4'33" by John Cage

[Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com>]

On 3/27/2014 6:44 PM, Loopers-Delight-d-request@loopers-delight.com wrote:
> 0'00" by John Cage. 

Just for historical accuracy, I believe you are referring to the 
compostion, 4'33" bt Cage.


Many people, parenthetically,  don't understand what he was attempting 
in that piece.

Because it is in three movements,  when it was debuted,  the audience 
kept anticipating that something
would happen.

when nothing happened, Cage's point was that all of the sounds made by 
people shifting uncomfortably
in their seat; their coughs, exits and entrances became the only audible 
sound (which was random- something
Cage was absolutely fascinated by) and 'were' the music of the piece.

The piece had nothing to do with the pianist sitting, silently, in front 
of the $150,000 grand piano.

It was the 'noise' created by the audience...................and in most 
cases, originally,  it was the noise
of a disturbed and expectant audience.

In modern performances it always is a little disappointing that the 
audience, now, usually laughs
with their discomfort.

I saw it performed in Santa Cruz once with a pianist in tails performing 
on a grand toy piano
which caused a lot of laughter from the audience.

I thought the conductor didn't truly 'get' the piece when I saw that and 
seemed to be going for the
lowest common denominator.

If you haven't read it,   Cage wrote a brilliant book about music called 
"SILENCE".
I cant' recommend it more highly for anyone intrigued by the philosophy 
of music expression.

R.