The Anger of Compassion

Music Criticism and Nuclear Diplomacy

As an inveterate though perhaps not veteran culture blogger, I should point your way to this: Charles Hill reports that someone ended up at his blog, Dustbury, while looking for an MP3 of the infamous John Cage classic 4' 33".

Well, of course: the dynamic range of that piece is better suited for digital rendering than for any measly old tape.

As a younger culture blogger, I attempted to wrestle with the appeal of this piece:

I am a classical guitarist. I'm very concerned about enlarging the guitar repertoire. I was warned about transcribing 4'33" for the guitar: I was told that I'd be laboring in obscurity and in vain, that the guitar just wasn't the appropriate instrument for that work, that no one would ever hear it.

But no, this Cage masterpiece had to be rendered for the guitar. So I've spent years on the effort. It's been difficult, it's been frustrating...for example, getting the rhythm just right is crucial to this piece. Especially the rests.

But I was inspired by, among others, the great Segovia, who transcribed so much Bach for the guitar; by John Cage himself, of course. By Marcel Marceau.

You know, Varese and Stockhausen groped toward this--but John Cage found perfection, pure form. I'm intimidated every time I play this piece on my guitar. But I'm inspired as well.

So I persevered, and it's been worth every bit of effort. Now, I'm proud of my transcription of 4'33". Listening to it on the guitar, I think you'll find yourself wondering if the guitar hadn't been Cage's original choice of instrument all along. And I play it all the time: it's become, without doubt, the strongest piece in my repertoire. Now it's available for all guitarists, everywhere.

But I'm always thinking, always wondering...so it occurred to me that maybe 4' 33" could be used to introduce Iranian President Ahmadinejad to western music!.

Of course, maybe Ahmadinejad has indeed heard Cage's music, and maybe that's why western music is banned.

And why they want nukes.

Posted by Craig Ceely at January 17, 2006 02:58 PM