John Cage (1912-92)

Started by Lethevich, October 02, 2008, 10:22:06 PM

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T. D.

https://www.woodstockart.org/events/johncage-433-magnusson-benevento-larson/

Marco Benevento, Kay Larson, and Norm Magnusson
John Cage's 4'33"
Virtual event
Sat. August 29, time TBA | FREE
Announcing the WAAM 10th Annual anniversary performance of John Cage's 4'33"
When: Saturday, August 29, 2020, 6:00pm
Where: Streaming live from the Towbin Wing Gallery of the Woodstock Artists Association,
viewable online through zoom link

Featuring: the musical talents of Marco Benevento and the insights of Cage biographer Kay Larson.
Produced by: Norm Magnussen

The event will include a performance of 4'33, followed by a talk by Kay Larson. Marco Benevento will then pay
[sic] some pieces of his own choosing.

Cage's piece had its world debut on August 29, 1952, in Woodstock, during a concert program produced by The Woodstock Artists Association.


I live about an hour's drive from the venue, would likely attend if not for the pandemic.

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

T. D.

#702
Quote from: Mandryka on November 27, 2020, 08:17:07 AM


What is Music for Eight? I can't find it listed here

https://johncage.org/pp/John-Cage-Works.cfm

It's Music for ...

I have this recording, and also a Music for Seventeen version on the old Mosko/SF Contemporary/Newport Classics release.
Quoting notes (by Alan Rich) from the latter,

"Music for ... can be performed by an indeterminate number of players (17 in this case). There is no written-down score, only a set of parts for flute, clarinet, trombone, three percussion, piano, violin and cello...(discussion of time brackets)..."

Notes to the Ensemble Avantgarde recording say that it's OK to omit some of the parts, which is good since otherwise Music for Eight would be impossible (9 parts listed above).  ;)

It's included at your link: https://johncage.org/pp/John-Cage-Work-Detail.cfm?work_ID=133

which lists 17 available parts  ???. Presumably revised since the date of the Mosko liner notes.

Mandryka

Quote from: T. D. on November 27, 2020, 08:45:38 AM
It's Music for ...

I have this recording, and also a Music for Seventeen version on the old Mosko/SF Contemporary/Newport Classics release.
Quoting notes (by Alan Rich) from the latter,

"Music for ... can be performed by an indeterminate number of players (17 in this case). There is no written-down score, only a set of parts for flute, clarinet, trombone, three percussion, piano, violin and cello...(discussion of time brackets)..."

Notes to the Ensemble Avantgarde recording say that it's OK to omit some of the parts, which is good since otherwise Music for Eight would be impossible (9 parts listed above).  ;)

It's included at your link: https://johncage.org/pp/John-Cage-Work-Detail.cfm?work_ID=133

which lists 17 available parts  ???. Presumably revised since the date of the Mosko liner notes.

Ah! 
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

arpeggio

#705
I subscribe to the Digital Concert Hall.

On November20, 2020 the Berlin Philharmonic perform 4'33" with Kirill Petrenko actually conducting the work while the orchestra members just sat there. 

When they finished the audience applauded and nobody booed.

Mandryka

Quote from: San Antone on April 07, 2020, 05:21:03 AM
"Suzuki taught that the ego, through its process of embracing things that pleased it and rejecting the rest, closed itself off from the experiences of the world in toto. Therefore, one had to eliminate a bondage to judgements in order to apprehend the totality of existence."

"He then spoke of two qualities: unimpededness and interpenetration. Unimpededness is seeing that in all of space each thing and each human being is at the center and furthermore that each one being at the center is the most honored one of all. Interpenetration means that each one of the most honored ones of all is moving out in all directions penetrating and being penetrated by every other one no matter what the time or what the space. So that when one says that there is no cause and effect, what is meant is that there are an incalculable infinity of causes and effects, that in fact each and every thing in all of time and space is related to each and every other thing in all of time and space. This being so there is no need to cautiously proceed in dualistic terms of success and failure or the beautiful and the ugly or good and evil, but rather simply to walk on 'not wondering', to quote Meister Eckhart, 'Am I right or doing something wrong.'"


— John Cage (Critical Lives) by Rob Haskins







I think this recording, which is live, by Tania Chen, is extremely good. She comes from a performance tradition in experimental music, she is an experienced improviser and she makes sense of text and graphic scores, I wonder if all of that helps make something interesting to hear out of Music of Changes.
.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

I want to ask the assembled Cageans a question.

