Gould versus Cage

[Matt Sekerke <msekerke@bellatlantic.net>]

> Pat Attiswil wrote:

Because Otto Friedrich mentioned a piece by Steve Reich (which turned
out to be the brilliant "Come Out") in his GG biography and because I
wanted to know why GG had something against composers like John Cage
(and today I know GG was more or less right about Cage) I got myself a
few records by contemporary composers like Reich, Glass etc.

Ingvar responded:

 What do you mean with that remark about Cage? I'm a devoted Gouldian,
but also a passionate Cageian, among other things, and I'm a member of
f-minor as well as the brilliant and very interseting Cage-list called
Silence. What DO you mean with that remark?

I came over to this list after being pointed to it by Ingvar from the
Silence list.  As a Cage advocate myself, I think it is necessary to
jump in and say that the reason Gould was so against Cage is that he so
contradicted the philosophy that Gould applied to his music.  Gould,
through dozens of alternate takes, splicing, mixing, filtering, etc.,
strove to commit the definitive version of a piece to disc.  Cage, on
the other hand, mostly eschewed recording and preferred the spontaneity
and originality of live performance.

I feel that Gould's feelings toward Cage can be defined as merely
political: he must convince others that his (Gould's) art is the best in
order to survive in the public forum.

And now, I echo Ingvar: What DO you mean by that remark (i.e. I see what
he meant...)

Matt Sekerke