The performance practice of indeterminate piano music by John Cage and Christian Wolff.

通常被称为“不确定”的音乐的特征是音符特征，这些特征使演奏者可以自由地决定元素。这些元素可能是音高、持续时间、演奏方式、动态、事件顺序等。在与不确定性相关的作曲家中，最主要的是美国作曲家约翰·凯奇（1912-1992），他的亲密伙伴之一是年轻的作曲家克里斯蒂安·沃尔夫（生于1934年）。这两位作曲家的钢琴音乐构成了这个研究项目的基础。在过去，对凯奇和沃尔夫音乐的讨论往往集中在他们的符号的特殊特征上，导致出版的作品在很大程度上是描述性的，而不是分析性的。凯奇研究的情况正在迅速变化，现在有许多关于他的工作的重要书籍和文章，这些书籍和文章极大地发展了对他的理解。关于克里斯蒂安·沃尔夫音乐的研究状况相对落后。这个项目的目的是通过以实践为主导的方法来发展对两位作曲家音乐的理解。在项目过程中将要解决的问题是：1)关于不确定音乐的表演实践的发展，特别是凯奇和沃尔夫的音乐，以及2)表演，特别是表演者认识到乐谱的不确定方面的方式，如何进一步理解音乐本身，并提供新的视角。该项目将集中在沃尔夫的钢琴音乐作为一个整体的工作（1950年至今），更具体地说，凯奇的独奏从他的钢琴和管弦乐队音乐会（1957年至1958年）。要探讨的问题是：i)如何通过对克里斯蒂安·沃尔夫的美学和音乐关注的更广泛的背景理解来解释他的音乐？ii)沃尔夫钢琴音乐的表演和诠释是如何促进和发展对他的风格、音乐技巧和语言的理解的？iii)关于约翰·凯奇的音乐，是否有一种表演实践，将这个问题特别与他的“钢琴和管弦乐队音乐会”联系起来，这带来了什么优点和缺点？iv)在准备实现钢琴和管弦乐队音乐会时需要考虑哪些因素，这些因素在历史上是如何确定的？这种以实践为导向的学术方法有很多好处。演奏者与乐谱和音乐的密切接触往往会在很长一段时间内产生一种特殊的理解，这与非演奏者的理解不同，当这种理解被清晰地表达出来时，就会提供对音乐有价值的见解和观点。同样重要的是，实际表演（录音和现场）对理解音乐的贡献，特别是像凯奇和沃尔夫这样的音乐，往往依赖于表演者对音乐以有形形式存在的认识。主要致力于“古典”（非当代）音乐的表演实践文献，越来越多地承认表演本身可以作为一种有效的研究形式：“优秀的表演者不断地参与”分析过程，只是与发表的分析不同。前一种分析不是适用于解释行为的独立程序：相反，它形成了表演过程的一个组成部分，每次表演都是一个分析行为”（Rink， J.对华莱士·贝里的“音乐结构和表演”的评论，在“音乐分析”9/3,1990年第323页）。调查的结果将通过书籍章节，文章和会议论文作为表演（录音和现场）和奖学金呈现。以这种方式将表演和研究结合起来是这个项目的核心。

Music which is commonly termed 'indeterminate' is characterised by notational features which leave elements free for the performer(s) to decide upon. These may be components such as pitch, duration, ways of playing, dynamics, order of events, and so forth. Chief amongst the composers associated with indeterminacy is American composer John Cage (1912-1992), amongst whose close associates was the younger composer Christian Wolff (b.1934). The piano music of both these composers forms the basis of this research project.Discussion of the music of both Cage and Wolff has tended in the past to focus upon the idiosyncratic features of their notation, resulting in published writing which is largely descriptive rather than analytical. The situation regarding Cage scholarship is rapidly changing and there are now a number of significant books and articles about his work which have developed understanding dramatically. The state of research concerning Christian Wolff's music is rather less advanced.The aim of this project is to develop understanding of both composers' music by means of a practice-led approach. The issues which will be addressed over the course of the project are concerned with 1) the development of performance practices with respect to indeterminate music, specifically that of Cage and Wolff, and 2) how performance, and in particular the ways in which performers realize the indeterminate aspects of the scores, may further understanding of, and shed new perspectives upon, the music itself. The project will focus upon Wolff's piano music as a body of work (1950 - present day) and, more specifically, Cage's Solo from his Concert for piano and orchestra (1957-8). The issues to be explored are:i) How might interpretations of Christian Wolff's music be shaped by wider contextual understanding of his aesthetical and musical concerns?ii) How do performances and interpretative decisions of Wolff's piano music contribute to and develop understanding of his style and musical techniques and language?iii) Is there a performance practice developing regarding the music of John Cage, relating this question specifically to his 'Concert for piano and orchestra', and what are the advantages and disadvantages that this brings?iv) What are the factors which need to be accounted for when preparing a realisation of the Concert for piano and orchestra, how historically have these been determined?A practice-led approach to scholarship such as this has a number of benefits. The close involvement that performers have with the score and the music over often a prolonged period of time leads to a particular kind of understanding, different to that of non-performers, which when articulated offers valuable insights and perspectives upon the music. Important also is the contribution that actual performances (recorded and live) offer to understanding of the music, especially music such as that of Cage and Wolff which often depends upon a performer's realization for the music to exist in a tangible form. The performance practice literature, which is largely devoted to 'classical' (non-contemporary) music, increasingly acknowledges that a performance itself can act as a valid form of research: 'good performers are continually engaged in a process of 'analysis, only of a kind different from that employed in published analyses. The former sort of analysis is not some independent procedure applied to the act of interpretation: on the contrary, it forms an integral part of the performing process each performance is an act of analysis' (Rink, J. review of Wallace Berry's 'Musical Structure and Performance', in 'Music Analysis' 9/3, 1990 p.323)The results of the investigation will be presented as both performances (recorded and live) and as scholarship, through book chapters, an article and a conference paper. The integration of performance and research in this way is at the heart of this project.