[sdiy] Don't hit anybody where it hurts....

[Peter Grenader]

Wout brings up a good point here - 4 33 was a etude on silence, not 'rests'
as I put it B4.

The piece was actually written for solo piano.  The performer sits on the
piano stand and opens the the cover. 4 minutes and 33 seconds later, the
performer closes the cover.   I have heard many different descriptions of
the performance, including the performer holding their hand frozen above the
keys for the duration, but this instruction is not listed in the notes.

The ulitmate in fluxus and painful to some for sure.  But hey...it only
lasts 4 and a half minutes.  The antithesis surely being the work of LeMonte
Young:  Two beading sine tones with no apparent envelope that shift a
billionth of a 1/4 tone over a 30 minute period.

For me, Cage's work is much more thought-provoking than Young's.


> on 3/11/02 2:33 PM, harry at harrybissell at prodigy.net wrote:
> 
>> Perhaps some oldsters remember John Cage's 4'33"  ???
> 
> Ah...4 33...know it well.  Although passed off by many as pretentious
> nonsense, it did it's job: the 'rests' in music are as important as the
> notes.  Try telling this to Bill Bruford or Scarlatti,  for that matter!
> 
> I have the score to this piece at home actually (no, i'm not being a smart
> ass here, there was a score).
> 
> - Peter (45 years young and counting)
> 
> 
> 
> 
>