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John Holland Quiet Music for Clarinet, Cello, Percussion, and Electronic Music (1975)  5:34

Richard Malone – Clarinet
Kathleen Starr – Cello
Robert Godin – Percussion
John Holland – Electronic Music (updated 2010)

Players are asked to create short phrases or sound-groups, independently of one another, which are quiet or reposed in character. From the score: “The sounds should emerge from a sense of the deep vastness of space, with particular reference to the giant bubble-shaped voids which define the large-scale structure of space and occupy much of the observable universe.” *

* Voids in space extend for millions of light-years in every direction and contain very little matter and energy compared to thin regions at the edges of voids where dense matter in the form of great clusters of galaxies exist. The Milky Way galaxy is part of a large supercluster of galaxies which is located at the surface edge of one of the great voids.

John Cage Lecture: Where Are We Going? And What Are We Doing? (1961) realization by the American Soundgroup (1978)  35:52

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Mary Briggs – Reader (the four dialogues)
John Holland – Electronic Music, Recorded Samples

The text consists of four separate voices or dialogues. Cage’s instructions are for a performer to read one of the four voices ‘live’, accompanied by tape recordings of the other three voices. The performer may choose any one of the four to be read in performance. In this realization, the American Soundgroup constructed four triangular speakers located at the four corners of a small performance area. Three speakers played back the recordings by the performer, while the fourth speaker contained the ‘live’ amplified voice. Electronic music, as well as recorded fragments from John Cage’s Music for Toy Piano were added to the voice recordings.

John Cage Lecture / American Soundgroup (Boston, 1978)

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