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<< -- 7 -- Jennifer Paull UNCAGED JOHN
An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time
has come.
-- Victor Hugo (1802-1885)
Amongst other talents, John Cage was a philosopher, a writer, a poet,
a lithographer, an etcher, a watercolour painter, and a soundscape composer
in silence, quicksilver sound and light. His drawings around stones (amongst
many other possible examples I could have chosen) turned into musical scores
of graphic notation. From one discipline to another simply translated as
'time instead of space'.
These CDs are part of what made the Twentieth Century. I dip into them
for stillness, for prayer, for resource, and for inner peace. I taste their
content because it is a colour I chose to pick up and wear at random, and
although I need this abstraction, after fifteen or so minutes, I need the
planet beneath my feet once more. I rarely listen to the entire CD. One
piece is mostly enough at any given moment.
Of the two, I prefer the Green because there is more movement. The sepia
[listen -- track 4, 0:01-0:57] is almost impossible
to illustrate here because it contains so much introspective silence as
a component in its own right. Sometimes I don't even listen. I just
look at them. The fact that they exist can be enough. Cage is a philosophy.
Maybe there are days when one needs to read the whole book, but perhaps
a chapter will suffice upon others. Having it sitting on the shelf as a
reference into which to delve at random is equally valid.
The strings, the winds, the brass know more about music than they
do about sound. To study noise they must go to the school of percussion.
There they will discover silence, a way to change one's mind; and aspects
of time that have not yet been put into practice.
Cage is a time-travelling machine.
When you make music you are acting as a philosopher. You can either
do that consciously or you can do it unconsciously, but you're doing it.
- John Cage
Copyright © 28 August 2002
Jennifer Paull, Vouvry, Switzerland
John Cage: Three2 - Twenty-Three - Six - Twenty-Six. First Recordings
[no number] NEW RELEASE 61'13" 1999 OgreOgress Productions
Christina Fong, violin/viola, Glenn Freeman, percussion, Karen Krummel, cello
'Green' CD: Three 2; Twenty-Three; Six; Twenty-Six |
PURCHASE THIS DISC FROM AMAZON
John Cage - ONE 6 - ONE 10 - Christina Fong
[no number] Stereo 71'25" 1998 OgreOgress Productions
Christina Fong, violin
'Sepia' CD: One 6; One 10 |
PURCHASE THIS DISC FROM AMAZON
JOHN CAGE - AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT
CHRISTINA FONG
JENNIFER PAULL
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