1964
first published as liner notes for the Columbia Masterworks LP Electronics and Percussion, Five Realizations by Max Neuhaus (MS 7139), issued in 1968.
"The final work on Max Neuhaus's solo percussion concert last night at Carnegie Recital Hall was perfect for primary night. Its instrumentation included an FM tuner.
In the manner of the work's composer, John Cage, there were many other sounds, too, from an immense battery of instruments that Mr. Neuhaus struck, rubbed, tickled, patted and beat the stuffings out of at times. To his own considerable energies the percussionist added electronic amplification, so that not only the initial impact tore at the ears, but also the echo as well.
At odd moments fragments of the tuner were heard, none for long enough to be intelligible, but all recognizable as election-night sounds: ''s headquarters. Come in, John. The very ....' Or, 'Congressman Hea ....' And other snatches, all spoken importantly, as election announcers do.
The Cage piece was called 27' 10.554" – which describes its length as timed by Mr. Neuhaus's stopwatch. As music, it was threatening, frightening, disjunct, and although not predictable in detail it was in effect.
Incidentally, the tuner was Mr. Neuhaus's own choice. The piece was written for four groups of instruments, three of which were classified by the composer according to the materials of which they are made: metal, wood, skin, and the fourth to be chosen by the performer.
Equally frightening and almost as loud was Earle Brown's 'Four Systems', for four sizes of electronically amplified cymbals. Here, the composer played with timbres and he gave a great deal of freedom to the performer in working out details of timing.
Again, the choice of instruments was left to the performer. For instance, the piece has been performed on the piano in place of the cymbals with four differently pitched sets of tone clusters.
But the limitation to four strong timbres of the same kind makes for a compelling unity, provided the performer's judgment is as dramatic as Mr. Neuhaus's was.
The other two percussion works sounded almost conventional compared with the Cage and Brown. Bo Nilsson's 'Reaktionen' was a plodding succession of puddles of sound with pauses between. Its notes were written out in detail, in distinction to the Cage and the Brown.
Karlheinz Stockhausen's 'Zyklus' was also written out carefully, with full instructions to the performer, but it was anything but plodding. Its splendid, altogether satisfying juxtaposition of timbres, its strong rhythmic gestures and its firm sense of direction made it a pleasure to hear. Mr. Neuhaus played it, and all else, beautifully."
Theodore Strongin, New York Times, 3 June 1964