Cornelius Cardew

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Cornelius Cardew (born May 7, 1936 in Winchcombe / Gloucestershire , † December 13, 1981 in London) was a British composer and improvisation musician .

life and work

Cardew studied cello and piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London between 1953 and 1957 , as well as composition with Howard Ferguson . From 1957 he studied electronic music with Gottfried Michael Koenig at the Cologne University of Music , later he worked there as an assistant to Karlheinz Stockhausen . In 1958 he participated as a répétiteur in the European premiere of John Cage's piano concerto.

Cardew returned to England in 1961, where he worked as a graphic artist and gave concerts. In 1964 he studied composition with Goffredo Petrassi in Rome . In 1965 he joined the AMM improvisation ensemble , of which he was a member until 1971. In 1966 and 1967 he worked at the Center of Creative and Performing Arts at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York , before becoming a professor at the Royal Academy of Music . Together with Howard Skempton and Michael Parson , he founded the Scratch Orchestra in 1969 , in which composers, professional musicians, amateurs, visual artists and actors came together to perform music.

From 1974 the composer, who founded his own song class at Goldsmiths College in London in 1975 , wrote numerous political songs, among others. a. for performances by the Maoist Peoples Liberation Group . He was also involved as a musician with John Tilbury on demonstrations, supported striking workers and, during a fellowship stay in Berlin , the fight for a children's clinic in Haus Bethanien , for which he composed the "Bethaniensong". His most important compositions today are “Treatise” and “The Great Learning”.

Discography (selection)

  • The Great Learning Paragraphs 2 and 7 (1971; republished 2002) Deutsche Grammophon.
  • Thälmann Variations (1975, published 1986)
  • Cornelius Cardew Piano Music musicnow 1991
  • We Sing for the Future! Interpretations of two compositions for solo piano with Frederic Rzewski (2002) (New Albion)
  • Four Principles On Ireland And Other Pieces (Ampersand)
  • Treatise ( Hat [Now] Art )
  • Chamber Music 1955-1964 Apartment House (2001) (Matchless Recordings mrcd45)
  • Material (Hat [Now] Type)
  • Cornelius Cardew - piano music 1959-70 (1996) with John Tilbury (Matchless Recordings mrcd29)
  • AMMMUSIC 1966. (ReR Megacorp.)

bibliography

  • Coriún Aharonián, "Cardew as a Basis for a Discussion on Ethical Options" Leonardo Music Journal 11 (2001) pp. 13-15
  • Virginia Anderson, "Chinese Characters and Experimental Structure in Cornelius Cardew's The Great Learning," Journal of Experimental Music Studies
  • Hanno Ehrler, “The Great Learning: The London Scratch Orchestra” feature for Hessischer Rundfunk (PDF; 38 kB)
  • Brian Eno , "Generating and Organizing Variety in the Arts," Christoph Cox & Daniel Warner eds. Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music (New York & London: Continuum Books, 2005) An insightful study of "Paragraph 7" of The Great Learning
  • Michael Nyman , "Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999)
  • Michael Parsons, "The Scratch Orchestra and the Visual Arts" Leonardo Music Journal (Vol. 11, 2001) pp. 5-11
  • Victor Schonfield, "Cornelius Cardew, AMM, and the Path to Perfect Hearing," Jazz Monthly (May 1968)
  • Timothy D. Taylor, "Moving in Decency: The Music and Radical Politics of Cornelius Cardew," Music & Letters 79: 4 (November 1998): pp. 555-576
  • John Tilbury, " Cornelius Cardew " Contact No. 26 (Spring 1983) pp. 4-12
  • John Tilbury, " The Experimental Years: A View from the Left, " Journal of Experimental Music Studies. Originally published in Contact 22 (1981), 16-21
  • Daniel Varela, " 'A Question of Language': Frederic Rzewski in conversation about Cornelius Cardew " Journal of Experimental Music Studies
  • Eddie Prévost (ed.), Cornelius Cardew: A Reader (Copula, 2006). A collection of Cornelius Cardew's published writings together with commentaries and responses from Richard Barrett, Christopher Fox, Brian Dennis, Anton Lukoszevieze, Michael Nyman, Eddie Prévost, David Ryan, Howard Skempton, Dave Smith, John Tilbury and Christian Wolff . Introduction by Michael Parsons. 400pp illustrated. ISBN 0-9525492-2-0 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Cardew, Cornelius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British composer and improvisation musician
DATE OF BIRTH May 7, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Winchcombe , Gloucestershire
DATE OF DEATH December 13, 1981
Place of death London