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Posted by: Tolek Mar 23 2009, 05:41 PM

This is probably the dumbest piece of music that I´ve heard.

What do you think about this?

Posted by: Mr T Mar 23 2009, 05:48 PM

haha... errr. what?

Posted by: ZakkWylde Mar 23 2009, 05:51 PM

Let's honor this musical masterpiece with a minute of silence!

Posted by: MickeM Mar 23 2009, 05:53 PM

That's brilliant! Pull that off getting applauds after if you can

Posted by: Andrew6 Mar 23 2009, 05:54 PM

I think its pretty cool actually, truly a piece that will never be exactly the same twice, silence is powerful you know

Posted by: Tolek Mar 23 2009, 05:56 PM

Posted by: kaznie_NL Mar 23 2009, 05:59 PM

Haha, well indeed, it's never the same

Posted by: Pavlov Mar 23 2009, 06:09 PM

They screwed up at various points, also, it lacks 'feeling'. Many are just staring in front of them, it's great to be concentrated, but try and add some emotion into it.


Rhythm placement - 3
Cleanness - 3
Feel - 2
Posture - 3
Sound - 4.5


Try again!

Posted by: opeth.db Mar 23 2009, 06:13 PM

Im sure Muris or Emir can play it faster and more cleanly.

Posted by: Andrew6 Mar 23 2009, 06:15 PM

LOL pavlov hahahaha

Posted by: Jesse Mar 23 2009, 06:15 PM

Honestly, I dont get it.

Posted by: Ramiro Delforte Mar 23 2009, 06:20 PM

John Cage is a genius, he was one of the most brilliant composers of the XX century and that work only had it's real power when he did it the first time.
That video recreates something that is not possible to recreate.

Posted by: Tolek Mar 23 2009, 06:30 PM

Sure, it´s a good idea for one gag, but it´s silence, not more, not less. It´s a stupid idea to let people pay and lose time for nothing!

Posted by: tonymiro Mar 23 2009, 06:37 PM

Some of the interesting aspects of 4'33' is that it considers a number of issues. First the difference between music and silence - and that there is no absolute silence. If you listen to the work there are sounds, the audience moving about, environmental noise, etc. Second, in relation to this it explores the dialectic between music as intentional sound and unintentional sounds. With unintentional sounds it relates further to randomness and chance wrt music. There is always unintentional sound in music - what 4' 33'' does is bring them to the forefront by deliberately eclipsing the intentional sounds that we commonly think of as 'the music'.

All of these issues - and many others beside - help construct John Cage's philosophical view of life and music. As Ramiro says he was both a brilliant composer and extremely intelligent. 4' 33' asks some very profound questions about the nature of music .

Posted by: Praetorian Mar 23 2009, 06:38 PM

Pffft...I could play that!

Posted by: Tolek Mar 23 2009, 07:10 PM

I just made a video response.



It´s basically the same for me. But thanks to tonymiro´s explanation why this piece was "written".

Posted by: sted Mar 23 2009, 07:18 PM

Just goes to show that utter nonsense is not the sole preserve of the proletariat.

what next, bottled air?

(Cue enormous amounts of links to bottled air for sale sites )

Posted by: ErikEklund Mar 23 2009, 07:29 PM

haha nice video and nice response

Posted by: dusty Mar 23 2009, 07:54 PM

Cage certainly is a genius alright. but this is just another example of so called art that makes me think it is all a big con for the gullable.
there is not many people in this world who can get 2 or 3 hundred grands worth of symphony orchestra, pack out the london barbican (with toffee nosed arto's) and get BBC four to film people doing nothing for 4'33" and get a round of applause. nearly as clever as Tracey Emmin who won the turner prize for a messy bedroom. this guy has to be british, we certainly know how to con peolple in to scams all under the label of ART. (check out Damien Hirst)
good luck to the guy but it does make me wonder if his actual compositions (you know with real "music") are any good or does he sound like my five year old on guitar hero. even then there would be some poor shmuck that buys a ticket.

rant over

Posted by: David Wallimann Mar 23 2009, 08:02 PM

Hehe!
At least he's got a sense of humor about it! :-)

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Mar 23 2009, 08:41 PM

I think the idea is brilliant and a success - how many other orchestral youtube videos have made their way to GMC?! There's got to be something special with this one.

