ARCHIVE

All Things Cage: John Cage’s Etcetera (1973) and Etcetera 2/4 Orchestras (1985) (Audio)

Dec 31, 2022
Hosted by Laura Kuhn, Executive Director of the John Cage Trust.

Inspired by last week’s program, a conversation with the accomplished pianist and conductor, Stephen Drury, Kuhn opts to devote this week’s program to two other Cage works produced by Drury for a Mode Records release in 2000 – Etcetera (1973) and Etcetera 2/4 Orchestras (1985), both for orchestra enhanced by recorded sounds and one with the addition of inverted cardboard boxes turned musical instruments to augment the orchestral sounds. Drury is a long-time teacher at the England Conservatory of Music where he directs the amazing Callithumpian Consort. Both the New England Conservatory Symphony Orchestra and the Callithumpian Consort are featured on this recording – Mode Records 86, Cage Edition 21, “Orchestral Works 2,” featuring multiple conductors: Drury himself, Tamara Brooks, Charles Peltz, Marsha Hassett, and Laurie K. Redmer. This first recording of these two major orchestral works by John Cage was recorded under the composer’s supervision at the New England Conservatory’s John Cage Festival in 1991.