The title of this orchestral work designates how many players are required to perform the piece. This is one of Cage's last completions; he died a few weeks before its premiere. Each performer is given a part (there is no greater score) featuring a set of single notes. There are only two different parts, one for high instruments and one for low instruments. Performers are encouraged to take rhythmic and tuning liberties. Instead of a conductor, a video clock coordinates the ensemble. This work, among many works by the relentlessly inventive Cage, is an attempt to remove all conscious intention, taste, and the use of memory on the part of the composer. Performers are expected to play it for a greatness that can occur if they are responsible and serious. The effect of a successful performance is one that ennobles everyone, the music, the players, and the listeners. Generally, this particular "chance operations" piece creates a free-floating soundscape that is pleasant but not astonishing. There is so much of this music with the same sort of effect that it is a very particular frame of mind that can be edified by the eventlessness that goes on here. There is a time and a place for it, and a good recording of it can open one's mind to new possibilities about sound, music, and art. However, once the mind is opened, and the open-minded listener goes on to investigate the many works in this genre of non-intended composing, he or she will discover little past the idea itself. If one is aesthetically edified by ideas and long, slow orchestral movements that demonstrate ideas, this late work by Cage is ideal. It is dedicated to Francis Thorne, conductor Russell Davies, and the American Composer's Orchestra.

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