The music oughta speak for itself, regardless of any theoretical apparatus surrounding it. That's not to say that the words of the author can't be helpful in drawing new ideas from it, but they're probably more necessary in a lot of Cage's work than in Zorn's Cobra. Cobra is a brilliant revolution in composed improvisation and it can be heard in the recordings (even the Knitting Factory release that Zorn apparently disowned). Not only does it build a logical extension on the ideas of Cage, Stockhausen and others who problematized the role of composer, but it bears the stamp of Zorn's own jump-cut aesthetic -- AND allows for individuated musician's voices to be enunciated while building progressions and repetitions into an extensive, vital musical territory. The chapter on Cobra in the 2nd edition of Bailey's 'Improvisation' book covers the basic ideas pretty well. The cards pictured in the liner notes of the HatArt and Tzadik editions don't reveal the complexity of the piece -- they don't make a whole lot of sense without the rules to go with them. As for nekkid emperors, well shit, it's only natural. --cb
From: AJDinz1@aol.com To: zorn-list@lists.xmission.com Subject: Re: Game Piece Theory Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 19:54:10 EST
No, im a huge fan of alot of Zorn's work, and very receptive to hearing modern/avant garde music. I guess my problem with the game pieces is more out of frustration than an actual immediate dislike for the music, because some parts of it are fantastic, but with nearly all the other composers you mentioned (Baily, Cage, Cecil Taylor and even Merzbow!) the intention of the music was made quite clear, usually through an actual statement of intent. Which leaves me wondering if the game pieces are case of the emperors new clothes?
AJ
While it's obviously true that Zorn's game pieces aren't like songs, there's a lot of other music, much of which is frequently discussed or at least name-checked on this list, which is no more or less abstract when heard on a recording rather than a live performance.
Do you listen to recordings of European free improvisation (Derek Bailey, Instant Composers Pool, Peter Brotzmann, Evan Parker, etc)? Or modern/contemporary avant garde classical music (John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Helmut Lachenmann, Iannis Xenakis, etc)? Or American avant garde jazz-rooted music (Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, etc)? What about Japanese noise bands or more recent electro-acoustic improvisation? Others on this list could add other genres and categories to this list, but this list may be enough for you to see what I mean.
In other words, I guess, do you listen to other abstractly structured music on recordings and you simply have problems listening to Zorn's game pieces? If so, being more specific about what you have trouble with may help.
If, on another hand, you haven't heard a lot of recordings of music that's fairly abstract, it may just be a matter of getting a comfort level and/or finding works in this vein that you find immediately attractive (or at least not uninteresting) and moving out from there. That can be a very long term process, but in my experience, any individual's response to works like these is fairly personal. Suggestions can help point you in new directions, but you'll need to find your path of artists and recordings that draw you further into this area of music.
Not sure if this will have helped,
Herb -- Herb Levy P O Box 9369 Fort Worth, TX 76147
herb@eskimo.com
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