A faithful facsimile of John Cage's 4'33" in his own handwriting

I have been exposed to John Cage’s composition 4’33”, twice in my life. One was live in Manhattan and I survived it with my eardrums intact. The second time happened in 2000 on CBC Radio. I wrote about both here. 

Today I listened to a long lost variant of 4’33’’ which began on both CBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 at about 1pm. It was extraordinary as it lasted for almost 8 minutes on both stations (an unusual simulcast). I had no idea that there was an equivalent to a  film “director’s cut” in composed music. If it took guts for the CBC to broadcast the short (the popular one) version in 2000 you can imagine that something is afoot at the CBC in its pursuit of the sonic avant-garde. Some higher up producer at the CBC must have known that it was daring to not program the CBC News for that hour.

I proudly approve of this venture and it was most refreshing to have radio silence accompanied by street noises as I drove my Malibu.