Song Books, by John Cage

Song Books

by John Cage

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Rod Stasick Wonderful collection of merged Songbooks. I bought this when it originally came out about 8 years ago. Unfortunately, we were promised (and promised) that we would be able to also have the original 90 recordings, in full, soon afterwards, but this, sadly, never happened.

Dr. "Buzz" Frenzy (Matthew J Hesse) thumbnail

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BONUS ITEMS: SLEEVE + COMPLETE BOOKLET

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1.	Solo for Voice No.17 03:16	buy track
2.	Solo for Voice No.20 07:54	buy track
3.	Song Books Mix 1 06:49	buy track
4.	Solo for Voice No.65 09:07	buy track
5.	Solo for Voice No.4 11:28	buy track
6.	Song Books Mix 6 02:32	buy track
7.	Solo for Voice No.3 00:47	buy track
8.	Solo for Voice No.11 05:15	buy track
9.	Song Books Mix 7 03:30	buy track
10.	Solo for Voice No.79 03:34	buy track
11.	Song Books Mix 3 14:28	buy track
12.	Solo for Voice No.47 04:05	buy track
13.	Solo for Voice No.91 01:50	buy track
14.	Song Books Mix 5 12:30	buy track
15.	Solo for Voice No.5 04:38	buy track
16.	Solo for Voice Mix 4 01:47	buy track
17.	Song Books No.67 19:19	buy track
18.	Solo for Voice No.21 02:39	buy track
19.	Solo for Voice No.70 04:53	buy track
20.	Song Books No.90 09:39	buy track
21.	Song Books Mix 2 22:54	buy track

about

The human voice is a magical instrument and John Cage's gargantuan opus, Song Books (Solos for Voice 3-92), is a magnificent homage. These performances by Lore Lixenberg, Gregory Rose, and Robert Worby are a stunning achievement, and this first complete recording makes a welcome (and long overdue) addition to the ever-expanding catalog of Cage's recorded works.
Laura Kuhn - The John Cage Trust

This year, 2012, John Cage would have been 100 years old. He defined experimental music in the 1930s and, since that time, his ideas, his music and his work have been copied by hundreds of other composers and musicians time and time and time again. Anybody who claims to make experimental music today has to acknowledge their debt to him.
Performed by Loré Lixenberg and Gregory Rose / vocalists, Robert Worby electronics

Song Books is a collection of 90 'Solos for Voice' that Cage composed in 1970. As a theme, he took a line from his diaries: 'We connect Satie with Thoreau'. Satie being the eccentric French composer Erik Satie, whom Cage greatly admired. And Thoreau, the American writer who lived alone in the woods writing about nature and his own type of anarchy.
Any number of the Solos may be performed by any number of people, in any order, selected by chance operations. Songs and theatre and electronics mash up Fluxus-like food events, amplified board games, electroacoustic voices, 'animal heads' and intense feedback. Cage says that 'a virtuoso performance will include a wide variety of styles of singing and vocal production.'

This is the first ever recording of all of the Solos for Voice contained in Song Books.

credits

released September 15, 2013

Performed by Robert Worby, Lore Lixenberg and Gregory Rose

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John Cage Los Angeles, California

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