Some contemporary composers prefer to use shapes, arrows and other visual symbols to indicate pitch, duration or volume in their music. Many of the graphic scores that result are quite beautiful and resemble works of modern art. John Cage, György Ligeti and Karlheinz Stockhausen were among the first composers to begin experimenting with this kind of graphic notation in the 1950s.
Their scores resemble a landscape of symbols, squiggles, cones and spheres that musicians can interpret. Some modern art museums have even presented exhibitions of graphic scores, recognizing their status as unique works of visual art in addition to their musical value.
Classicalite has selected several graphic scores that are worth a second look, both as works of abstract art and for their musical content:
1. John Cage, "Fontana Mix" (1958)
Some of Cage's compositions provide instructions to the performer, rather than fully notated music. According to radiom.org, "Fontana Mix" is "...a type of manual for creating a piece of music that could be realized using traditional instruments, electronic sounds, random samples, or virtually any other type of sound making device."
2. Cornelius Cardew, from Treatise
English composer Cornelius Cardew's magnum opus is Treatise (published 1967). The score consists of 193 pages of graphic notation often referred to as "The Mount Everest of graphic scores." Page 183 is of particular interest:
In this video, the SYNTAX Ensemble performs an excerpt from Treatise (pp.140-165) while the camera follows the graphic score:
3. Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, "Alone I" (1965)
Some of this Austrian composer's graphic scores are reminiscent of the abstract art of Wassily Kandinsky. This realization of "Alone 1" features bass flute, bass trombone, and prepared bass drum.
4. Another Space Oddity: György Ligeti, "Artikulation" (1958)
This is a visual listening score created by Rainer Wehinger in 1970 to accompany Ligeti's "Artikulation." The music sounds futuristic in an engagingly odd sort of way: it would have worked well in Stanley Kubrick's movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. "Artikulation" might have been appropriate for the Star Wars universe as well. In the words of one commentator, "It sounds like R2-D2 having a nightmare."
