The phenomenon of graphic scores has been a subject of fascination controversy and a
flourishing of artistic talent since its inception in the aftermath of the Second World War.
The scores of that age despite their compelling visual presence nevertheless remain elusive:
the means of performance are obscure and they resist conventional analysis.This study
reconsiders graphic scores from the perspective of Information Theory derived from studies of
ergodic texts: the ergodic score requires non-trivial effort from the participants in its
realization becoming a cybernetic object that challenges our beliefs about what music is how
it works and where to find its meaning. The sounds of a musical performance are the field in
which a larger metamorphosis takes place: like the labyrinth the journey to the heart of
ergodic scores entails both risk and transcendence.This study illuminates ergodic scores from
their theoretical foundations: the abstract theory of how they work the history of exemplary
figures from the postwar avant-garde-including such luminaries of the art as Yoko Ono Roman
Haubenstock-Ramati Anestis Logothetis Pauline Oliveros and John Cage-and concrete analysis
of selected repertoire.Using pioneering theoretical insights-and with the benefit of original
archival research interviews with the artists themselves and decades of experience as a
composer and performer of graphic scores-the author establishes one of the great attainments of
the twentieth century as a living art.
