John Cage:
“4’33“
Well… how do I start? I find “4’33“ by John Cage and how it is carried out very amusing. Cage was of the opinion that “there is no such thing as silence“ and I guess “4’33“ perfectly represents this philosophy. I would argue that Cage tries to display his idea of sound and music with this piece and does that in a sarcastic, exaggerated way. He needs a whole orchestra and a fully booked hall to play not one tone?! There are instructions for the conductor on how to move and a clock to show when to turn a page and when the piece is over. The act of turning a page is very extravagant and comes with a coughing, laughing, and moving audience. At some points it feels as if the piece is making fun of the classic idea of music; the conductor wipes his sweat although there is no reason to sweat and the musicians sometimes have to hide their own laughter.
The only noise happening during the
piece comes from the audience and from the conductor turning a page. One cannot
say that there were four minutes of silence because that is basically not true.
“If there is sound it means that there
is life“, right? That is shown here. Sneezing, coughing, breathing, whispering,
dropping something, moving, and other sounds make “4’33“ what it is: a piece
the audience creates and shows how “silence“ can also be very loud.
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