Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Rod Stasick <>]

http://tinyurl.com/9ly46k8

I've only had the chance to watch the main feature of this DVD

that Frank Scheffer put together, but it's really wonderful.

The main film is 56 minutes with 5 extra films totaling 92 minutes.

Looks good, flows well, and, of course, the excerpts from various

performances in Köln, London, Los Angeles, New York, and Frankfurt

are nice to see with John telling his tales with that infectious laugh of his.

A minor quibble: the lack of attention to some of the introductory texts

to each film: "Londen", England being one that slipped through the proofing,

but, as I said, minor compared to what you get in video delights.

Looking forward to watching the remaining films.

Excerpts are edited together in this YouTube vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUPi_nK3Bis

Info on the bonus films (from the EuroArts site):

BONUS:
WAGNER'S RING, 1987, 4:24 mins, Short experimental film on the complete opera The Ring of the Nibelung by Richard Wagner. Conceived by John Cage. Directed and produced by Frank Scheffer. STOPERAS I & II, 1987, 3:05 mins, Short experimental film on the complete opera's 'Europera’s I & II' composed by John Cage. Format: 16mm and video. Directed and produced by Frank Scheffer. NOPERA, 1995, 5:56 mins, Short experimental film. John Cage speaks about his ideas for a new opera that was never realized. Directed and produced by Frank Scheffer. CHESSFILMNOISE, 1988, 17:21 mins, Experimental film. The first film directed by John Cage. Produced by Frank Scheffer. RYOANJI, 2011, 60:37 mins, Experimental film. John Cage developed his composition Ryoanji from his encounter with the famous correspondent Zen-garden near Kyoto in Japan. In the film the music is heard with pictures shot in the garden of Ryoanji, the order and duration being defined by Frank Scheffer using chance operations.

Rod

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http://stasick.org