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John Cage
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John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer, philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist, printmaker, and amateur mycologist and mushroom collector. A pioneer of chance music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century. He was also instrumental in the development of modern dance, mostly through his association with choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was also Cage’s romantic partner for most of their lives.
Cage is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4′33″, the three movements of which are performed without a single note being played. The content of the composition is meant to be perceived as the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed, rather than merely as four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence, and the piece became one of the most controversial compositions of the twentieth century. Another famous creation of Cage’s is the prepared piano (a piano with its sound altered by placing various objects in the strings), for which he wrote numerous dance-related works and a few concert pieces, the best known of which is Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48).
His teachers included Henry Cowell (1933) and Arnold Schoenberg (1933–35), both known for their radical innovations in music and coincidentally their shared love of mushrooms, but Cage’s major influences lay in various Eastern cultures. Through his studies of Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism in the late 1940s, Cage came to the idea of chance-controlled music, which he started composing in 1951.
Cage is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4′33″, the three movements of which are performed without a single note being played. The content of the composition is meant to be perceived as the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed, rather than merely as four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence, and the piece became one of the most controversial compositions of the twentieth century. Another famous creation of Cage’s is the prepared piano (a piano with its sound altered by placing various objects in the strings), for which he wrote numerous dance-related works and a few concert pieces, the best known of which is Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48).
His teachers included Henry Cowell (1933) and Arnold Schoenberg (1933–35), both known for their radical innovations in music and coincidentally their shared love of mushrooms, but Cage’s major influences lay in various Eastern cultures. Through his studies of Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism in the late 1940s, Cage came to the idea of chance-controlled music, which he started composing in 1951.
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Sonatas & Interludes for Prepared Piano
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In a Landscape
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Daughters Of The Lonsome Isle
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Top Tracks
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Sonata II
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Sonata V
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Sonata I
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Sonata III
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Fourth Interlude
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First Interlude
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Sonata VII
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In A Landscape: for solo piano
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Music for Marcel Duchamp
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Sonata VI
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Sonata IV
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Sonata XII
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Sonata VIII
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Second Interlude
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Shoutbox
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handmeups wrote:
I'm the biggest Cage fanboy, but the new description up there is a tad pompous, and slightly inaccurate in parts.
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Equality7-2521 wrote:
Organbook: Then you're entirely missing the point of the piece. It's not some academic essay on theory parading as music. It's a very real work.
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ISeeYouPan wrote:
Can someone send ma a link to the album "In A Landscape", I really want those pieces.
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Fareday wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcHnL7aS64Y <- John Cage about Silence
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Organbook wrote:
And I forgot to say that Cage's 4'33 I cannot take seriously as MUSIC - there is none on the page. But as an ARTISTIC statement it is as much (or little) a landmark as exhibiting a blank canvas in a gallery.
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Organbook wrote:
Apparently John Cage was not necessarily the first to use chance elements. His friend composer Alan Hovhaness experimented in the 1940s, and Cage was aware of this and may have been influenced. And what about Cowell? This was all 1940s. Our music professor at Berkeley never mentioned this, only how mad Cage was, and how great Copland was.
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XXITheWorld wrote:
Yes
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Homyachok wrote:
90% of comments are lame jokes about him being on tour and 4'33, is this really what John Cage will be remembered for?
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XXITheWorld wrote:
http://www.amazon.com/John-Cages-433/dp/B001N08ECW/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1257477584&sr=301-1
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kuladeandahalf wrote:
i literally listen to 4'33" hundreds of times a day.
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WillOtheWisp666 wrote:
fuck, 4'33 jokes are even worse than Sunn 0))) fridge jokes... and thats saying something. [2]
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staplefish wrote:
4'33" A+++++ GREAT SERVICE QUICK TRANSACTION WOULD BUY AGAIN
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zorba530 wrote:
John Cage)))
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handmeups wrote:
on tour loloL!1111
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gardenhead_ wrote:
shut the fuck up shitface
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tyler_noreika wrote:
He's right.
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FranticFish123 wrote:
fuck, 4'33 jokes are even worse than Sunn 0))) fridge jokes... and thats saying something.
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TMaltheus wrote:
technically he is on tour. theyre playing one of his pieces in germany for the next 600 years.
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hardoncollider wrote:
john cage has been perpetually playing 4'33" since 1992. that's gotta be a record or something!
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resonance07 wrote:
Johnny Cage <3
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Nov
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Stephen Gutman, piano
The Warehouse, London, United Kingdom
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