{"id":4274,"date":"2012-09-06T12:17:02","date_gmt":"2012-09-06T11:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/?p=4274"},"modified":"2012-09-06T12:28:20","modified_gmt":"2012-09-06T11:28:20","slug":"no-sound-resounding-sixty-years-of-433","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2012\/09\/06\/no-sound-resounding-sixty-years-of-433\/","title":{"rendered":"No Sound Resounding: sixty years of 4&#8217;33&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s almost hard to believe that this year is not just the centenary of Cage&#8217;s birth, but also the sixtieth anniversary of Cage\u2019s noiseless yet sound-rich, notorious masterpiece, 4\u2019 33\u2019\u2019. Premi\u00e8red by David Tudor on August 29 in 1952, the piece has gone on to cause controversy wherever and whenever it continues to be performed.<\/p>\n<div class=\"kent-video-wrapper\"><span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text\/html' width='474' height='297' src='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HypmW4Yd7SY?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>The BBC Symphony Orchestra performed the UK\u2019s first orchestral version of the piece in a concert dedicated to the music of Cage <a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/1\/hi\/entertainment\/3401901.stm\">in 2004<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"kent-video-wrapper\"><span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text\/html' width='474' height='297' src='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hUJagb7hL0E?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<figure style=\"width: 306px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/johncage.tonspur.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/433prog-e1325028986414.gif\" alt=\"Original programme cover\" width=\"306\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The original programme cover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Cage himself reflected on the first performance:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>There\u2019s no such thing as silence. What they thought was silence, because they didn\u2019t know how to listen, was full of accidental sounds. You could hear the wind stirring outside during the first movement. During the second, raindrops began pattering the roof, and during the third the people themselves made all kinds of interesting sounds as they talked or walked out.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Cage\u2019s piece draws to the fore the interaction between performer, audience and environment, raising the significance of the non-directed elements present during the piece\u2019s performance; ambient, unintentional noise, aleatoric sounds, events outside of the performer\u2019s control and yet deliberately included as part of the experience. The piece makes room for all those surrounding elements over which the performer has no direct control, and makes them a part of it; it makes us listen not to an arranged series of controlled auditory events, but to whatever sonic incidents happen to occur during that defined time-period during which the piece is \u2018performed.\u2019 In fact, the only controlled element of the piece is the time during which these events unfold, defined by the raising and lowering of the piano lid in the piece\u2019s original incarnation. Aside from dictating the beginning and end of each of the three movements, everything else is left to chance.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2012\/09\/cage_laughing.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-4276\" style=\"border: 1px solid black;margin: 1px\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2012\/09\/cage_laughing-253x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"159\" height=\"189\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2012\/09\/cage_laughing-253x300.jpeg 253w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2012\/09\/cage_laughing.jpeg 337w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 159px) 100vw, 159px\" \/><\/a>Tuesday marked the centenary of Cage\u2019s birthday, and there have been events marking the occasion worldwide throughout the year including a special <a title=\"View event link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/proms\/whats-on\/2012\/august-17\/14218\" target=\"_blank\">BBC Prom dedicated to Cage&#8217;s work<\/a> (for which the back-up system on Radio 3 had to be turned off, a system which kicks in when it detects &#8216;dead air;&#8217;) yet it\u2019s 4\u2019 33\u2019\u2019 that remains his most notorious, most thought-provoking piece, and arguably one of the most significant works of the twentieth-century. For a piece with no prescribed sound, its impact continues to resonate still.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"kent-social-links\"><li><a href='http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2012\/09\/06\/no-sound-resounding-sixty-years-of-433\/&amp;t=No Sound Resounding: sixty years of 4'33''' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-facebook' title='Share via Facebook'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='http:\/\/twitter.com\/home?status=No Sound Resounding: sixty years of 4'33''%20https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2012\/09\/06\/no-sound-resounding-sixty-years-of-433\/' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-twitter' title='Share via Twitter'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='https:\/\/plus.google.com\/share?url=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2012\/09\/06\/no-sound-resounding-sixty-years-of-433\/' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-google-plus' title='Share via Google Plus'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='http:\/\/linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2012\/09\/06\/no-sound-resounding-sixty-years-of-433\/&amp;title=No Sound Resounding: sixty years of 4'33''' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-linkedin' title='Share via Linked In'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='mailto:content=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2012\/09\/06\/no-sound-resounding-sixty-years-of-433\/&amp;title=No Sound Resounding: sixty years of 4'33''' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-email' title='Share via Email'><\/i><\/a><\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s almost hard to believe that this year is not just the centenary of Cage&#8217;s birth, but also the sixtieth anniversary of Cage\u2019s noiseless yet sound-rich, notorious masterpiece, 4\u2019 33\u2019\u2019. Premi\u00e8red by David Tudor on August 29 in 1952, the piece has gone on to cause controversy wherever and whenever it continues to be performed. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2012\/09\/06\/no-sound-resounding-sixty-years-of-433\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">No Sound Resounding: sixty years of 4&#8217;33&#8221;<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":620,"featured_media":4276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1110],"tags":[14580,1094,14581,14582,1388],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4274"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/620"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4274"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4291,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4274\/revisions\/4291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}