John cage most famous works by beethoven

The program which Adams House presented on Wednesday night seemed at the start totally miscellaneous. The Beethoven Violin Sonata, Op.96, opened it, the Schoenberg String Trio, Op. 45 followed, and the second half plunged into the electronic music of Cage, Mache and Schaeffer. But all the pieces closely complemented each other, for the modern works were all intent upon evoking a sense of enigmatic direction, of thoughtful uncertainty, and the Beethoven at least approached them by using an unusual formal scheme. Listening to all this raised the important question of what should determine taste within so free a style.

Schoenberg abandoned classical forms for his Trio. Although he divided the work into three meetings, these movements (perhaps better called "episodes") do not fit the conventional categories of movements. The work does not, as do classical forms, progress through several distinct, encased areas; it rather distributes its contrasting moods throughout the piece and makes quick changes between with neither obvious or formal transitions. It is the probing nature of the music which constitutes its development: it stops and starts, moves in one direction only to shift toward another, never leaving the bounds of what it marks out as its own world.

But the work is powerful not because its progressions are "surprising" but because these shifts seem natural--and even quite necessary. What Schoenberg has done is to integrate musical emotions which in much music are usually separated or opposed to each other. Most important of all, he has linked pensive, "introspective" musical expression with a variety of other moods--violence, passivity, melancholy--and has thereby diffused the thoughtful tone throughout the music. The trio is profound because its expression is indirect, submerged; the work gives the listener its ideas not by pointing them out to him, but by shuffling him about through a variety of situations whose sum is the work's expres

1952 modernist composition by John Cage

4′33″ is a modernist composition by American experimental composer John Cage. It was composed in 1952 for any instrument or combination of instruments; the score instructs performers not to play their instruments throughout the three movements. It is divided into three movements, lasting 30 seconds, two minutes and 23 seconds, and one minute and 40 seconds, respectively, although Cage later stated that the movements' durations can be determined by the musician. As suggested by the title, the composition lasts four minutes and 33 seconds. It is marked by silence except for ambient sound, which is intended to contribute to the performance.

4′33″ was conceived around 1947–48, while Cage was working on the piano cycle Sonatas and Interludes. Many prior musical pieces were largely composed of silence, and silence played a notable role in his prior work, including Sonatas and Interludes. His studies on Zen Buddhism during the late 1940s about chance music led him to acknowledge the value of silence in providing an opportunity to reflect on one's surroundings and psyche. Recent developments in contemporary art also bolstered Cage's understanding on silence, which he increasingly began to perceive as impossible after Rauschenberg's White Painting was first displayed.

4′33″ premiered in 1952 and was met with shock and widespread controversy; many musicologists revisited the very definition of music and questioned whether Cage's work qualified as such. In fact, Cage intended 4′33″ to be experimental—to test the audience's attitude to silence and prove that any auditory experience may constitute music, seeing that absolute silence^[e&

As the year, decade, century and millennium all draw to a close, every arts writer invariably will succumb to the temptation to announce The List. To avoid the rush, I'll crawl out on my own critical limb a bit early to proclaim (fanfare and drum-roll, please) the greatest classical piece of the century.

The long history of classical music has evolved too patiently for a single year or even a decade to have much significance. And yet, too much has happened over the millennium for meaningful comparisons: who can say whether some anonymous monk who first dared to sing a fifth within the monody of Gregorian chant was a more daring and influential innovator than Beethoven?

So I'll focus my pretension on our century. In search of its greatest classical work, many would look to Stravinsky, not just for his astounding Rite of Spring but for an amazingly eclectic career that legitimized a melding of disparate influences into a cohesive art. Or perhaps Schoenberg for systematizing the yearning dissonance of the late 19th century into 12-tone expression. Or Stockhausen, for integrating studio electronics into traditional musical timbres and forms. Each was a visionary who pushed music to a new level and irreversibly influenced all that followed.

My candidate may not make many other lists. But its ultimate influence over the music of the future may come to tower over all of the more obvious choices. It's John Cage's 4'33" ("four minutes, thirty-three seconds").

I knew John Cage only briefly when I was an undergrad at Wesleyan University, whose music department lauded him as a guiding genius while others disparaged him as a negligible buffoon. His performances were more "happenings" than concerts, and could range from seemingly random events to a lecture about his beloved wild mushrooms. He was always happy and gentle, alive with awestruck wonder of the world, and especially fascinated by its sounds.

4'33" was Cage's favorite work. Written in 1952, it c

18.09.2020

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas No. 8, 16, 17
Garson, “Pathetique Variations”
Pousseur “Coups de Des En Echos”
Ruprecht, Sonata in D-Minor

Herbert Schuch (piano)
Avi Music AVI8553981 (11 September 2020)
 
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Schuch invites us to discover what lies at the bottom of Beethoven’s music and bravely clashes the old-fashioned with the revolutionary and adds a bit of 20 century flavour.
 
Herbert Schuch’s latest CD is a combination of three Beethoven sonatas and another trio of 20 century works that magically relate to Beethoven’s works either by name, tonality or imagination. The CD works marvellously, as a clever combination.
 
Herbert Schuch’s excellent CD starts with the Pathetique’s maestoso introduction, executed dramatically yet calm and thoughtful, thus making the Allegro come almost as a surprise in its vivacity. His sparing use of forte brings out the sforzandos neatly and there is a beauty in the way he sustains the tempo and builds up the drive. The combination of Beethoven’s exactly executed dynamic markings and Schuch’s tempo choice truly do justice to the revolutionary aspect of this work. The serenity of the slow movement creates  a sincere feeling of youthfulness that balances the outer movements impeccably. Indeed, the most remarkable playing on the disc may be the last movement of the Pathetique where Schuch uses an exquisite piano throughout, something that few pianists dare. The rare fortes come as bursts of fire in opposition to some beautiful cantando as in bars 43 to 50 of the last movement. The feeling one has at the end of the sonata is as if you always wanted to hear it this soft and this was the first time.
 
As the sleeve notes confir