On 3 May 2007 at 18:39, Darcy James Argue wrote: > On 03 May 2007, at 5:37 PM, David W. Fenton wrote: > > > On 3 May 2007 at 16:46, Darcy James Argue wrote: > > > >> On 03 May 2007, at 4:26 PM, David W. Fenton wrote: > >> > >>> On 3 May 2007 at 15:00, Darcy James Argue wrote: > >>> > >>>> I mean, whatever you might think of, oh I don't know -- John > >>>> Cage, let's say -- it would be idiotic to say that "he was barely > >>>> into composing." > >>> > >>> Um... > >> > >> Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. But look at what he actually did with > >> his life -- not what he said he'd rather have done. > > > > As a philosopher of arts, he was a genius. > > > > As a musician/composer, not so much. > > The point is that John Cage in fact devoted his life to composing, > and is a hugely important figure in 20th century music. I'm not > particularly interested in any one individual's assessment of his > work here -- I'm not particularly a fan of most of his post-4'33" > stuff myself. But it would be absurd to claim that someone like > Cage was "barely into" composition.
>From my definition of "composition" and "music", he didn't do too much of it. Of course some of his early stuff, before he got obsessed with philosophy over music-making, is pretty fascinating. I wish he'd continued in that vein instead of abandoning music-making in favor of provocation. Too much of Cage's influence comes from his ideas and not from his actual music. It's like the old joke that Richard Hofmann at Oberlin used to tell, poking fun at "concept music" -- he always said he had a concept piece, for children's chorus and child molester. There is no punchline. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
