Introduction

Paul Zukofsky was born in Brooklyn in 1943 and became a child prodigy as a violinist, studying with Ivan Galamian from age seven. His official Carnegie Hall debut was in 1956, and he took his degrees at the Juilliard School. Since then, as violinist and conductor, he has specialized in twentieth-century works, giving many significant premieres and making first recordings. He has taught at a variety of institutions in the United States and Europe and was director of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute and editor of its journal from 1992 to 1996. Since 1975 he has been president of Musical Observations Inc. In 1992 the Museum of Modern Art in New York devoted its Summergarden music series to Cage, and Zukofsky was artistic director. Cage wrote the Freeman Etudes for him.

Interview

Edited by Paul Zukofsky in February 2005

PZ The first time I met John was when I was in Buffalo as a creative associate, probably in 1965. I certainly knew the name and some of the music well before that, around 1960, when I was sixteen or seventeen.

PD Do any particular pieces stand out in your mind?

PZ My primary love of his music came about through Six Melodies. In Buffalo I also knew about the theater pieces, as well as the graphic solo violin works, neither of which particularly appealed to me, primarily because my interests are with control. How to control the technical aspects of playing fascinates me. The idea of being allowed to do more or less whatever you wish to do was a type of anarchy I simply could not deal with. Anarchy is not what John had in mind, but he ended up being misinterpreted for many years. He was hoist with his own petard because politically he could not admit that people could not always be allowed to do whatever they wanted to do or that they would not always behave as they should behave toward society.

PD How do you account for his desire for anarchy?

PZ I think that is part of the American character. A British friend of mine once pronounced that we do not have a democracy here but controlled anarchy. This pervades everything we do.