Treatise (written from 1963 to 1967 by Cornelius Cardew) is a legendary and monumental graphic score. It consists of 193 pages with numbers, shapes and symbols (some musical) whose interpretation is left up to the performer. While the composer has never given explicit instructions on how it should be performed, he has suggested that interpreters devise rules for themselves in advance. Instead of indicating what is to be played and how, the composer's authority is undermined by focusing on the creative impulses from the musicians.

"It should be pointed out that none of Cardew's works ever gave total freedom to the performer. The instructions were a guide which focused each individual's creative instinct on a problem to be solved - how to interpret a particular system of notation using one's own musical background and attitudes."
- John Tilbury

With the support of Festival van Vlaanderen Vlaams-Brabant