Dear Stewart, I'm sorry you were disappointed. I didn't mean to attack you. When I wrote the list has been used to reading your moderate statements I meant to say that one of the features I for one do appreciate of your contributions is that they are based on reason and plausibility rather than on taste, in general.
However, as for resentment-listening, I think, things are rather clear. Cage's 4'33" silence does not fit into what you'd expect from a piece of art music. As a result, you consider Cage's piece as ridiculous (to say nothing more). This very attitude is resentment-listening. There is nothing wrong with it. It's like prejudices everyone needs to stabilize his or her inner world order. But speaking of art, resentment-listening is simply an obstacle to new experiences (and that's one thing art is for, isn't it). As regards Cage's silence piece -- wasn't it John Lennon who had a piece called Two Minutes Silence on one of his records? Don't know if he felt inspired by or even knew Cage, but there must be something to a piece of silence, I guess. (I shall not repeat what other have already said about sound experience and so on.) -- When I had lessons in guitar playing I was taught to accurately stop strings when a voice ends and not let it fade out. A break or a pause integrally belongs to the piece of music I play. I would strogly object to a view that a pause is not music, even if a whole piece consists of only pauses. -- Best wishes, Mathias Mathias Roesel, Grosze Annenstrasze 5, 28199 Bremen, Deutschland/ Germany, T/F +49 - 421 - 165 49 97, Fax +49 1805 060 334 480 67, E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
