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Gavin ryars

1, 2, 123-4

Gavin Bryars: Double Bass.

Christopher Hobbs: Piano.

Cornel ius Cardew:Cello.

Derek Bailey: Guitar.

Mike Nicolls Drums.

Ce

lia

Gollin

and Brian Eno: Vocals

AndyMackay: Oboe.

Stuart Deeks: Violins.

Paul Nieman: Trombone.

Engineered by Phil Ault.

Produced by Brian Eno

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1 2 1-2-3-4

The piece is for instrumentalists/vocalists,

each wearing headphones connected to a

portable cassettemachine. Each performer

hears only themusic in his headphones,

music which contains parts for his

instrumentor voice, and he plays, along with

the cassette, his own instrumental part. His

ability to reproduce this part depends on how

familiar he is with what he hears, and this

can range from careful practice over a-period

ofweeks with his cassette to an immediate

response from a firstor second hearing.The

present recording, to some extent, contains

elements of these two extremes: a few

players had played the piece on other

occasions at least one of which used the

same material as is used on this recording ,

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wt)ileothers became acquainted with it for

the first t ~ i n t h recording studio.

Each performer plays the' part that

corresponds to his instrumentThus, if the

music

be jazz, a bassist

is

likely

to play more

than, say, a violinist. In the case of a bassist

hearing jazz (and, hence, usuallya bass).on

his headphones, he would attempt to play,

as best he can, the bass-line in the head

phones such

thatthere is

an intended

one-

to-one relationship between what he plays

and what he hears in the headphones. He

may try his part several times before hand,

or he may choose to busk ' 'on the night , like

the accompani

st

in

cabaret

who is

told, in the

middle of the act on stage, that there are no

parts for the next number butthat it is Happy

Streets and Paper Rainbows in D flat. 1 2

1-2-3-4 (and his entry must be prompt, even

to

the extent

of invent

i

ng

an eight-bar

i ntrod ucti on).

In this performance, all the players have

identical material on their cassettes, though

each was recorded individually and not

copied simultaneously, and

their

performance reflects a numberof variables

that occur: the starting point of the music on

the cassettes is not precise (butthe click of

the machines switching on, however, is);

the cassettes may not be all running at the

samespeed due to the uneven qual t of the

different machines, the stateoftheir batteries

and so on, and this, in turn, affects both the

duration and key of the piece; players vary

in their ability to' shadow material (i.e. to

simultaneously hear and reproduce);

players, in this recording, vary in their

familiarity with the material.The material

itself, however, is perfectly homogeneous

and the dislocations that occur do not

destroy this.

The piece

was

originally

written

for a series of concerts organised by John

White and is, amiably, dedicated to him.