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Cornelius Cardew (1936), ex-assistente di Stockhausen a Colonia
(1958-60), di Petrassi a Roma (1963-65) e di Cage in America, fu autore di
lavori monumentali per il Centre For Experimental Music da lui fondato a Londra
e di esecuzioni penetranti di improvvisazione libera con il gruppo AMM
(dal 1966 in poi) che comprendeva anche il chitarrista
Keith Rowe, il sassofonista Lou Gare e il
percussionista Eddie Prevost,
ma una progressiva presa di coscienza marxista lo spinse a ripudiare
prima i suoi maestri e poi persino se stesso, accusando tutti di essere
complici del Sistema.
Cosi' il suo capolavoro, The Great Learning (1968) per coro di
non-cantanti, in cui gli esecutori possono compiere qualsiasi rumore con la
bocca purche' non sia musicale (influenced by
John Cage's principles of indeterminacy)
non andrebbe neppure citato
(a 7-hour composition, based on the Confucian classic).
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And, in fact, the monumental Treatise (1967), whose score is a 193-page
manual of instructions, was only performed posthumously in february 1998.
Chamber Music 1955-64 - Apartment House (Matchless) is a retrospective
of early compositions.
AMM recorded AMMusic (june 1966 - Elektra, 1966 - Matchless, 1994),
one side of Live Electronic Music (Mainstream, 1968),
An Afflicted Man's Musica Box (United Diaries, 1982), that contains a
1967 recording, and
The Crypt (june 1968 - 1980), that documents a 1968 performance,
Laminal (december 1969), that documents another live performance.
AMMusic, featuring Cardew on piano and cello, Lou Gare
on tenor saxophone and violin, Eddie Prevost on percussion, Keith Rowe on
guitar, Lawrence Sheaff on cello, accordion and clarinet (and three of them
also on transistor radio), contains six improvisations (including a ten-seconds
track of silence titled Silence), but the three lengthy ones are the
most representative. They have no beginning and no ending: the recording is
just a "sample" of the performance.
Later During A Flaming Riviera Sunset displays the two fundamental
dimensions of the music: on one hand, cello and violin vibrate like John Cale's viola in LaMonte Young's ensemble, thus creating a continuum of sound, and on
the other hand, random piano notes and various noises pop up in no
rational configuration. Occasionally, the two streams of sound resonate with
each other, but most often the former serves as the "river bed" for the other.
In The Realm Of Nothing Whatever is free-form electroacoustic chamber
music (the "electro" part being due to the radio frequencies), which predates
the most radical experiments of Chicago's creative improvisers, with all the
instruments in a peer role.
The sounds are less "sporadic" and pointillistic in
After Rapidly Circling The Plaza. They tend to drone and interact.
They become layers of a texture rather than characters of a drama.
The effect is one of an indulgent, cancer-like, cannibalistic bacchanal.
Each of the three main pieces toys with a different structure/process.
All three exhibit the same inherent flaw: the music, by definition, has no
beginning and no ending, thus it goes nowhere.
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Nel 1969 Cardew formo' la Scratch Orchestra, un ensemble aperto
per la rappresentazione di musica d'avanguardia ispirato a principi Maoisti,
con la quale
si dedico' fino alla morte a forme piu' popolari di folk militante (come
nelle Thalmann Variations registrate nel january 1975
per pianoforte su temi di canzoni politiche).
Per controllare che la Scratch Orchestra si attenesse ai principi maoisti,
Cardew istitui' (con ragionamento tipicamente paleo-comunista) anche uno
Scratch Orchestra Ideology Group.
Keith Rowe, Eddie Prevost, Cornelius Cardew, Gavin Bryars and many other
composers and free improvisers created the Music Now Ensemble that recorded
Silver Pyramid (1969).
We Only Want The Earth (Musicnow, 2002),
Four Principles On Ireland and Other Pieces (Cramps, 1974 - Ampersand, 2001),
We Sing For The Future (New Albion) raccolgono musiche d'ispirazione
Maoista.
AMM has subsequently released:
the live At The Roundhouse (august 1972), the first release without Cardew,
To Hear You Back Again (november 1974 - Matchless, 1974), recorded by the duo of Lou Gare and Eddie Prevost,
It Had Been An Ordinary Day In Pueblo (december 1979 - Japo, 1979),
recorded by the classic trio of guitarist Keith Rowe, percussionist Eddie Prevost and keyboardist John Tilbury,
Generative Themes (december 1982 - Matchless, 1982),
the live Combine and Laminates (may 1984),
the live Inexhaustible Document (Matchless, 1987),
the live Nameless Uncarved (april 1990 - Matchless, 1990),
Vendouvre Ambient Isolationism (Virgin, 1993),
Newfoundland (july 1992 - Matchless, 1994),
From A Strange Place (october 1995),
Live In Allentown (Matchless, 1996),
the live Tunes Without Measure Or End CD (may 2000 - Matchless, 2001),
Fine (Matchless, 2001),
Prevost also formed his own trio that released Touch (1998).
All Told (may 2011) documents a live performance by Eddie Prévost (drums), Evan Parker (tenor sax) and John Edwards (double bass).
Butcher/Prevost/Viltard (august 2011) documents a live performance by John Butcher (tenor and soprano saxes), Guillaume Viltard (double bass) and Eddie Prevost (drums).
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AMM's Tunes Without Measure Or End CD (Matchless, 2001) documents a live 2000 performance.
Their collaboration with Formanex (Fibr, 2003) is a tribute to Cardew's
Treatise (1967).
AMM's At the Roundhouse (Anomalous, 2004) documents
a 1972 performance.
The AMM of
Trinity (january 2008)
was a trio of Eddie Prevost (drums), John Tilbury (piano) and John Butcher (soprano and tenor saxophone).
Sounding Music (2010) featured
John Butcher (on tenor
& soprano saxes), Ute Kanngiesser (cello), Eddie
Prévost (percussion), John Tilbury (piano) and Christian Wolff
(piano, bass guitar and melodica).
AMM's Two London Concerts (march 2011)
documents two improvisations by pianist John Tilbury and drummer Eddie
Prevost:
E1 (31 minutes) and SE1 (47 minutes).
Cardew Works 1960-70 (Confront, 2010) collects six compositions.
The 4CD boxset The Great Learning delivers a five-hour recording of july 2010.
John Tilbury's
For Tomasz Sikorski (december 2011) collects four piano sonatas and
improvisations.
Cornelius Cardew died in 1981 in a car accident.
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