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The
Independent (UK)
21 June 2002 Big noises at
odds over the sound of silence
By
David Lister
Media
and Culture Editor
'The Sound of
Silence' may have prompted engaging harmonies from Simon and Garfunkel, but a
more literal appreciation of the absence of noise has prompted one of the more
curious copyright disputes of modern times.
Mike Batt,
the man behind the Wombles and Vanessa Mae, has put a silent 60-second track on
the album of his latest classical chart-topping protégés, the
Planets. This has enraged representatives of the avant-garde, experimentalist
composer John Cage, who died in 1992. The silence on his group's album clearly
sounds uncannily like 4'33", the silence composed by Cage in his
prime.
Batt said
last night: "I've received a letter on behalf of John Cage's music
publishers. I was in hysterics when I read their
letter.
"As my
mother said when I told her, 'Which part of the silence are they claiming you
nicked?'. They say they are claiming copyright on a piece of mine called 'One
Minute's Silence' on the Planets' album, which I credit Batt/Cage just for a
laugh. But my silence is original silence, not a quotation from his
silence."
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