Two4



Category: Musical composition
Dated: July 1991, New York City
Instrumentation: For violin and piano or sho
Duration: 30'
Premiere and performer(s): November 15, 1991 at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., performed by Paul Zukofsky, violin and Stephen Drury, piano; The Sho / Violin version was premiered in the Orangerie in Darmstadt, Germany on July 23, 1992, performed by Irvine Arditti, violin and Mayumi Miyata, sho.
Dedicated to: Commissioned by the McKim Fund in the Library of Congress
Choreography: ---
Published: Edition Peters 67418 © 1991 by Henmar Press
Manuscript: 2 parts (galley proof with holographic annotations. Lacking page 2 of violin part - 9 lvs.); Sketches (holograph in ink - 15 p.), both in New York Public Library


A composition with flexible time-brackets. The Sho part covers the full range of 17 pitches and consists of three movements. The violin part employs microtonal notes (six between each chromatic step) and is divided into four movements. The violin mainly plays sustained single tones, the sho (or piano) plays shorter sounds.

Sources: Peters Nachrichten November 1992; New York Public Library online catalog; Paul van Emmerik: A Cage Compendium; Paul van Emmerik: Thema's en Variaties; Stephen Drury: Two4 for Violin and Piano or Sho (Liner notes to CD: Mode 88)