John Cage
Postcard from Heaven for 1-20 harps
Victoria Jordanova [harps]
Pamela Z [voices]
ArpaViva Foundation CD 001
This is an incredible album, one that likely would not have been recorded anytime soon were it not for the tenacity of the harpist Victoria Jordanova, who started the ArpaViva label and who spent at least a year preparing for this release. It is a very complex piece, premiered in 1982 and infrequently performed. no less because of Cage’s instructions for the work:
“Three double ragas, double because either part may be used for ascending or descending. One may move from one side to another of a single raga at “transfer points,” closed note heads. Where no such note heads exist, separate the use of one side of the raga from the other by silence. The associated numbers of talas on the basis of which phrasing or durations or sounds or silences may be improvised.
Improvisation may be “melodic” and/or “percussive.” “Melodic” means proceeding stepwise, leaping only in the opposite direction, following a leap by a step or steps in the opposite direction, continually establishing, that is, the character of the raga. Ornaments are welcome. “Percussive” means single events preceded and followed by silence, or several events performed repetitively. These may be glissandi (the ragas permitting them); chords and /or single tones; the single tones may be produced conventionally, or with an EBow (electronic means of setting a metallic string into continuous vibration). Dynamics are free.
The improvisation may be continuous or interrupted by silences, its total length to be determined by the players. It should begin and end with use of all harpists of the EBow, for a period of between one-tenth and one-sixth of the total time length. Any unintended sounds (clicking of the push button, etc.) are acceptable though not to be sought.
Ossia: Hum ppp any one tone of the raga as long as the breath holds continuing after a new breath with the same or another tone of raga.
Five pedal arrangements are given. Changes from one to another must be complete, but may take place at any time (during a passage, or between passages)”
Got that? Like any good Cage work (and this is a great work, incidentally), there is a lot of room for interpretation. The ragas are essentially a group of diatonic pitches and have nothing to do with Indian ragas. The talas are rhythmic pulses specified by Cage, but the tempo is up to the performer. Interestingly, Cage specified the use of an Ebow, used by electric guitarists to sustain their sounds. However, an Ebow just doesn’t work well with harps (the strings are spaced quite differently), and so this recording takes advantage of sound processing to sustain different sound layers. And this work also makes use of a voice to delineate the ragas, and Pamela Z did such a great job that her ragas are included as separate tracks.
Big deal, you are probably saying right now—what does the piece sound like? That’s hard to describe, but let’s say it is extremely mellow, haunting, and unlike anything you’ve probably heard. It’s one of the best things I’ve heard in a long while, and well worth discovering.
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