Blogging from the Highlands of Scotland
'From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step' - Diderot

Friday 16 January 2004

Pseudo-intellectual nonsense or genuine musical art?

The BBC Symphony Orchestra this evening performed works by John Cage, including what is described as a "seminal silent work", cutely entitled 4'33" - in case it is not obvious, this is the duration of the silence during which the orchestra sits ...... sits ..... then sits some more ..... doing ..... nothing. I just watched it repeated on BBC4 television; I forebore from 'listening' to it live on Radio3 earlier in the evening.

From my commentary, I think you can see how I would answer the question I pose in the title.

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