[SanAntone]

Doesn't the fact that this "composition" is published, "performed" and even recorded, completely corrupted the original idea?

"As Cage writes at the end of his Silence, "I've spent many pleasant hours in the woods conducting performances of my silent piece, transcriptions - that is, for an audience of myself."' By inviting us to do the same, Cage transformed the art of music, and the art of listening, irrevocably."

The paying audiences sitting in a hall watching the person on stage doing nothing are not doing that, unfortunately.

I was confused, too, over recordings of 4'33" until I realized that the sounds in and surrounding the room where you were listening to the recording was the venue.

 

[hammeredklavier]

I'm listening to his sonatas and interludes now.

 

[cybernaut]

An important composer, with a lot of fresh ideas....but I haven't heard much music by him that I'd want to hear a second time. The piece above is pretty cool though.

 

[SeptimalTritone]

Yes, it is a cool piece! The prepared piano is like a pitched super-percussion instrument with a flexible interplay of timbres.

I want to give another shout out to the Imaginary Landscape 1

(1939), an atmospheric early electroacoustic work with, to me, a light touch of humor and tension. It has tone generators, muted piano, cymbals, and it's a very listenable work.

 

[Scorpion de Rooftrouser]

An important composer, with a lot of fresh ideas....but I haven't heard much music by him that I'd want to hear a second time. The piece above is pretty cool though.

Precisely. He was full of great ideas and concepts but the results were less interesting. Schoenberg's assessment of Cage's abilities was certainly on point.

 

[jkl]

I don't know Cage's music so I might explore. Which ones do you all recommend?

 

[Luchesi]

I've never heard his famous 4" 33".

Some philosophers say that Nothing Unreal Exists. I'm glad they cleared that up..

 

[cybernaut]

this is a very informative video:

 

[cybernaut]

 

[Superflumina]

To me he's a bit of a figure like Giulio Caccini, the early Baroque composer. Highly innovative and wrote some fine music that I like but he's not one of my favorites and I tend to enjoy the work of his contemporaries more.

 

[Chilham]

I don't know Cage's music so I might explore. Which ones do you all recommend?

In a Landscape
Sonatas and Interludes (if you're in the right mood)

 

[jkl]

In a Landscape
Sonatas and Interludes (if you're in the right mood)

Thanks, I guess I am in the right mood, I shall give that a listen

 

[jcg91104]

I am not a fan of Cage's music, but I do appreciate anyone that pushes boundaries. I've only heard a few things by him that I find moderately interesting. The Seasons, Fifty-Eight, Two4, Sixty-Eight. So, my assessment is, interesting thinker, minor composer.

I would say that, unlike the adage that "the more you know the more you know you don't know what you know', the reverse is true of Cage's music.

 

[Neo Romanza]

I’d say Cage has composed some interesting works, but I still look at him more as a music philosopher than a “composer”. I think most of his most interesting music is found in his Number pieces or, at least, this is my own experience with his music. I do like the Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber Orchestra (I believe he later arranged it for a full orchestra --- I could be wrong about this of course).

Samuel Andreyev makes a strong case for John Cage:

 

[haziz]

No.

 

[SanAntone]

Emphatic yes.

 

[pianozach]

If he hadn't "composed" 4'33", would he have ended up being just another forgotten composer?

 

[mmsbls]

If he hadn't "composed" 4'33", would he have ended up being just another forgotten composer?

Certainly many fewer people would know of him, but I don't think it would have had a significant effect on those who chose to listen to his music.

 

[SanAntone]

If he hadn't "composed" 4'33", would he have ended up being just another forgotten composer?

I doubt that. His Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano alone would have put his work in the curriculum of most music schools. Actually, for most scholars who have spent time covering Cage, 4'33" is a minor work in his large oeuvre. David Tudor was more instrumental in the work seeing the light of day, since Cage never considered having it "performed". After the Woodstock concert, Cage distanced himself from the work, although he did acknowledge its importance regarding the 20th century musical landscape.

Here's excerpt from a letter Cage wrote to Helen Wolff, Christian Wolff's mother:

Incidentally, it was not I but David [Tudor] who decided upon the program. I do not say this to ‘shift the responsibility.’ But that you may be informed of how things actually take place. I composed the piece nearly two years ago. It was performed by David with mixed reactions at Woodstock, N.Y. The piece exists in the repertoire and he chose to program it at the present time. I myself am detached. I am busy with other things, a new composition, concert details of management, this letter, and this springtime.

The article from where that quote came is a good take on this issue.