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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 Â鶹Éç 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.

2 hours

Last on

Sun 10 Apr 2016 20:00

Clip

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

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