The Sound of Music: A Conversation with Michael Snow

Annette Michelson: Michael, I recently asked you about the distribution of your music on CD, about those in particular that form an anthology of your work on piano, perhaps not a complete anthology, but an extensive one, nonetheless. When I asked, "Who distributes them?" you said: "Galleries, mostly. Places-" Michael Snow: No, no, it actually isn't galleries. It's those places that distribute books, catalogs, and multiples by artists. Like Art Metropole in Toronto and Printed Matter in New York. But you mentioned the three-CD package, Snow Solo Piano Solo Snow (3 Phases). It was produced by a Quebec company, Ohm Editions, and it's supposed to have the distribution that record companies do. And it might be findable in a record store, but I've never looked. [Laughs] Michelson: Well, what really interested me in your answer was what you said about "places that have to do with art. And, of course, this isn't art." [MS laughs] And I said: "Really?" And I'd like you to rethink that. Snow: Yes. [Laughs] Michelson: And tell me, indeed, whether or not you stand by that statement, or you might have something else to say. Snow: Thanks for the opportunity to correct myself. [Pause] The things that I've done, the first of which was the Chatham Square double album'-which came out in '74, and then later, The Last LP2-which is '87-were attempts to make a unity of my music, and the text and packaging. You know, the physical element, as well as the sound. And I consider them to be works in their entirety. Like my book works, in a sense-like Cover to Cover.3 But my answer was provoked, I suppose, by the fact that the music is the most important part of the sandwich. And I really like my recordings to be available to those who are specifically interested in music, as opposed to, quote, "art," in the visual sense. Well, notjust the visual sense, but...