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| 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.