Open Ears: 4′33 (I forgot!)
So I forgot to mention that the KWS did a performance of John Cage’s 4′33 at their concert last weekend. I shouldn’t have forgotten, because I have opinions about what they did. Their interpretation was to act like they were playing, like there were parts written for each instrument specifically. Now, I know in the piano version, the soloist is supposed to turn pages. But the symphony musicians lifting their instruments as if to play and putting them down again periodically over the course of the piece struck me as…irreverent? The audience’s (or at least *my*) focus was on what the musicians were (or weren’t) doing, rather than on the sound around me (which is the entire point of the piece). The point of 4′33 isn’t “I’m not playing any music” but “the music is all around you.”
May 4th, 2009 at 11:07 am
It’s Edwin — yeah — the orchestra really wanted to try it, and I almost changed it the second night. The score doesn’t forbid a performance like the one we did, but anyway, next time I’ll do it different. We didn’t mean it to be irreverent, but I’m not surprised you found it distracting.
May 4th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
[...] C”, KWS, Vexations, Flying Bulgars , David Lang/Elevated and E.T.C., Francisco López, 4′33, Red Chamber and Hard Rubber Orchestra, Soundwalk, Nagata Shachu, DIVA/Eve Egoyan/David Rokeby, [...]