Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Clemens Gresser <>]

Yes, I think Fred Maus' comment is a fair one on Commentary.
I couldn't actually bear to read anything else - even the Cage-related
article was
"hard work".

Of course, as it's neither a music journal, nor intending to be a
scholarly publication
I will file it for my project to be completed in 20?? on "Cage
reception after 1992" - or
something.
Best wishes,
Clemens

On 4 November 2010 15:16, Fred Maus 
<>
 wrote:
> 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/
>>
>>
>>
>> =
>



-- 
*****
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/