Klarinet Archive - Posting 000690.txt from 2001/09

From: "Ian Black" <clarinet1@-----.uk>
Subj: RE: [kl] Cage knocks
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 14:02:02 -0400

Maybe my comments are uninformed. I have not seen the need to waste an
evening in attending a performance of 4'33", and so cannot tell first hand.
I don't doubt that many of Cage's other experimental works have musical
value, I just fail to see how a _silent_ piece can, irrespective of what the
performer(s) are doing.

Since you are promoting this silent work as having musical value and
significance, allow me to put forward an hypothesis:

I'm currently putting the finishing touches to a portfolio of compositions
which will be submitted for consideration by the London College of Music
exam board (for the ALCM exam). Suppose I replace all the original works
with other works of my own inspired by Cage's experimental work. You know
the sort of thing: Perhaps a 200-bar piece where a single note appears in
the 109th bar? Or a suite of three, three-minute pieces with a single chord
at 2'59" in each? What do you reckon are my chances of passing the exam? I
wouldn't hold out much hope.

As regards the 639 year-long piece, the description of which started this
thread, imagine if in 2638, one of the performers hit a bum note. They'd
have to start over... I'm assuming that they've not had a rehearsal, so it
could happen.

Regards,

Ian

-----Original Message-----
From: Virginia Anderson [mailto:assembly1@-----.com]
Subject: [kl] Cage knocks

These jokes and comments might have been pertinent when they were first made
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 was
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 very
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 why
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 performances
which occur, usually in London, from time to time, or perhaps you would like
to book experimental players at your universities, if you are so associated.
You might find out more by reading Michael Nyman's _Experimental Music: Cage
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.

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