In Four⁴ Cage worked with ”time brackets”, as he has done in many other works. This is a way of determining the duration of a piece without exactly forcing the performer(s) into a totally rigid system, which is why, in Four⁴, Cage lets player 1 start his first time bracket any time between 0’00 and 1’00, whereas it must end somewhere between 0’40 and 1’40. Of course, when these various time brackets are induced on a number of players, the result may vary a lot from performance to performance, thus leaving the door wide open to chance as well as artistic nuance and sensitivity on the part of the performers.

Recorded 2000 at Basilica of Saint Adalbert in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.
Liner notes by Rob Haskins
CD released in 2001