Re: John Cage recordings

[Jim Coker <jcoker@magelang.com>]

Cage is a special case, though I think he belongs
with other modern "avant-garde" composers of the 50's.
His work drew the same audience and pushed the boundaries
of art music in the same way as the work of Xenakis, 
Stockhausen, Boulez, Ligeti, etc. He's special because
he pushed past all reasonable rules of what could
define a musical experience (i.e. the infamous 4'33).
He's also a composer who is known more for his ideas
than his music.

Robert Morgan's _Twentieth Century Music_ does an
excellent job of covering the evolution of classical
music from post-romanticisim through atonality, serialism,
and all the things that happened after WWII.  Cage
was a student of Schoenberg for a while, so there is
a traceable heritage all the way back to Bach, even
if most of his music does not reveal it. But then again,
Webern doesn't sound like Bach either.


Jim


Dennis W. Leas wrote:
> 
> After thinking about this a great deal (do I have too much time or 
>what?) I
> conclude it all depends on what you mean by classical music.  I consider
> many of Cage's ideas to be the antithesis of classical music, such as 
>using
> chance operations, incorporation of noise, minimizing the "intention" of 
>the
> composer, etc.  He spoke of his music as if it were an alternative to the
> classical approach.  To my ear, much of his music is the opposite of, 
>say,
> Bach's Fugues.  On the other hand, he studied composition and music 
>theory
> and notated his compositions.
> 
> It makes me wonder where looper music will be classified in fifty years.