253'28"

August 17, 2015 9:23 PM

John Cage and Morton Feldman in conversation.
posted by shakespeherian (17 comments total)

OH man It's so late I just wish I had four hours to hang out with these guys I'm gonna have to check in another time but wow.
posted by idiopath at 9:24 PM on August 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Hey, art! Cool.
posted by benito.strauss at 10:07 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

"My teacher Stefan Wolpe was a Marxist and he felt my music was too esoteric at the time. And he had his studio on a proletarian street, on Fourteenth Street and Sixth Avenue. . . . He was on the second floor and we were looking out the window, and he said, 'What about the man on the street?' At that moment . . . Jackson Pollock was crossing the street." - Morton Feldman
posted by Joseph Gurl at 10:09 PM on August 17, 2015 [15 favorites]

"My past experience was not to 'meddle' with the material, but use my concentration as a guide to what might transpire. I mentioned this to [German composer Karlheinz] Stockhausen once when he had asked me what my secret was. 'I don't push the sounds around.' Stockhausen mulled this over, and asked: 'Not even a little bit?'" - Morton Feldman
posted by Joseph Gurl at 10:11 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

"Most music is metaphor, but [Christian] Wolff is not. I am not metaphor either. Parable, maybe. Cage is sermon." - Morton Feldman
posted by Joseph Gurl at 10:12 PM on August 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

"The composer makes plans, music laughs." - Morton Feldman
posted by Joseph Gurl at 10:13 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

This is extraordinary, and beautiful. Thank you!
posted by prismatic7 at 11:38 PM on August 17, 2015

Brilliant. Thank you.
posted by converge at 12:39 AM on August 18, 2015

I am convinced that years ago I heard a composition of a looped dialogue of parts of this (?) conversation. I've searched the usual places, ubuweb, open culture, archive etc. but came up with nothing. Anybody around here know if I'm looking for a unicorn, or if this recording actually exists somewhere?
posted by ouke at 2:22 AM on August 18, 2015

Wow. Wow.

Would anyone with the time and inclination be willing to download the audio and make it available for people to put on their mobile listening devices?
posted by 2or3whiskeysodas at 4:48 AM on August 18, 2015

seems the book is going to be reprinted soon.
posted by andrewcooke at 5:39 AM on August 18, 2015

Audio? I think it is available here. But only in streaming format.
posted by njohnson23 at 9:35 AM on August 18, 2015

Sorry about all this, but UbuWeb has it as MP3.
posted by njohnson23 at 9:46 AM on August 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

This is wonderful, thanks. Pretty wild to hear Cage talk about how by the year 2000 wage inequality will be eradicated and society can start focusing on preventing war.
posted by Cpt. The Mango at 11:42 AM on August 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Finally have time to listen to this and it's lovely. What's impressive is the pace of the conversation. People don't talk at that speed any more, in my experience. Even when friends are bouncing ideas off each other the pace is like a a game with a time limit, scoring points by zingers and argumentative one-ups. Cage's and Feldman's thoughts languidly move and influence each other's thoughts and it's like a graceful mental ballet in action.
posted by ardgedee at 6:09 PM on August 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

I mean I can't really picture Feldman doing anything hastily.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:14 PM on August 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

Full of anecdotes about the legendary composer, Gillespie relates one that captures Cage’s personality. He remembers the day Cage brought a new score for Living Room Music to the C. F. Peters office and was asked how many copies he’d want for himself. “He was leaving on the elevator,” Gillespie says, “and he turned around and said, ‘None. I don’t have a living room.’ I’ll never forget that. Then he was gone. The elevator doors closed and everybody was laughing.”

posted by Joseph Gurl at 6:04 PM on August 30, 2015