Changing the System

Christian Wolff is a composer who has followed a distinctive path often at the centre of avant-garde activity working alongside figures such as John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and Cornelius Cardew. In a career spanning more than fifty years, he has produced a significant and influential body of work that has aimed to address in a searching and provocative manner what it means to be an experimental and socially aware artist. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to a composer often overlooked despite his influence upon many of the major figures in new music since the 1950s from Cage to John Zorn, and Brian Eno, to the new wave of experimentalists across the globe. As the first detailed analysis of the music of this prolific and highly individual composer, The Music of Christian Wolff contains contributions from leading experts in the field of new and experimental music, as well as from performers and composers who have worked with Wolff. The reception of Wolff's music is discussed, particularly in relation to the European avant-garde in the 1950s and 1960s, and also within the context of Wolff as an associate of Cage and Feldman. Music from his earliest compositions of the 1950s, the highly indeterminate scores to the politically-inspired works up to the most recent works are discussed in detail, both in relation to their compositional techniques, general aesthetic development, and performance issues. The particular challenges and aesthetic issues arising from Wolff's idiosyncratic notations and the implications for performers are a central theme. Likewise, the ways in which Wolff's political persuasions, which arguably account for some of the notational methods he chooses, have been worked out through his music, particularly that of the 1970s and 1980s, are examined. Containing an interview with Wolff and a foreword by his close associate Michael Parsons, this is a valuable addition to experimental music literature.