''Music was the main way John Cage made himself into who he was'' writes David Revill, one of the many contributors to ''A Chance Operation''. And the Cagean aesthetic is indeed one of constantly shifting contexts for everything that 'sounds', be it interrupted silence, teeming radio signals, standard instruments employed in tonal exploration (including Cage's own 'prepared' pianos) or that ongoing, undifferentiated improvisation that we habitually call noise. Cage remains the pivotal force, and the fulcrum for all 22 composers gathered together on these two CDs: most selections are either by him (texts or music), inspired by him or dedicated to him. His spirit is felt everywhere, yet rather than stifling or inhibiting, it served to liberate a veritable flood of invention. Indeed, it is both touching and apposite that Cage's legendary 4'33'' of inhabited silence be entrusted to the late Frank Zappa who, the odd shuffle notwithstanding, simply sits by and lets it all happen. Your contribution—and don't forget that for Cage, listening also means participating—is to have Zappa's silence enrich your own, so that whatever occurs therein (or thereafter) helps fashion a 'unique' experience.
Laurie Anderson's quietly hypnotic Cunningham Stories (to texts by Cage himself) arrive in four short instalments, while the first CD ends with Yoko Ono's lengthy but accessible Georgia Stone, a montage comprising culturally significant voices (John Lennon, Martin Luther King, unnamed victims of political oppression, etc.), rhetorical sound patterns and sundry musical impressions. Then there are Meredith Monk's outlandish vocalizations, Ryuichi Sakamoto's ear-stretching Haiku FM, David Tudo's punishing Webwork, the mournful double-bass drone of art is self-alteration is Cage is... by Larry Austin and Robert Black, after one of Cage's own key concepts, and works by Earle Brown, Robert Ashley, Ken Nordine and many others.
Self-alteration—a provocative idea and very much of a piece with the other works included in ''A Chance Operation''. However, Koch International's method harbours an extra ace, one that you too can play. Each work is split into a number of tracks, which means that the first disc has 11 pieces divided by 98; the second a further 11 divided by 85 (the last track recalls a sequence of street noises taped outside Cage's New York apartment). The idea is that by using the 'random' button on your CD player, you can prompt a totally 'new' programme consisting of freshly juxtaposed extracts from any of the 22 works included—a sort of DIY Cage kit, and immense fun to play with. And it's warming to know that the producers have enough compassion and social awareness to print an advertisement for Gay Men's Health Crisis, the world's largest AIDS organization. Self-recommending for creative bold spirits.'