Back to Works Index
Work Title
Third Construction
Date
Composed in 1941. Premiered in San Francisco, May 14, 1941.
Ensemble Type
Percussion Quartet
Work Length
15 minutes
Instrumentation
For percussion quartet.
Comments
The rhythmic structure of this work is 24 times 24 measures. In each part, the phrase structure follows a different proportion series, each being a rotation of the other, i.e. player 4: [8, 2, 4, 5, 3, 2], player 1: [2, 8, 2, 4, 5, 3], player 3: [3, 2, 8, 2, 4, 5] and player 2: [5, 3, 2, 8, 2, 4]. The instruments used are rattles, drums, tin cans, claves, cowbells, lion's roar, cymbal, ratchet, teponaxtle, quijades, cricket caller, and conch shell.
Dedicatee(s)
‘to Xenia for our anniversary’
Publication
Peters Edition EP 6794 (score), EP 6794a (set of parts)
Recordings (click for details)
Cage 100: Bootleg Series March 22, 2012 9:20pm
Cage 100: Bootleg Series March 22, 2012 9:21pm
The Works for Percussion 2
The Works for Percussion 2
John Cage in Norway
Percussion Masterpieces
UCLA Department of Music Promotional CD No.1
John Cage - Three Constructions
[Percussion Ensemble Concert, 1 March 2001, 7:30 p.m.]
Amores Cage
Peter Sadlo & Friends: Drum Together
John Cage - Works for Percussion Complete Edition Vol.2: 1941-1950
Strike - the music of motion
John Cage - Music for Percussion Quartet
The New Music Consort: Pulse
KROUMATA
Eastman Chamber Percussion Ensemble
Ethos Percussion Group
"Crosstalk"
4'33"
Hum
Contemporary Percussion Ensemble
Utopia Americana
John Cage - Works for Percussion (1939-1943)
Stick Attack - Percussion Art Quartett
Robert Hohner Percussion Ensemble - Different Strokes
Robert Hohner Percussion Ensemble - Different Strokes
Pulse
J.Scott Jackson, percussion
4'33"
4'33"
John Cage - Three Constructions
John Cage - Three Constructions
Cage/ Harrison/ Cowell/ Sollberger/ Foss
The Best of Nexus
Percussion works by Cage, Harrison, Rouse, Kurtz, Bazelon, VerPlanck
John Cage - Three Constructions
Grupo de Percussão do instituto de artes do Planalto- UNESP (State University of São Paulo Percussion Group)
East LA Phase; Third Construction; Wave and cut; Clapping Music Wayne Siegel, John Cage, Bo Holten, Steve Reich
Pulse: Works for Percussion and Strings
First Construction
Changes
Synergy
[Percussion Ensemble Concert, 15 February 1996]
John Cage: Silence Happening
+Share