The 1950s and John Cage
Stuart explores the alternative side of music in the 1950s through the words of John Cage, featuring archive interviews and extracts from Cage's writings, along with his music.
Stuart explores the alternative side to music in the 1950s through the words of John Cage. Featuring archive interviews and extracts from Cage's writings alongside his music. Cage's early philosophies have been captured in the book Silence: Lectures and Writings which is widely considered one of the most important texts on music of the 20th Century. In it he challenges the concepts of sound, silence and listening addressing questions which arose after his 1952 composition 4'33" which instructs the performers not to play their instruments for the duration of four minutes and thirty three seconds and encourages the listener to tune into the sounds present in their surrounding environment.
As part of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Music's My Generation uncovering the history of popular music a decade at a time, Stuart looks at how Cage's writings and compositions in the 1950s helped lay a new foundation for future generations and where Cage's impact can be seen today in the outer edges of popular music.
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Clip
-
John Cage On Our Intolerable World
Duration: 05:03
Music Played
-
Matt Berry And The Maypoles
Sorry
- Matt Berry And The Maypoles Live.
- Acid Jazz.
- 5.
-
Knifeworld
Feel The Sorcery
- Bottled Out Of Eden.
- Inside Out.
-
The Ugly's
The Quiet Explosion
- A Good Idea.
- Pye Records.
-
John Cage
Sonata XI
- Sonatas And Interludes For Prepared Piano (1946-48).
- Naxos.
-
Aldous Harding
I'm So Sorry
- I'm So Sorry.
- Spunk Records.
-
Can
Paperhouse
- Tago Mago.
- United Artists Records.
- 1.
-
Karl Bartos
Life
- Communication.
- Home Records.
- 6.
-
John Cage
Aria With Fontana Mix
- Electronic Music For The Mind And Body.
- Cherry Red.
- 5.
-
Louis and Bebe Barron
Main Titles - Overture
- Forbidden Planet.
- Small Planet Records.
- 1.
-
Kiran Leonard
Don't Make Friends With Good People
- Grapefruit.
- Moshi Moshi Records.
- 1.
-
Cluster
In Ewigkeit
- Sowiesoso.
- Sky Records.
- 7.
-
Peter Hammill
The Cut
- The Future Now.
- Charisma.
- 11.
-
Big ‡ Brave
On The By-And-By And Thereon
- Au De La.
- Southern Lord.
- 1.
-
Traffic
Rainmaker
- The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys.
- Island Records.
- 6.
-
Ricky Wilde
I Am An Astronaut
- I Am An Astronaut / The Hertfordshire Rock.
- UK Records.
- 1.
-
John Cage
Indeterminacy: New Aspect Of Form In Instrumental And Electronic MusicIndetermin
- Indeterminacy: New Aspect Of Form In Instrumental And Electronic Music.
- Folkways Records.
- 1.
-
Brix & The Extricated
Totally Wired
-
John Coltrane Quartet
Blues Minor
- Africa / Brass.
- His Master's Voice.
- 3.
-
Tyoma
Emblematic
- Mirror.
- Live On Mars.
Broadcast
- Sun 10 Apr 2016 20:00´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 6 Music
Radio 2 50s Schedule
From Buddy Holly to Imelda May - let Radio 2 take you back to the 50s