Seven: Quartets I-VIII

John Cage's Quartets I-VIII is one of the most unusual and sophisticated orchestral works I know. It was written for the bicentennial of the United States of America. Cage used eight old American chorales, which he then reformed into an entirely new work with the help of the Chinese oracular work I Ching. The basic idea is to have just four instruments of the orchestra playing together at any time. As a result new groups are constantly forming into variously composed quartets. Cage used the I Ching to determine which notes are played by a given instrument. The piece seems very simple from looking at the score. But in fact the fragmentary character of the instrumentation makes it a great challenge to perform. Every musician has to count precisely so as not to miss his or her entry. But the most difficult requirement is fitting the few notes to be played into the overall structure such that meaningful phrases ultimately result. Only by carefully listening to and following the music can players cause the piece to resound. – Daniel Grossmann