Klarinet Archive - Posting 000678.txt from 2001/09

From: Virginia Anderson <assembly1@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Cage knocks
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 03:40:52 -0400

These jokes and comments might have been pertinent when they were first mad=
e
fifty years ago but after so many years have been proved wrong countless
times. Twenty years ago I directed a large ensemble version of 4'33" as
part of a festival of "Classic Masterworks of Experimental Music", as it wa=
s
not just a firm part of experimental repertoire, it was also old. It is
also one of the most written-about and studied pieces of the late twentieth
century. 4'33" gives a concrete, musical example of Cage's study of the ver=
y
definition of music and sound and a good performance can be profound.

I usually play Eb clarinet on 4'33", but have also used David Tudor's
variorum on piano, and, like all music, I think about the piece and prepare
for each performance. And, yes, there can be bad performances. Possibly
the worst I've ever seen was by a guy who "performed" it as part of an
academic paper "proving" that it was not a piece of music. I've often seen
the same thing happen with performances in the standard clarinet repertoire
- that bad performance renders the piece unmusical.

I was always told to learn about something before I mocked it - which is wh=
y
I learned the (IMHO still fatuous) Bernstein Sonata. Since most of you
folks who mocked are in the UK I can happily direct you to good performance=
s
which occur, usually in London, from time to time, or perhaps you would lik=
e
to book experimental players at your universities, if you are so associated=
.
You might find out more by reading Michael Nyman's _Experimental Music: Cag=
e
and Beyond_ or by joining the silence list. I'd look up the site and
instructions to get onto it, but have found that some people find it easier
to make uninformed comments than actually to take the trouble to learn
things.

Cheers,

Virginia

on 19/9/01 9:15 pm, "Ian Black" <clarinet1@-----.uk> wrote:

> ------------------------------
>=20
> Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 21:08:54 +0100
> To: <klarinet@-----.org>
> From: "Ian Black" <clarinet1@-----.uk>
> Subject: RE: [kl] Silence is Golden
> Message-ID: <INEGKJJOEKOIEBOKPBLPGEDBCHAA.clarinet1@-----.co=
.uk>
>=20
> Mind if I don't participate?
>=20
> I wonder just how much money Cage has made from published copies of his
> famous 4'33"?
>=20
> I've made a recording of it whilch I am selling for a fortune. I could ev=
en
> put my own 17'42" and 28'01" (both largely similar pieces inspired by Cag=
e's
> [monu]mental work) on the same CD, just to give value for money. A snip a=
t
> only @-----.)
>=20
> Orders, please, by email to
> ihavemoremoneythansense@-----.uk
>=20
> ;-)
>=20
> Ian
>=20
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tony Wakefield [mailto:tony-wakefield@-----.net]
> Sent: 19 September 2001 18:30
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: Re: [kl] Silence is Golden
>=20
> Well here`s my bit of notoriety:-
>=20
> New Composition with world premiere about to commence as soon as everyone=
on
> klarinet opens this e-mail. After reading said mail, everyone is to sit
> silently for 3 years listening to their own ambient body sounds, whilst I
> utter the following word repeating constantly for 1/2 minute "Rubbish", t=
hen
> disappear to the nearest bar for lunch with my beautiful wife, come back
> home and play one eighth note on clarinet. I welcome critical reviews. Bu=
t
> only serious ones from within the pages of the New York Times and the U.K=
.
> Times newspaper. But only after the performance has ended.
>=20
> Is that notorious enough?
>=20
> T.W.
>=20
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>=20
> ------------------------------
> Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 15:06:57 -0500
> To: <klarinet@-----.org>
> From: "Jim Hobby" <jhobby@-----.net>
> Subject: : Re: [kl] Silence is Golden
> Message-ID: <001701c14146$a65096a0$0201a8c0@-----.net>
>=20
>> From: "Tony Wakefield" <tony-wakefield@-----.net>
>>=20
>> His organ music didn`t begin with 16 months of silence. There
>> were services every week in that very church, interrupting and destroyin=
g
>> Cage`s silences ... All written by composers who spent just a little of
>> their time putting pen to paper.
>> Enough said? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>=20
> More than enough said. In all probability, the silence is the best of hi=
s
> "music" that will ever be heard.
>=20
> Jim
--=20
Virginia Anderson
Leicester, UK
<vanderson@-----.uk>
Experimental Music Catalogue: <http://www.experimentalmusic.co.uk>
...experimental music since 1969....

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