4’33″ (cage does not end with cage) is my interpretation of Cage’s seminal composition of the same name. In the instructions to the score, Cage makes it clear that the piece can vary (wildly) at each performance – all that is set is three sections, each marked “TACET.” That David Tudor’s original performance of the piece lasted for 4’33″, that he marked each section by opening or closing the piano lid, and that the three sections were lengthed 33″, 2’40″, and 1’20″, are all incidental, or, more precisely, were decisions made by the performer (Tudor) on how to interpret the piece. The score itself only calls for a performance of three sections in which the performer is silent.
cage does not end with cage is essentially a call to performers (including myself) to resucitate Cage’s radical legacy by not treating pieces like 4’33″ as set-in-stone, or part of some kind of untouchable canon, but by treating them as what they actually are, which are highly variable, performer- and situation-dependent open scores. 4’33″ (cage does not end with cage) is my first attempt at this process.
See three videos below.
4’33″ from Jacob Wick on Vimeo.
Leave Your Response