage’s, titled “Dream”, but the fixed range of tones is more extensive. Resonances are sustained throughout the composition, by using both pedals. The sound of the composition is very soft and meditative, reminding of the music of Erik Satie. This probably explains the dreamy and pastorale nature of the piece.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
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