July 30, 2004
A Portal into Difference
Woodstock, New York, August 29, 1952.
David Tudor placed John Cage’s hand-written score, 4'33" on the piano and sat motionless. The score indicated three silent movements, each of a different length. Tudor signaled its commencement by lowering the keyboard lid of the piano. The sound of the wind in the trees entered the first movement. After thirty seconds of no action, he raised the lid to signal the end of the first movement. It was then lowered for the second movement, during which raindrops pattered on the roof. The score was in several pages, so he turned the pages as time passed, but played nothing. The keyboard lid was raised and lowered again for the final movement.
And so Cage initiated a "creative process which successfully detaches itself from the intentions of its author – and from the self-expressive intentional purpose of music" – and introduced a new aesthetic of unintentional sound.
Posted by newradio at July 30, 2004 07:28 PM
