John Cage conjures the ghosts of Erik Satie, Marcel Duchamp– and himself, in a performance that approaches stand-up comedy. Dr. Andrew Granade tightens the screws inside a prepared piano. Erik Satie provides the furniture music, as arranged by Jeffrey Ruckman and played by newEar Chamber Ensemble.
Recorded by Dwight Frizzell in Lawrence, Kansas in 1980, this early version of “James Joyce, Marcel Duchamp, Erik Satie: An Alphabet” may be a work-in-progress performance, Cage “workshopping it.” The website johncage.org states the work was composed between 1981 and 1982, adding: “This work began life as a radio play in 1982, a commission from and for Klaus Schöning and Cologne’s WDR.” The WDR version is expanded to 15 characters and multiple voices from Cage’s monologue, featuring the three ghosts of the title.
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