2023, March 18th
 
JOHN CAGE's SONG BOOKS
MUSIC FOR NERVOUS SYSTEMS

Micro Oper München follows its own path through John Cage's collection of experimental concept pieces - a dazzling kaleidoscope between music and theatre. What rules apply? What role does chance play? Surprises are guaranteed. www.micro-oper.de

 
Cornelia Melián voice, objects
Masako Ohta prepared piano, objects
Ernst Bechert electronics, voice
Anton Kaun noise, electronics, video
Martina Veh outside eye

A production of Micro Oper München in collaboration with Meta Theater and Kunstverein Rosenheim. Made possible by the Tonkünstlerverband Bayern with funds from the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and Art as part of the project TONKÜNSTLER LIVE SPECIAL. Supported by MUSIKFONDS / The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

Copyright graphic work: Maja Bechert
Copyright photos Ralf Dombrowski

The Song Books by John Cage, written in 1970, are a collection of 90 "Solos for Voice". The pieces are "songs" or theatrical actions or a mixture of both, often with the inclusion of electronics. The scores are experimental: conventional musical notation is rare, predominantly graphic scores, arrangements of numbers, different typographies, verbal instructions for certain actions. Although there are rules for each piece on how the score is to be understood, a performable version must always be created first. Because the rules and notations are more concepts than scores, they do not result in a clear musical version.

The performers have to make their own decisions: about the sound, the timing, the musical or theatrical action itself. They can incorporate their own associations, fantasies and improvisations. The roles of composer and interpreter are thus redefined. And because it seems as if anything is possible, the relationship between rules and freedom is also renegotiated. The performers assume responsibility - towards the composer, who has consciously given them this freedom, but also towards themselves. There is a theme that runs through the Song Books: "we connect Satie with Thoreau" is written on page 1 of the score. Erik Satie, the unconventional maverick who wrote popular chansons as well as experimental pieces (e.g. the "Vexations" to be repeated 840 times) - some of his ironic remarks are texts for the songs in the Song Books.

Many other texts are by Henry David Thoreau, the author of "Walden" and a pioneer of non-violent civil disobedience, who valued the individual's own responsibility as a particularly high value. So here, too, it is about the relationship between rules and freedom: a theme that Micro Oper feels is politically very topical. The four musicians of the Micro Oper have each made their own selection from the Song Books and are now following four individual paths through this large building. The singer Cornelia Melián, the pianist Masako Ohta, the noise and video artist Anton Kaun, the composer and electronic musician Ernst Bechert have very different approaches to interpreting Cage's pieces. But again and again their paths cross. The cables of the microphones, which lead into the electronic devices, connect the musicians like nerve tracts. Chance also plays a major role. Surprises are guaranteed.

In friendly cooperation with the Cultural Department of the City of Munich and scope - Spielraum für aktuelle Musik. Supported by MUSIKFONDS. The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. Thanks to KOLLABS Musikbaustelle/Andrea Lesjak