Earle Brown's ‘Creative Ambiguity’ and Ideas of Co-creatorship in Selected Works

Abstract

After explaining Brown's concept of ‘creative ambiguity’, and discussing the idea of co-creatorship with regard to determinate and indeterminate music, a recording of Brown's December 1952 will be examined. Other works briefly mentioned are Corroboree and Twentyfive Pages. The article illustrates that, despite Brown's statement about wanting flexibility and spontaneity, he was increasingly less convinced that performers should be given broader choices when executing indeterminate notations. His solution was to pass on the final control of his works to the conductor. Using statements by Brown, the article also argues that Brown was not interested in achieving specific libertarian, social or political situations with his compositions.