Author Topic: 4'33"  (Read 4327 times)

stealth

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4'33"
« on: January 15, 2008, 12:24:45 AM »

Mike

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Re: 4'33"
« Reply #1 on: January 15, 2008, 01:16:51 AM »
 :rolleyes:

stealth

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Re: 4'33"
« Reply #2 on: January 15, 2008, 07:35:45 AM »
I found this article on the piece to be quite interesting - http://www.classicalnotes.net/columns/silence.html as well as this interview with Cage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aYT1Pwp30M&feature=related

Listening to the piece, it's amazing what you start to hear, the rhythm of your heart, the distant sound of traffic, a fridge buzzing, your own thoughts

I know that people probably think it's a load of shit, but it's probably the most divisive composition ever written and one that gets people thinking about the nature of music.

 Cage paved the way for artists like Brian Eno, Sonic Youth and Sunn O))), and indeed the majority of electronic music made post-1970.

Rob

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Re: 4'33"
« Reply #3 on: January 15, 2008, 12:00:52 PM »
It's too long by about 4'32"

Mike

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Re: 4'33"
« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2008, 12:04:38 PM »
I know that people probably think it's a load of shit, but it's probably the most divisive composition ever written and one that gets people thinking about the nature of music.
No, it gets people thinking about how they got ripped off from their admission.

stealth

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Re: 4'33"
« Reply #5 on: January 15, 2008, 05:47:20 PM »
Closed ears, closed mind.

charlie

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Re: 4'33"
« Reply #6 on: January 15, 2008, 05:52:16 PM »
Why do they say he "wrote" that? Whether it's a load of shit or genius, I'm not sure I'd call it a composition.


Hey stealth, check out my painting. I'm making
an artistic statement with it. You can have a
high-quality, signed print for $600.



You're making a statement about iStockphoto?

stealth

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Re: 4'33"
« Reply #7 on: January 15, 2008, 06:06:00 PM »
Well I wouldn't pay $600 for it because it's not worth anything to me - I don't want to own it.  I'm not saying it's good, I'm not saying it's bad, but what you've done is created something, how it's perceived as art or not art is another matter entirely.

Mike

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Re: 4'33"
« Reply #8 on: January 15, 2008, 07:22:27 PM »
And any normal person would perceive this work of "art" as utter bull.

It would serve decently as a group experiment though.  People obviously went to listen to the person play music so you could study the crowd's reaction.  But that isn't art.

stealth

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Re: 4'33"
« Reply #9 on: January 15, 2008, 09:06:29 PM »
And any normal person would perceive this work of "art" as utter bull.

It would serve decently as a group experiment though.  People obviously went to listen to the person play music so you could study the crowd's reaction.  But that isn't art.

Oh I agree 100%, to me that's just a picture that ethic has posted, he's created it, but that's it.  It's not art.  Just as me picking up a guitar and banging it with a hammer isn't music.

Cage's 4'33" is a composition because it's been music because has a deliberate structure to it, there are a set amount of bars to the piece as notated sheet music, it's a movement in three parts, it involves a musician, it requires an instrument to be present.  There is no melody of which to speak, there is no beat being kept by the instrument, but there is a time structure as made up by the ambient sounds of where it is heard, and there is volume, albeit "silence".

charlie

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Re: 4'33"
« Reply #10 on: January 15, 2008, 11:01:54 PM »
I know almost nothing about music, so it probably doesn't matter, but it still sounds more like a statement than a piece of music.

:dunno:

Mike

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Re: 4'33"
« Reply #11 on: January 16, 2008, 12:27:26 AM »
No matter what you may be told:  Your arse is not an instrument...

Rob

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Re: 4'33"
« Reply #12 on: January 16, 2008, 08:42:01 AM »
And any normal person would perceive this work of "art" as utter bull.

It would serve decently as a group experiment though.  People obviously went to listen to the person play music so you could study the crowd's reaction.  But that isn't art.

Oh I agree 100%, to me that's just a picture that ethic has posted, he's created it, but that's it.  It's not art.  Just as me picking up a guitar and banging it with a hammer isn't music.

Cage's 4'33" is a composition because it's been music because has a deliberate structure to it, there are a set amount of bars to the piece as notated sheet music, it's a movement in three parts, it involves a musician, it requires an instrument to be present.  There is no melody of which to speak, there is no beat being kept by the instrument, but there is a time structure as made up by the ambient sounds of where it is heard, and there is volume, albeit "silence".

Y'know, I hate to disagree, but it's Emperors New Clothes. Really.

Rob

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Re: 4'33"
« Reply #13 on: January 16, 2008, 08:44:37 AM »
Oh, and if that makes me a Phillestine then I guess that's what I am. A discerning one, mind you ;)

stealth

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Re: 4'33"
« Reply #14 on: January 16, 2008, 06:34:44 PM »
Fair play, I don't think you're a Phillestine.  I just like to offer up an opinion that isn't just a one-line argument.