His teacher, Arnold Schoenberg, said JOHN CAGE was "not a composer but an inventor of genius." Composer, author, and philosopher, John Cage was born in Los Angeles in 1912 and by the age of 37 had been recognized by the American Academy of Arts for having extended the boundaries of music.
"As the unchallenged father figure of American experimental music,
Mr. Cage wields an influence that extends far beyond sound
alone....Indeed, the entire American avant-garde would be
unthinkable without Mr. Cage's music, writings, and genially
patriarchical personality."--John Rockwell, The New York Times
"One of the most entertaining and rewarding intellectual voyages
that contemporary literature affords."--San Francisco Chronicle
"Silence starts with the finest dedications of modern times--'To
Whom It May Concern'--and past that you embark on one of the most
entertaining and rewarding intellectual voyages that contemporary
literature affords."--Alfred Frankenstein, San Francisco
Chronicle
"'I have nothing to say, and I am saying it.' The line, probably
John Cage's most famous statement, appears three times over in his
book Silence, which Wesleyan University Press has reissued in a
smart fiftieth anniversary edition that also coincides with the
centenary of the author's birth. A self-devouring paradox, Cage's
modest avowal neatly draws attention to the impossibility of saying
nothing, for once a frame of communication has been set up, be that
frame a book or a musical score, a sheet of paper mounted in a
gallery space or a performance scheduled in a concerthall (and Cage
worked in all these media), emptiness will speak."--Paul Griffiths,
Times Literary Supplement
"As the unchallenged father figure of American experimental music,
Mr. Cage wields an influence that extends far beyond sound
alone.Indeed, the entire American avant-garde would be unthinkable
without Mr. Cage's music, writings, and genially patriarchical
personality."--John Rockwell, The New York Times
"Of all Cage's books, it is perhaps the first, Silence, which has
had the broadest impact. Even now, artists of all sorts continue to
respond to its Zen principles, its chance procedures, and its
revolutionary ideas about sound, silence, form, and time"--Dance
Chronicle
"Prefacing the handsome 50th anniversary edition of Cage's seminal
collection of writings, Silence, is an introductory essay by Bard
College's Kyle Gann. Cage's writing can be hard going--it's often
more modernist poetry than prose essay--but Gann invites readers to
appreciate the composer's call to slip the bonds of logic, to stop
making sense and transcend the artistic ego. Merrily thumbing his
nose at ambition and desire in the arts, Cage's writings should be
carefully considered in a world where the narcissism of
self-expression threatens to occlude all else."--David Luhrssen,
Shepherd Express
"Kyle Gann has written a breezy and often informative foreword that
includes the principal events of Cage's life, some reminiscences,
some interesting critical remarks on selected essays, and--most
helpful--a list of names and biographical sketches of characters
that populate Cage's entertaining anecdotes."--American Record
Guide
"Cage's 1959 'Lecture on Nothing'remains a touchstone for artists
thinking about how to empty their work of themselves. It has just
reappeared in a 50th anniversary edition of Cage's classic first
book, Silence."--Kenneth Baker, San Francisco Chronicle
"'It's the book I've reread most often in my life, ' writes the
composer-critic Kyle Gann in his illuminating foreword to the 50th
anniversary edition. To reread Silence today is to see how complex,
playful, but also deeply ironic Cage's seemingly upbeat and casual
aesthetic really was."--Marjorie Perloff, Los Angeles Review of
Books
"As the unchallenged father figure of American experimental music,
Mr. Cage wields an influence that extends far beyond sound alone. .
. . Indeed, the entire American avant-garde would be unthinkable
without Mr. Cage's music, writings, and genially patriarchical
personality."--John Rockwell, The New York Times
"Of all Cage's books, it is perhaps the first, Silence, which has
had the broadest impact. Even now, artists of all sorts continue to
respond to its Zen principles, its chance procedures, and its
revolutionary ideas about sound, silence, form, and time."--Dance
Chronicle
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