Numbers

Episode 68

Numbers

 

Playlist

1. John Cage, “49 Waltzes For The Five Boroughs” from The Waltz Project (17 Contemporary Waltzes For Piano) (1981 Nonesuch). Piano, Alan Feinberg, Robert Moran, Yvar Mikhashoff. Cage worked by using chance operations to make decisions about key aspects of his works. So, by the nature of his method, he worked strictly by the numbers. But the choices become multifaceted when you consider how he applied these random choices to the matrix of sound sources available for a given piece. “49 Waltzes for the Five Boroughs for performer(s) or listener(s) or record maker(s)” is a case in point. Think of the numbers. The work translates a graphic map containing 147 New York street addresses or locations arranged through chance operations into 49 groups of three (consisting of five players each). Cage used “hundreds of coin tosses and the I Ching” to arrive at a “tapestry” of sound, combining hundreds of traditional waltz fragments. First realized by Cage in 1977, the recorded version heard here uses three pianists playing the waltzes plus other ancillary sound making devices plus pre-recorded environmental tapes made in various parts of New York. 5:15
2. Timothy Sullivan, “Numbers, Names” from Computer Music From Colgate Volume 1 (1980 Redwood Records). Computer composition by Timothy Sullivan; Percussion, Frank Bennett. Created at the Colgate Computer Music Studio at the University Computer Center using a DEC PDP-10 with an on-line interactive system and a four channel digital to analog converter designed and built by Joseph Zingeim. 12:28
3. Philip S. Gross, excerpts from The International Morse Code: A Teaching Record Using The Audio-Vis-Tac Method (1962 Folkways). Including instructions and drills from the tracks “Numbers And The Alphabet,” “Learning The Numbers,” and “Numbers.” 2:23
4. Kraftwerk, “Nummern (Numbers)” from Live - Paris '76 & Utrecht '81 (2019 Radio Looploop). An unofficial release of a live performance in Utrecht, 1981. 3:37
5. 107-34-8933 (Nik Raicevic), “Cannabis Sativa” from Numbers (1970 Narco). Self-released album prior to this record being issued by Buddha in the same year as the album Head. Recorded at Gold Star Studio in Hollywood, where the Moog Modular Synthesizer was played by “107-34-8933,” aka Nik Raicevic. From the liner notes: “What is the sound of tomorrow? The sound of notes or the sound of numbers?” 17:55
6. The Conet Project, “Recordings Of Shortwave Numbers Stations” (1997 Irdial Discs). Original 1997 release reports the following at the end of page 15 of the booklet: "A complete set of recordings of all known Morse stations will also be posted in the fourth quarter of 1997". I don’t think that released ever appeared. The track included here is my edit of excerpted examples from the four-CD collection of numbers stations recordings from around the globe. 7:12
7. Thom Holmes, “Numbers” from Intervals (2017 Wave Magnet). A composition using recordings of numbers stations as the primary source, combined with audio processing and synthesizers. 5:57

Background music:

• Numbers stations remix (Holmes) based on tracks found on “Recordings Of Shortwave Numbers Stations” by The Conet Project (1997 Irdial Discs).

 

Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.

Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.

For additional notes, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.