Here's A Piano I Prepared Earlier celebrates the experimental music movement which flourished during the 1960s, and whose legacy has lived on in musicians as diverse as Frank Zappa, Steve Reich, Michael Nyman and Brian Eno.
Experimental music was usually written in free notation, or as written instructions with no notes at all. Composers often incorporated elements of chance, like the tossing of coins to choose notes, and performed on "prepared" instruments, like a piano stuffed with hay, to produce unexpected sounds.
Starting with John Cage, godfather of experimental music, this documentary looks at the work of young US composers in the 60s, whose desire for freer music led to the hypnotically repetitive process known as minimalism.
We also look at the British experimentalists, such as Cornelius Cardew, who together with his anti-Establishment colleagues provided a refreshing change from the strictly notated compositions of Boulez and Stockhausen. Blending anarchy with a healthy measure of irony, their music was vibrant, original, and often strangely beautiful.
The programme investigates the link between minimalism and rock music, and includes ambient music from Gavin Bryars, whose Sinking of the Titanic and Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet are two of the most famous works to emerge from the experimental movement.
In keeping with the theme, all contributors were asked to throw a pair of dice. The random throws are used to compose an original waltz, which is performed at the end of the programme.
Musical excerpts include:
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John Cage '4'33"'
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Terry Riley 'In C'
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Steve Reich 'Clapping Music'
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Cornelius Cardew 'Treatise'
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David Bedford 'With a Hundred Kazoos'
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Gavin Bryars 'The Sinking of the Titanic'
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Gavin Bryars 'Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet'
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Portsmouth Sinfonia 'Also sprach Zarathustra'
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Mozart Waltz composed by contributors throwing dice
