And now, a special April Fool's Day post for you...
The online music store iTunes this week is offering one of the most famous classical compositions of the 20th century as its free Discovery Download. What is it?
John Cage's 4'33", written in 1952, for any instrument or combination of instruments. In case you're not familiar with it, that's the "silent" piece that instructs the performer to remain tacet (silent) for the duration of the work.
A funny guy, that John Cage. But seriously, Cage believed music and sound to be all around us, so there's really no such thing as a "silent" piece of music. If you were to go to a concert hall and see the work performed live, there would certainly be the hum of an air conditioner present, perhaps some coughs, rustling of paper, or movement throuhgout the hall.
Here's a link to a video of an orchestra performing 4'33": http://www.ubu.com/film/cage_433.html
Go ahead, crank it up!
--Nathan Cone
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