John Cage

John Cage questioned the idea that a musical work is fully contained in the sounds produced by the composer. Chance, indeterminacy and silence became central to his practice, leading him to leave certain aspects of performance open. In doing so, he proposed that music also resides in the act of listening.

This sheet is page 6 of the sixty-three-page manuscript for Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1957–58). Conceived as an open score, the work may be performed in different combinations and sequences. On this page, conventional musical notation gradually gives way to increasingly open graphic structures.

Different systems of notation coexist across the sheet. The upper section remains close to conventional musical notation, while the lower part is organised through lines, intervals and areas of empty space.