Do you think that when you hear John Cage's music it sounds like John Cage's music? Is there a distinctive Cagean character and aesthetic sensibility which manifests itself in a faithful performance of his scores?
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

milk

This article might be of interest. Incidentally, I have been enjoying the numbered pieces a lot lately.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/aug/25/how-john-cage-the-great-disrupter-had-the-last-laugh-by-writing-beautiful-music

A quote:

QuoteIn the summer of 1990 John Cage gave a lecture at the International New Music gathering in Darmstadt, Germany, and effectively admitted defeat. The then 76-year-old US composer announced that his philosophical ideas of freedom and collaboration, concepts built into his avant garde musical compositions since the 1950s, had failed to influence reality. The world had got worse, not better. It was "a life spent ... beating my head against a wall", he announced. There was, however, one consolation. "I no longer consider it necessary to find alternatives to harmony," he said. "After all these years I am finally writing beautiful music." Cage was referring to his Number Pieces...


T. D.

Still thinking about the Apartment House box, trending more positive after listening to Youtube clips.

Starting to get more comfortable with the idea of overdubbed recordings, I was pondering the question  "What would Cage think about overdubbing?"
Didn't find an answer, but stumbled upon a fascinating (IMO) paper:

https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.17.23.4/mto.17.23.4.andersen.html

This explores automated performances and Monte Carlo simulations of number pieces! Really cool (again IMO) ideas, haven't summoned up the courage to download the ZIP files but am strongly considering it.

staxomega

I've been listening to more Cage, for me it was easier to transition to his music after lots of Feldman over the last few years. Two and Winter Music are the ones that have been in my most heavy rotation. I ordered the latter from Another Timbre, my current one is the four piano recording on Hat Hut. Incredibly high dynamic range recording that is hard to listen to on headphones which is how I like a lot of these kind of compositions.

San Antone

Quote from: hvbias on September 08, 2021, 05:17:39 AM
I've been listening to more Cage, for me it was easier to transition to his music after lots of Feldman over the last few years. Two and Winter Music are the ones that have been in my most heavy rotation. I ordered the latter from Another Timbre, my current one is the four piano recording on Hat Hut. Incredibly high dynamic range recording that is hard to listen to on headphones which is how I like a lot of these kind of compositions.

Good to hear.  I enjoy his late career Number Pieces and there have been at least two complete recordings, one I believe in Another Timbre - but the one I have is by The Barton Workshop on Nonesuch, I think.  Mode Records has 53 volumes of their complete John Cage project.

staxomega

Any suggestions for a recording of Four Walls? Is the Aki Takahashi/Megumi Hashiramoto good?

T. D.


staxomega

#714
Enjoyed a great double header - Two2 and Música Callada, this combination seemed to work incredibly well (Knoop/Thomas, Josep Colom second recording respectively)

MusicTurner

#715
A recent trip to Halberstadt in Germany, close to the Harz Mountains, included visiting the St. Burchardi Kirche, where the ASLSP / As Slow as Possible organ project was initiated in 2001, nine years after Cage's death, and 14 years after the composing of the organ version.

Obviously, as a visitor you'll only hear one tone in the concert performance, that is planned to last 639 years. But it was a surprisingly moving experience, the barren, eroded church interior suited the music well, and especially the rows of engraved plaques on the walls, where people from all around the world have created inscriptions, obituaries, drawings, poems etc. The site stopped for adding new plaques a couple of years ago, since they don't want a 'flooding' of them, but from what I heard, a plaque site sometimes becomes available on e-bay.

Entrance is free, but a donation is suggested. There's a stand, which sells a good deal of John Cage literature and some merchandize related to the place. The scheduled opening hours might be unreliable; we got in, but partly because of the goodwill of the attendant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Slow_as_Possible
(... The next note will be played on February 5, 2024. ...)

San Antone

I've been listening to the Sabine Leibner recordings of John Cage piano music.


I find it very good.

brewski

Next March the Detroit Opera is doing Cage's Europeras 3 and 4, staged by Yuval Sharon. The venue, the Gem Theater, looks true to its name.

There are only three performances. I may have to make a little road trip.

https://detroitopera.org/season-schedule/europeras-3-4/

-Bruce
"I set down a beautiful chord on paper—and suddenly it rusts."
—Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)

Mandryka

https://nonsite.org/error-intention-contingency-cage/

Possibly interesting article (and website in fact) I'll park it here so I don't forget it.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen