Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Fred Maus <>]

Commenary is a politically-oriented journal, long a forum for
neo-conservative thought.  I see no reason to expect that it would be
promoting John Cage's ideas!

- Fred Maus

On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 10:54 AM,  
<>
 wrote:
> Hi Clemens & Silencers!
>
> I guess that's not the first time that an article in the Wall Street Journal
> understands something
> terribly wrong.
> There are many people running around trying to tell us that Cage was a bad
> composer & his
> works are worth nothing. But to declare him guilty of "killing off
> modernism"?! Well, actually
> he can't be punished any more for his crime ;-)
>
> Anyway, it's makes a nice anecdote. And I'll counter Mr. Teachout's thesis
> with my own:
> So called "music journalists" propagate stupidity.
>
> Back to work, too:
> Lothar
>
>
> -----Ursprüngliche Mitteilung-----
> Von: Clemens Gresser 
> <>
> An: 
> 
> Verschickt: Do., 4. Nov. 2010, 15:23
> Thema: [silence] Re: Intriguing title of publication - just found in my
> inbox as an alert...
>
>
>
>
> Okay, folks... that was unexpected! You have been part of my resource
>
> discovery programme!
>
> From this morning getting this publication alert, to the beginning of
>
> my lunch break proper (finding the abstract online) to now (having
>
> found that we have this magazine, Commentary,
>
> at my work place) - I have now read this article.
>
>
>
> What I had posted as an "abstract" turned out to be the first two
>
> paragraph of this article.
>
> The author mentions recent books on Cage (Gann's book on 4'33",
>
> Silverman's biography on Cage), but overall it seems to say - to me:
>
>
>
> ----beginning of my paraphrasing of Teachout's argument----
>
> okay, we realise that Cage was significant in some mysterious ways,
>
> but all his post-4'33" works are bad, and not worth listening to or
>
> performing. That's also why he never gets performed by
>
> proper/established musicians or ensembles! However, he does seem to
>
> have killed of modernism, as people stopped composing in a modernistic
>
> way (think Boulez and Stockhausen) and basically went "minimal" (think
>
> Glass, Reich, etc.).
>
> ----end of my paraphrasing----
>
>
>
> The author also rehashes the myth of Cage having no ear for harmony
>
> (queue Schoenberg, who "at least kind of knew how to compose properly"
>
> and using the famous "brick wall quotation").
>
>
>
> Okay, I'm obviously biased - having spent the last 15ish years to
>
> understand (or at least live with the "contradictions" of) Cage's
>
> thinking, oeuvre, etc., but I truley think that works like, say,
>
> Apartment House 1776, are compositions which show his avoidance of
>
> "nice, traditional" harmonies (think smaller chamber groups within the
>
> ensembles) by writing, yes, beautiful, syntax-reduced harmonies = i.e.
>
> nice music. :-)
>
>
>
> Personally, I also enjoy the sounds and the concepts of the "number
>
> pieces", but I admit that due to the (mostly) computer-generated
>
> pitches/timings (see Pritchard for why AH 1776 is different!), most
>
> conservative folks wouldn't call these 'proper' "compositions".
>
>
>
> Anyway, don't go to great length of getting access to this piece by
>
> Teachout - unless you are _very_ new to "Cage's world" and have just
>
> started researching him (or indeed: if you are studying "reception of
>
> JC", after 1992....), or the magazine is in easy reach (as in my case,
>
> just a reading room away from my office).
>
>
>
> Back to work,
>
> Clemens
>
>
>
> On 4 November 2010 13:32, Clemens Gresser 
> <>
>  wrote:
>
>> P.S.
>
>> It's lame to reply to your own postings, but... I just found the
>
>> magazine's web page, and an abstract (see
>
>>
>> http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/plenty-of-nothing-15539?search=1);
>
>> I like the quotation by Stravinsky though. ;-)
>
>>
>
>> Plenty of Nothing
>
>> Terry Teachout
>
>> October 2010
>
>>
>
>> Abstract –
>
>> Who deserves to be considered America’s most significant classical
>
>> composer? Concertgoers of a certain age will doubtless choose Aaron
>
>> Copland or George Gershwin, the creators of the first distinctively
>
>> American-sounding styles of classical composition, while more
>
>> contemporary listeners are more likely to cite Philip Glass or John
>
>> Adams, who made minimalism the dominant classical-music idiom of the
>
>> postwar era. But if “significant” is taken to mean “influential,” then
>
>> a strong, if seemingly paradoxical, case can be made for a composer
>
>> who, for all the undeniable influence he has exerted on American
>
>> music, failed to write even one work that has made its way into the
>
>> repertoires of any well-known orchestra, opera company, chamber group,
>
>> singer, or instrumentalist.
>
>>
>
>> If John Cage is known to the average concert goer today, it is for a
>
>> piece of “music” that by conventional standards is nothing of the
>
>> kind. 4'33", “composed” in 1952, consists of three movements during
>
>> which the piece’s performer or performers (it can be performed by any
>
>> combination of instrumentalists and/or singers) come on stage and sit
>
>> in silence for a total of four minutes and 33 seconds. Not
>
>> surprisingly, it was widely assumed at the time that 4'33" was a joke,
>
>> a piece about nothing. Igor Stravinsky acidly remarked that he looked
>
>> forward to hearing “works of major length” by similarly inclined
>
>> composers.
>
>>
>
>> About the Author
>
>> Terry Teachout, our chief culture critic and the drama critic of the
>
>> Wall Street Journal, wrote about Moss Hart in the last issue. He is at
>
>> work on a biography of Duke Ellington.
>
>>
>
>> ---
>
>>
>
>>
>
>> On 4 November 2010 09:30, Clemens Gresser 
>> <>
>>  wrote:
>
>>> Dear All,
>
>>>
>
>>> Out from the dungeons of busyness...
>
>>> I just found an alert email in my inbox, for the following Cage-related
>>> text:
>
>>>
>
>>> COMMENTARY -NEW YORK- AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE- OCT. (2010) pp. 55-58
>
>>> Plenty of Nothing: How the composer John Cage killed musical modernism
>
>>> Teachout, T.
>
>>>
>
>>> If I manage to trace this text and read it, I will send a follow-up to
>>> this.
>
>>> If anyone beats me to it, please let me/the list now whether it's
>
>>> a) pro/anti/"neutral" Cage
>
>>> and
>
>>> b) has an interesting argument
>
>>>
>
>>> Best wishes,
>
>>> Clemens
>
>>> --
>
>>> *****
>
>>> MusiCB3 Blog: http://musicb3.wordpress.com/
>
>>> My home page: http://home.arcor.de/cgw/
>
>>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>> --
>
>> *****
>
>> MusiCB3 Blog: http://musicb3.wordpress.com/
>
>> Follow Cambridge University Library - Music Department on twitter:
>
>> http://twitter.com/MCatheul
>
>> Follow Pendlebury Library of Music on twitter:
>> http://twitter.com/PendleburyLib
>
>> Pendlebury Library of Music FB account: http://alturl.com/mafqi
>
>> My home page: http://home.arcor.de/cgw/
>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> *****
>
> MusiCB3 Blog: http://musicb3.wordpress.com/
>
> Follow Cambridge University Library - Music Department on twitter:
>
> http://twitter.com/MCatheul
>
> Follow Pendlebury Library of Music on twitter:
> http://twitter.com/PendleburyLib
>
> Pendlebury Library of Music FB account: http://alturl.com/mafqi
>
> My home page: http://home.arcor.de/cgw/
>
>
>
> =