<<< << -- 3 -- Patric Standford A REAL TREASURE HOUSE
In the third part, Earlier Interviews, there are three discussions with Cage recorded by BBC Radio 3, one with art critic David Sylvester and composer Roger Smalley in 1966; with Frank Kermode, professor of modern English literature at University College London in a series called Is an Elite Necessary? broadcast in 1970; and a third with broadcaster Michael Oliver in 1980 in which Cage revisits familiar biographical landscapes, but with interesting variants on his earlier views.
In the final section, entitled Extravaganzas, Cage talks to Dickinson about Musicircus, discusses Roaratorio with Merce Cunningham and Peadar Mercier, the first Irishman to become a professional bodhran and bones player, and finally concerning Europeras and later work with Cage talking to Anthony Cheevers in 1988. There is an extensive and very useful bibliography guiding the reader to a great many articles on Cage and his work, an excellent index, a few photos and a couple of brief appendices, one itemizing references to the early episodic magazine appearances of James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake and the other containing details of the eight concerts that made up the three-day John Cage Uncaged festival in 2004. Whatever one imagines John Cage to be in the great landscape of 20th century music, this collection will surely prove fascinating and, if not essential, then certainly an entertaining perspective on his inventive and imaginative world of sound, visual imagery and movement.
Copyright © 22 May 2007
Patric Standford, Wakefield UK
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