John Cage - Music for Marcel Duchamp video free download

Music for Marcel Duchamp, for prepared piano (1947)

Boris Berman, piano

This hypnotic, mysterious little piece, of approximately 5 minutes duration, was originally written for the sequence with Marcel Duchamp in Hans Richter's movie "Dreams That Money Can Buy". The piano is prepared with bits of rubber and weather stripping and one small bolt precisely placed to emphasize string harmonics that make the piano sound like an obscure village ensemble. The rhythmic structure is 11 x 11 (extended), phrased 2, 1, 1, 3, 1, 2, 1. There are two distinct melodic ideas assigned to different sets of pitches in the first two pages of the piece - the first idea is an obsessive generation of variations on 3 close pitches (E-flat, D-flat, B-flat) that have a minor key sing-song quality that is appealing in a direct, folk song manner. The note A-natural is shared with the above 3 notes and the lower 3 notes of the other melodic idea (F, E, D-natural) which also has a minor key feeling. This idea is slower with trills and other figurations and has a sustained, intoning quality. The two ideas and pitch ranges become combined and generate an odd major-minor modality (like a country blues scale). The high tone with the bolt preparation rings out from time to time like a small light illuminating the subdued mystery. Both the soft pedal and the sustaining pedals are kept down for the entire duration of the piece which further modifies the overtone timbre. Following the first melodic section, there is a contrasting time-marking, pulsing pattern like an obsessive meditation, marked "static". This followed by a melody on the lower notes, until another "static" holding pattern begins, this time on a low then high dissonant reiteration. All activity ceases and we only hear the resonate remains. The next section is a lovely "Legatissimo Dolcissimo" (Very connected and very sweetly) section, with a gradually ascending motif that is played in many variations, and a brief repetition of the "static" notes but played melodically. At the end, the sustained sound is held until it has completely ceased. [allmusic.com]

Art by Luis Enrique Camejo