Near the end of his life, John Cage's compositional efforts seemed to focus on the most fundamental aspects of music: sound in time. Works in this vein include the so-called Number Pieces composed in the last years before his death in 1992, and the work under consideration here, the enigmatic Music for... from 1984. As suggested by its unusual title, Music For... calls for an unspecified number of instruments. A performance may include any number and combination of the 17 published parts, which include piano; various brass, wind, and string instruments; four percussionists; and voice (thus a realization by, say, piano, violin, and two percussionists would be programmed as Music for Four). Each part consists of alternating "pieces," which are more precisely notated and varied in their rhythms and dynamics, and "interludes," which allow for more flexibility in execution. Using stopwatches, the performers execute their individual parts independently (they may even be dispersed throughout the hall,) but begin and end each section within specified "time windows." The sequence of events in each part is somewhat fixed, but the rate at which they unfold is not. There is a distinct, albeit abstract, tension between adherence to rules and the multiplicity of acoustic manifestations such fidelity can accommodate. For example, each of the percussion parts calls for precisely 50 instruments, which correspond with numbers appearing in the notation. However, the player is free to choose what instrument corresponds with each of the 50 numbers -- and in fact, despite the instruction, none of the percussion parts actually utilizes all 50 of the instruments assembled. Likewise, asterisks in some of the parts identify notes to be articulated with some "special sound"; however, the particular quality of these notes is not indicated, just the suggestion that they are to be set off in an unusual fashion of the performer's choice. On the other hand, some aspects are meticulously specific, such as the complex alternate fingerings in the flute and clarinet parts. The structures and shapes of each part, though, are given only in the most abstract of terms. The element of time serves as a kind of elastic exoskeleton that holds taut the outermost framework of the piece (essentially, the 30 minutes of the work's duration) and controls, to some extent, the ebb, flow, and interaction of whatever parts are used, but allows infinite possibilities to unfold on the musical surface. ~ Jeremy Grimshaw, All Music Guide
