WOLFF ON COMPOSITION

Ernesto Livon-Grosman • surynorth productions

77 min, DCP, 2022

This rare document of composer Christian Wolff (b. 1934)—a key figure in the history of American experimental music—traverses the compositional terrain of the youngest member of the New York School who brought the I Ching to Cage and would develop his own radical take on indeterminacy in music. Featuring interviews with Wolff as well as fellow experimental musicians and composers Michael Pisaro, Nicolas Collins, Michael Parsons, Robyn Schulkowsky, Amy Beal and Larry Polansky, the film is a contemplative, articulate exploration into the philosophy and politics embedded within Wolff’s composition, illustrated by his beautiful—and often, intentionally cryptic—scores, the interpretation of which ensures a collaboration between composer and performer and listener. Attentively conspiring with Wolff’s synergistic, variable art, the film’s own formal experimentation threads landscape as a key narrative element of its spacious cinematography.