Sixty-Two Mesostics re Merce Cunningham

freely adapted from John Cage and Italo Calvino

Cathy Berberian gave me “Sixty-two Mesostics Re Merce Cunningham,” saying: “Try to do it.”

The first thing I saw was a sheaf of 62 pages, each with a different composition of letters of the alphabet. This was the score.

Looking more closely, a different visual dynamism and a different silence appeared in each composition. I perceived the contrast between those sounds and those silences.

The production consists of eight symbols of nature (sky, wind, water, lake, fire, thunder, earth, mountain) from which – through a process of abstraction – I sought dynamism in space and pathos.

The musical part also consists of eight variations.

Combining the eight variations of the musical part with the eight of movement, sixty-four possible combinations were obtained.

I would like this open structure to combine with the sensibility of the audience in a personal mandala.