Re: 4'33" by John Cage

[Sylvain Poitras <sylvain.trombone@gmail.com>]

On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 6:42 AM, Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com> wrote:

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.

I can't contribute to this thread without repeating myself...

4'33" actually has two main points. The first is clear: any sound can be musical. The second is more subtle: a composer does not need to specify which sounds will be heard in his composition. This runs against Varèse's definition of music as "organized sounds", which Cage endorsed in his earlier music, since there is no organization beyond what nature provides.

Parenthetically, Cage was friendly with Robert Rauschenberg and he was familliar with his white painting...  a visual art equivalent to his 4"33'?

Sylvain