Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Christian Kesten <>]

Hi Silencers,

thank you for your observations, it is interesting to follow the irritations, Wilson’s interpretation caused.

This homemade stream (archived here: https://tinyurl.com/yyxrceqw) is indeed just a poor torso of his staged performance (which I saw in Berlin in 2012 I think). I was first shocked about Wilson’s version, but slowly, as the performance went on, I accepted it, and realized he had no choice. Compared to John Cage’s evenness and non-intentionality when reading it, he, Wilson, could only fail. Therefore I find it clever to play the excerpt of the recording of John’s reading—the most beautiful moment, I agree—and to build a character to contrast it.

And more and more, as the performance went on, I found it more and more entertaining. In fact, when he was screaming the last part before the actual longer silence, I had to burst out into laughter. 

I think it might be unfair to blame Wilson for pouring his ego over the piece. Maybe it is ego to use one’s life-longly developed artistic methods and techniques. Maybe it is not Cage’s work anymore, or if so, then simultaneously Wilson’s commentary to it. But I find it witty what he did.

Would anybody here be able to tell me, where the recording of John Cage’s reading of Lecture on Nothing is available/ accessible/ listenable to? This snippet made me longing for listening to the whole. Hints are mostly appreciated.

And looking forward to the re-issue of Incontri Muscali.

Best to all of you,

Christian

Christian Kesten

Am 13.08.2020 um 08:11 schrieb Stefano Pocci <>:

Hi all,
I did not want to spoil anyone's view on the matter in advance and I confess I did not watch the live stream, but just saw a few instants now.

Some years ago while visiting an exhibition on silence in Tallinn's Kumu Museum (https://kumu.ekm.ee/syndmus/vaikus-on-kuldne-ilmar-laaban-ja-eksperimendid-helis-ning-keeles/,  "vaikus on kuldne" translates into "silence is golden"), I stumbled upon another version of Wilson performing Cage's Lecture on Nothing. It was a version commissioned by Ruhrtriennale Festival in Bochum, Germany (http://www.robertwilson.com/lecture-on-nothing). The exhibition in Tallinn was projecting the video of that 2012 performance.

After seeing Wilson's interpretation, I was also struck by the amount of ego poured over the piece. This recent homemade broadcast was much much humbler in that respect, to what I had seen in Tallinn. It was frankly embarrassing from a Cagean perspective: what I was looking at was not Cage anymore, but 101% Robert Wilson, which I guess would have also been fine, if the video was properly understood/advertised :)

Speaking of Lecture on Nothing, Centro Studi Luciano Berio in Florence (http://lucianoberio.org/) is working on the re-issue of the magazine Incontri Musicali, which featured Lecture on Nothing for the first time. The project is slowly progressing and I will keep the Silence list posted about it.

Have a nice day,

Stefano

Il giorno gio 13 ago 2020 alle ore 06:17 Thomas Moore <> ha scritto:

Embarrassingly awful is a good description. To take a work like Lecture on Nothing, a floating Zen-timeless-egoless construction (which, despite my saying timeless, is all about time), and to imbue it with ego (Wilson even chuckled at one point), was revolting. It was all about Robert Wilson, not at all about John Cage or Lecture on Nothing ... and the point of the artwork, and its relevant experience, would have been completely lost on anyone with whom it was unfamiliar (or, indeed, anyone with whom it was familiar). To put it bluntly, Wilson destroyed John’s work.

Onward.

Be well.

Best,

Tom

——

Thomas Moore
Director, Arts and Culture
Institutional Advancement
UMBC

Office: 410-455-3370 - Cell: 301-807-1369
http://thomasmoore.info

<umbc-logo-sm.png>

 

On Aug 12, 2020, at 10:09 PM, Rod Stasick <> wrote:

Well, that was embarrassingly awful.

Personally, I kind of wondered how

this would go, but I didn’t want to

imprint my personal feelings onto the 

announcement of the “performance.”

The moment I did like was about 45 minutes in

when the camera was trained on the backyard

and you could hear John speaking, but that was all.

Rod

*************

Now Playing:

‌Isidore Isou:‌ Rituel Somptueux Pour La Selection Des Especes, I. Isou
‌

‌from:

‌Futura Poesia Sonora (Disc 4)‌

‌Last.FM:

https://www.last.fm/user/rostasi2

Mixcloud:

https://www.mixcloud.com/rostasi/

GoodReads:

https://www.goodreads.com/rostasi