Re: Gould versus Cage

[Mary Jo Watts <mwatts@rci.rutgers.edu>]

Also, remember GG's statement about Cage in the John McClure interview--
GG says that Cage should "absolutely be writing for the radio" and that
it's ridiculous that Cage continued to use the concert hall as a medium.

-Mary Jo

Matt Sekerke wrote:
> 
> > 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