John Cage/ James Tenney

It's the 95th birthday anniversary of John Cage, hands down the most infuential musical thinker of the twentieth century. When Cage was born, composers were slave to the late romanticism of Mahler and Wagner, with academia draining the last ounce of blood from that tired movement. When Cage got through with the century, composers were liberated to follow their own style and even their own definition of sound and music. He reduced music to its absolute zero point: 4:55 seconds of "silence". He used chance methods to compose, always looking for ways to free the creative urge. Here's some delightful "prepared piano" pieces, with screws, rubber, etc, stuck in the strings to get a rhymn band.
They're performed by James Tenney.





I was blessed to have known Jim Tenney as a teacher, friend , musician, and fellow poolshark. There were wonderful times he would laugh his head-back howling laugh
while sharing stories at the "Wheeler Inn" in Newhall, Ca. I heard him play ragtime, and Ives and his own, sometimes stunning music, (I still remember the first performance of "Klang",) Jim passed on a year ago last August. As with every genuine
person, the hole left has not been filled,