John Cage 4'33" (for solo guitar)

One of my favourite contemporary compositions.

I've heard all the crap jokes about it, so comments are being moderated. If you can make a really good argument for why this piece sucks, I will happily allow it. But I've never seen one yet.

I used the timings from the premiere performance, as given in the sheet music, so the first movement is 33 seconds long, the second is 2 minutes 40 and the third is one minute 20.

Play it loud. I cranked up the input volume and I also boosted the volume of the raw footage before exporting it. You can hear the chair creaking, traffic, police sirens in the street and a guy putting up shelves next door. Hope you like it.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• john
• cage
• 33
• solo
• guitar
• ambient
• silence
• experimental
• avant-garde

[sirshitsalot007]

how much did you buy that score for?

[lexo30]

@sirshitsalot007 Shit, can't remember. It was years ago, when I was a teenager. Probably the first 'classical' score I ever bought. But you can get it from the Edition Peters website for about 6 bucks.

[jedirhythm]

sigh. narcisist.

[lexo30]

@jedirhythm That's not how you spell 'narcissist'. And even if it were, what's your point? This is not a video of me staring into a mirror. This is a video of me conscientously performing this piece of music, in which the only instruction is to play nothing for three movements lasting a total of four minutes and thirty-three seconds. If you know of a better way to video such a performance, put one up on the site.

[jhg123456]

This is probably the best thing you've ever played

[lexo30]

@jhg123456 Thank you. I think I did a good job.

[cullyvan]

very good.