Experimentalism Otherwise: The New York Avant-Garde and Its Limits

by Benjamin Piekut

Overview

In Experimental Otherwise, Benjamin Piekut takes the reader into the heart of what we mean by “experimental” in avant-garde music. Focusing on one place and time—New York City, 1964—Piekut examines five disparate events: the New York Philharmonic’s disastrous performance of John Cage’s Atlas Eclipticalis; Henry Flynt’s demonstrations against the downtown avant-garde; Charlotte Moorman’s Avant Garde Festival; the founding of the Jazz Composers Guild; and the emergence of Iggy Pop. Drawing together a colorful array of personalities, Piekut argues that each of these examples points to a failure and marks a limit or boundary of canonical experimentalism. What emerges from these marginal moments is an accurate picture of the avant-garde, not as a style or genre, but as a network defined by disagreements, struggles, and exclusions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520268517
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	04/04/2011
Series:	California Studies in 20th-Century Music , #11
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Benjamin Piekut is Assistant Professor of Musicology at Cornell University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vii

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: What Was Experimentalism? 1

1 When Orchestras Attack!: John Cage Meets the New York Philharmonic 20

2 Demolish Serious Culture!: Henry Flynt Meets the New York Avant-Garde 65

3 October or Thermidor?: The Jazz Composers Guild Meets New York 102

4 Murder by Cello: Charlotte Moorman Meets John Cage 140

Epilogue: Experimentalism Meets (Iggy) Pop 177

Notes 199

Works Cited 251

Index 273

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Objective, insightful prose"—All About Jazz

"Experimental Otherwise crafts a surprisingly strong narrative."—Skyscraper

"This is an important book, and should be part of every academic music library."—Notes (Music Library Assoc)

Editorial Reviews

An original and important book. . . . Impressive in its scope. . . . A concise and focused account.

Current Musicology - Thomas Fogg

Objective, insightful prose

All About Jazz

Richly deserving superlatives, [Experimentalism Otherwise] is a memorable, exciting, rigorous, and beautifully written book of considerable importance.

Tacet - Edward Crooks

Experimental Otherwise crafts a surprisingly strong narrative.

Skyscraper - Dave Cantor

"Richly deserving superlatives, [Experimentalism Otherwise] is a memorable, exciting, rigorous, and beautifully written book of considerable importance."--Tacet

"This is an important book, and should be part of every academic music library."--Notes (Music Library Assoc)

"Objective, insightful prose"--All About Jazz

"An original and important book. . . . Impressive in its scope. . . . A concise and focused account."--Current Musicology

"Experimental Otherwise crafts a surprisingly strong narrative."--Skyscraper

From the Publisher

This is an important book, and should be part of every academic music library.

Notes (Music Library Assoc) - Clemens Greeser