JOHN CAGE : The Works for Violin 6

'Irvine Arditti completes his complete traversal of Cage’s works for solo violin with Cheap Imitation in this set.
In 1969, John Cage transcribed a two piano version of Erik Satie’s 1918 music drama Socrate to accompany Merce Cunningham’s choreography Second Hand. At the last minute, the French firm that held the copyright to Satie’s score refused to allow the performance. With an ingenious rewriting, Cage retained the rhythmical architecture of the musical lines, but replaced each note with a new tonal value, creating a melodically original work with an identical rhythmic structure.
The 44 Harmonies are based on early American music, are, to quote Cage: “for the most part both quartets and solos, subtractions of different sorts from anthems and congregational music written by composers who were at least twenty years old at the time of the American Revolution” (specifically: Supply Belcher, William Billings, Jacob French, Andrew Law, and James Lyon). These Harmonies are derived from Cage’s Apartment House 1776.
In 1998, Irvine Arditti, along with pianist Stephen Drury, were in the studio to continue recording Cage’s complete works for violin and piano. On the schedule was Roger Zahab’s realization of 13 of the Harmonies from Apartment House 1776. For various reasons, that recording was not made. However, Arditti became inspired.Arditti wrote: “When I looked at the original score of Harmonies, I saw that the open harmonies of this almost medieval looking score lent itself perfectly to the homogenous sound of a string quartet.” Arditti continued to arrange all 44 Harmonies for string quartet with the approval of Cage’s publisher, C.F. Peters. The complete set receive their first recording here.
Liner notes are by Cage scholar James Pritchett with an additional essay by Irvine Arditti.'



Tracklist
44 Harmonies From Apartment House 1776 (1:43:26)
1-1 Harmony I: Cookfield - Lyon 1:33
1-2 Harmony II: Mansfield - Billings 1:25
1-3 Harmony III: Funeral Anthem - Billings 2:15
1-4 Harmony IV: Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates - French 12:00
1-5 Harmony V: The Lord Descended - Billings 13:19
1-6 Harmony VI: Psalm 17 - Lyon 1:01
1-7 Harmony VII: Larr's Lane - Law 0:59
1-8 Harmony VIII: Tyndale - Law 0:46
1-9 Harmony IX: Dover - Law 0:44
1-10 Harmony X: Is There Not An Appointed Time? - Lyon 6:35
1-11 Harmony XI: Wheeler's Point - Billings 1:04
1-12 Harmony XII: Littleton - Law 0:51
1-13 Harmony XIII: Worchester - Billings 1:49
1-14 Harmony XIV: Brunswick - Lyon 0:41
1-15 Harmony XV: Bellingham - Billings 1:21
1-16 Harmony XVI: Detroit - Law 0:33
1-17 Harmony XVII: Association - French 0:57
1-18 Harmony XVIII: Old North - Billings 1:21
1-19 Harmony XIX: New York - Law 4:40
1-20 Harmony XX: O Give Thanks - Lyon 5:15
1-21 Harmony XXI: Heath - Billings 1:45
1-22 Harmony XXII: Wisdom - French 3:10
1-23 Harmony XXIII: St. Helens - Billings 1:05
1-24 Harmony XXIV: St. Thomas - Billings 2:05
1-25 Harmony XXV: Rapture - Belcher 1:37
2-1 Harmony XXVI: Judea - Billings 1:14
2-2 Harmony XXVII: Reflection - Belcher 1:15
2-3 Harmony XXVIII: Greenwich - Law 5:39
2-4 Harmony XXIX: Trumpet - Law 0:57
2-5 Harmony XXX: Tempest - Law 1:36
2-6 Harmony XXXI: New Windsor- Law 0:57
2-7 Harmony XXXII: Litchfield - Law 0:37
2-8 Harmony XXXIII: Newburn - Billings 0:36
2-9 Harmony XXXIV: St. Peters - Lyon 0:32
2-10 Harmony XXXV: Framingham - Billings 3:37
2-11 Harmony XXXVI: 57th Psalm Tune - Lyon 0:43
2-12 Harmony XXXVII: Coelestis - French 1:34
2-13 Harmony XXXVIII: The Lord Is Ris'n - Billings 4:49
2-14 Harmony XXXIX: Weymouth - Billings 3:03
2-15 Harmony XL: The New 50th Psalm Tune - Lyon 0:58
2-16 Harmony XLI: Standish Tune - Lyon 0:40
2-17 Harmony XLII: Rapture - Belcher 1:41
2-18 Harmony XLIII: Castle St. - Law 1:02
2-19 Harmony XLIV: Bloomfield - Law 1:05
Cheap Imitation (31:52)
2-20 I 6:07
2-21 II 9:13
2-22 III 16:32

Credits
Arranged By – Irvine Arditti (tracks: 1-1 to 2-19)
Art Direction – Brian Brandt
Cello – Rohan de Saram (tracks: 1-1 to 2-19)
Composed By – John Cage
Engineer – Annelie Noll (tracks: 2-20 to 2-22), Rüdiger Orth (tracks: 1-1 to 2-19)
Ensemble – Arditti Quartet (tracks: 1-1 to 2-19)
Executive-Producer – Bernd Leukert, Brian Brandt
Liner Notes [Program Notes] – Irvine Arditti, James Pritchett
Liner Notes [Translations] – Martine Jore, Sabine Feißt
Mastered By [24-bit Digital Mastering] – Steve Puntolillo
Photography By [Arditti Quartet] – Tony Hutchings
Photography By [Arditti] – Robin D'Amore
Producer – Christoph Franke
Viola – Dov Scheindlin (tracks: 1-1 to 2-19)
Violin – Graeme Jennings (tracks: 1-1 to 2-19), Irvine Arditti

Notes
The Complete John Cage Edition, Volume 33
The Works for Violin 6
The String Quartets 4
44 Harmonies from Apartment House 1776 (1976) arranged for string quartet 1999-2000; first recording.
Each Harmony is followed by the name of the tune it is based on and its composer: Supply Belcher, William Billings, Jacob French, Andrew Law, or James Lyon.
Recorded at: Sendesaal des Hessischen Rundfunks, Frankfurt, Germany
Recording dates: 5-7 July 2000 (Harmonies), 3-4 February 1999 (Cheap Imitation)
Mastering: Sonicraft
Published by: Henmar Press, C.F. Peters Corp.
20-page booklet includes trilingual (English/German/French) program notes.
The CD notes say Volume 32, but this is in fact Volume 33.