From R. Lim Sent Mon, Aug 23rd 1999, 21:46
From R. Lim Sent Mon, Aug 23rd 1999, 21:46
On Mon, 23 Aug 1999, elk bot wrote: > Considering that his music wasnt very good (his pieces for prepared > piano being an exception), has anyone ever considered how convenient > it was for Mr. Cage to adopt the philosophy that "music is simply the > noise you choose to pay attention to"? Interesting that you should mention his prepared piano stuff... contrast Sonatas and Interludes with some of his seminal percussion work (of which there is a nice comp on Wergo w/1st Construction in Metal and all the hits) and you'll get a perfect illustration of the phenomenon that Drew was talking about (ref. noise->melody, melody->noise). The rest of the comment above sort of typifies the misunderstanding of Cage's music that clouds discussions of his significance, much like the cheap cigar smoke that accumulates wherever 1st year MBA students gather. To my knowledge, Cage never went the nihilistic/cynic route and said nothing/everything is music. Rather, he expanded what could be thought of musical source material (e.g. "notes," and in a general sense, what could comprise a score, a performer/"musician", etc). I always thought of the Fluxus "composers" as having taken Cage's ideas to their most extreme, ridiculous (and non-musical) conclusions. And God bless 'em for it. Sample score paraphrase (for a piece called "Polish", can't remember its author off hand): take a violin and polish it. None of this, of course, downplays the significance of Cage in art music of the second half of the 20th century. In fact, IDM sort of fundamentally depends on his theories (to a much greater degree than it does to Stockhausen, Parmegiani or any other conservatory guy name-checked in "Invisible Jukebox"). For the person who asked, the best starting point is probably the 25 Year Retrospective Concert 3CD set on Wergo. The reason behind the occasion is somewhat obscure (I think it was meant as the 25 year anniversary of his entry into composition or something), but it includes a plurality of his most significant early works. Everything is done up by a virtual who's-who of performers and I can't imagine why it wouldn't be considered to be wall-to-wall listenable (even pleasurable) by a crowd raised on Autechre. -rob