Two5



Category: Musical composition
Dated: New York City, October 1991
Instrumentation: for piano and tenor trombone
Duration: 40'
Premiere and performer(s): January 30, 1992 at the Städel, Nazarenersaal in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Performed by Hildegard Kleeb, piano and Roland Dahinden, trombone.
Dedicated to: for Hildegard Kleeb and Roland Dahinden
Choreography: ---
Published: Edition Peters 67419 © 1991 by Henmar Press
Manuscript: 2 parts (galley proofs with holographic annotations - 10 lvs. JPB 94-24 Folder 852); Sketches and list of time brackets (holograph in ink - 12 lvs. JPB 94-24 Folder 851), both in New York Public Library


The composition uses time brackets. The piano part contains a large amount of seperate pitch events for each time bracket, varying between single tones and dyads. The trombone part is notated in Cage's six-step microtonal system. It also includes glissandos. There are several passages in the work where both musicians remain silent (some of the silences last up to 5 minutes).

Sources: Rob Haskins: "An Anarchic Society of Sounds: The Number Pieces of John Cage"; New York Public Library online catalog; Edition Peters online catalog; Paul van Emmerik's A John Cage Compendium