Abstract
Cornelius Cardew’s theoretical as well as graphic research on musical notation in the 1960s is part of a broader reflection on the relation between writing and indeterminacy. According to Cardew, any notation, whatever its established degree of precision or complexity, is in close relationship with indeterminacy. When this relationship is accepted as such, writing can give rise to scores opening up to process and whose sole value is in the immanence of their enactment. By following the composer’s intellectual and artistic itinerary, one realizes these considerations underlie a profound reflection on the emancipation of individuals. By analyzing some of his experimental scores, I will examine the singular theory of emancipation which gradually takes shape in Cardew’s work. Far from being solely a hymn to the power of invention demonstrated by the musicians faced with indeterminacy, this music may well lead those who perform it to question the collective dimension of creation, as well as the extent and contingency of the conventions and shared assumptions among which this creation can take place.
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