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Old May 17 2008, 10:12 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by almacg View Post
If 4'33'' had been written by... my grandad, would you, or anybody have given it the time of day?
If your grandad had spent his entire life exploring the definition of music, how sound and music are intertwined, and how we as humans perceive "music", had your grandad spent the same amount of energy in writing his thoughts on the topic, in composing music that constantly applied everything with which he was experimenting, then yes, I'm sure I (and the rest of the musical establishment) would have given your grandad the same ovation for coming to the conclusions which John Cage did with 4'33".

However, your grandad didn't.
John Cage did.
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"toute audace engendrée par l'ignorance cesse d'être une audace et devient une maladresse"
-Debussy-

In musical criticism, when issues of craft and technical consideration are set aside, what remains is more subjective. However, until technical issues are dealt with, the subjective portion bears considerably less weight.