Yes, But Is It Edible?

Some years ago, Will Holder and Alex Waterman proposed to Robert Ashley that musicians and non-musicians might produce new versions of his operas, by way of typographical scores. The bulk of Yes, But Is It Edible? is a result of that proposal: scores for Dust (1998) and Celestial Excursions (2003). Preceded by a selection of Ashley’s work, from 1963 to 2008, drawing attention to the varying relations between instruction and score, and the tones of instructional address. [from the publisher's note]