PS There was something wrong with the sound!?

Posted by: Canis Mar 23 2009, 08:53 PM

That.... was.... AWESOME!!!!!

Posted by: Lian Gerbino Mar 23 2009, 09:11 PM

wow... they all are exellents musicians, whatta a demo of virtuosity!!! hahaha, no no no just kidding...
this show us how many ways exist to create art.

Posted by: sigma7 Mar 23 2009, 09:17 PM

haha wut the fudge

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Mar 23 2009, 11:43 PM

what a crazy idea !!! And audience loved it ehhehehe I guess they are bored with the annoying sound of violins

Posted by: g-forcelover Mar 24 2009, 12:10 AM

haha if i was there after a couple minutes id shout out, WTF?!

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Mar 24 2009, 02:31 AM

That was brutal !

I talked about this with my friend in Boston 4-5 years ago. We had idea to make album and call it Silence or something, and have different tracks with different types of silence and noises from nature

Posted by: Emir Hot Mar 24 2009, 03:20 AM

I've seen this, it's a world famous piece. There is DVD of this and they sold some crazy amount of copies.

Posted by: Roadside Mar 24 2009, 02:11 PM

Wierd. I wouldn´t call it art, but there would have been enough space for a short sleep

Posted by: Ramiro Delforte Mar 27 2009, 06:05 PM

Wow mate, you've surprised me. I didn't know that you were into this part of music.

You've just explained what I didn't want to because Cage is a musician that many people don't understand and laught at it even knowing some of his thoughts.



I recommend the film that Peter Greenaway did about John Cage. He also did (Greenaway) three more films about other composers (Philip Glass, Meredith Monk and one more that I don't remember the name just now).

Posted by: Muris Varajic Mar 27 2009, 06:24 PM

There was a fly in my room so I couldn't enjoy enough

Posted by: AlexLion Mar 27 2009, 06:28 PM

Fly created additional atmosphere i guess

Posted by: tonymiro Mar 27 2009, 06:29 PM

Thanks Ramiro I try my best to be surprising at times .

But yes I've liked Cage - and a lot of modern 20th C classical and 'avant garde' for some time. I have a friend, Marcel, who did his PhD on deconstruction in music that included quite a bit on Cage. More was on Derrida then Cage though and it moves in to philosophy which is more my theoretical end. Anyway his website is http://www.cobussen.com/navbar/index.html if it interests you . Last time I saw Marcel was in Barcelona where we were theorising about silence and Cage and Pat Metheny came up in the conversation quite a few times...

I think some people are bemused by Cage as i) his reputation precedes him and ii) people think within a certain border and what challenges it can be too unsettling and iii) they take things out of context and/or use a limited amount of his ouevre to reach a conclusion about the man and his works.


I've only ever seen the Meredith Monk film btw though looking on the net the fourth composer is Robert Ashley http://www.fandango.com/petergreenaway/filmography/p92456. Thanks for reminding me of this - I'll have to look the others up .

Posted by: Ramiro Delforte Mar 27 2009, 06:34 PM

Thanx for the site!
I've bookmarked it

Right, the fourth was Ashley, now I remember

Posted by: djohnneay Mar 27 2009, 07:39 PM

Already exists.....

Link to website : http://www.treedroppings.com/air.php

Posted by: Artemus Mar 27 2009, 10:10 PM

Killer tone!

Well, again I think this thread demonstrates what Cage was after, a little bit of controversy. There's quite a debate behind this piece but I agree that the original piano composition when performed for the first time cannot be recaptured.
Let's not forget that everyone in the audience paid to see that and will probably have known about 4'33'' in advance. I wouldn't be someone that would paid for this but I can appreciate it and Cage's vision.