think positive wrote:nothing - total peace and quiet!!
aaahhhh, love it!
I have that one, too!
4'33" by John Cage. Personally, I like Frank Zappa's version best (if anyone wants to hunt it down, it's on the 1993 John Cage tribute album entitled
"A Chance Operation").
Of course, one point of Cage's composition (if it can be sensibly said to have a point) is that, absent a vacuum, there is no such thing as total peace and quiet.
For any of you who might be interested, the avant-garde music movement got especially silly in the late 1940s and early 1950s. At the height of one particular phase of lunacy (in about 1947-48 ), Cage started to think about composing - well, absolutely nothing.
It took him until 1952 to complete this monumental work, which was ultimately performed in 3 movements.
Around the time of its premiere, Stravinsky was asked about Cage's latest work. He said it was a direction he hoped many other members of the avant-garde would adopt; that they would produce many more soundless pieces:
"And I only hope they turn out to be works of major length."
Some did follow the lead. At home, I have a copy of Ligeti's score
Three Bagatelles for David Tudor. Splendid work for closed piano and motionless pianist. I've played it a few times, although I occasionally think that $29.95 might have been a bit rich for the sheet music. After all, unlike Cage's composition, it's a very short work - each movement only lasts 1 bar. I find it works well enough at parties, though.
I think Sonic Youth may have done something similar on one of their albums. But, by then, it was all just a little derivative.
Indeed, I'm pretty sure there was a copyright breach claim by Editions Peters (the publisher which owns the copyright to
4'33") against an English chap who recorded some silence in about 2007.
So, just be careful, TP - if you are ever silent (especially in public) deliberately, you just might need to pay someone some royalties....
poll question: would Dale Thomas going to GWS be such a waste of talent?)), so there was no-one on board to beat Fripp into line.
