Back to the Shire:
"A delightful piece by mid 20th Century experimental composer John Cage. This piece initially got reactions of confusion, amazement, and skepticism, since it's title, 4'33", is exactly what the piece is...."
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Back to the Shire:
"A delightful piece by mid 20th Century experimental composer John Cage. This piece initially got reactions of confusion, amazement, and skepticism, since it's title, 4'33", is exactly what the piece is... Four minutes and thirty three seconds of absolutely no deliberate sound. When it premiered, the pianist came out and sat down at the piano; then audience silenced themselves as to be expected and made no sound. The pianist then closed the keyboard lid, to mark the start of the piece, and opened it again to mark the ending of the first movement; he did this again two more times for the second and third movements, all the while the audience sat and listened quietly, held in either expectation or curiosity. Then, after the third movement of nothing, the pianist stood up and took a bow! The audience was elated and applauding madly because they were listening and expecting the unexpected. The point of the piece, though still somewhat controversial by musicians, was that there is no such thing as true silence; there will always be a sound in any environment, even down to your own heartbeat, which you can indeed hear. Of course, the massive theater of people at the premier of the piece was not as silent as that, but not a single intentional sound was made by performer or audience member alike, and all that could be heard was the sound of a massive concert hall (more specifically THAT concert hall of the premier), sounds of hundreds of people breathing lightly (with little coughs or shuffles and taps here or there), a still piano, and a still pianist.
The best sounds are the ones that nobody else hears because they're too busy talking or pretentiously making other sounds of their own."
