Cage in GG's letters

[Bradley Lehman <bpl@umich.edu>]

At 03:51 PM 12/31/00 -0800, Jim Morrison wrote:
> and, of course, if any of you read the article on 4'33'' then you'll know
> that Cage does not instruct the pianist to sit motionless, that there's an
> actually score (perhaps more than one) that needs to be turned during the
> performance,and  that performers take a stopwatch with them to the piano to
> time the movements, just to name a few of the movements that the performers
> make.

The score of 4'33" all fits onto one page; in my files I have a photocopy
of it from the Peters edition.  The introductory notes are on a separate
page, but the score itself is a facsimile of a typewritten page, perhaps
typed by Cage himself.

In _Selected Letters_ there are several entries about Gould's phone
interview of Cage in June 1974.  Gould then wrote to one of his fans, Rev.
Gerald Pocock: "(...) I have frequently had occasion to interview
musicians, the nature of whose work eludes me to some degree--John Cage,
for example, contributed an interview to a Schonberg series which I have in
preparation at the moment and I find that, in the role of interviewer, I'm
quite unable to maintain an appropriate objectivity. (...)"  [July 6, 1974]

And I doubt that GG (a non-typist) was referring to the typewriter as an
element that eludes him about Cage's work.  Or maybe it was.

Don't miss the National Public Radio "All Things Considered" feature about
4'33", from May 8 2000.  It lasts for 8'19" and provides an illuminating
context of the original
performance.  http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/vote/dlist.html

I have the CD of 4'33" by the Amadinda Percussion Group, Hungaroton
12991.  It adheres strictly to the movement timings, and is not silent.  It
has ambient sounds from Bartok Concert Hall, recorded
1988.  http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000003070.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

-----

Would GG have liked "Seinfeld," "a show about nothing" ?  What if GG had
had a neighbour like Kramer, or Newman?  The mind reels!



Bradley Lehman, Dayton VA
home: http://i.am/bpl or  http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl
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"Music must cause fire to flare up from the spirit - and not only sparks
from the clavier...." - Alfred Cortot