source file: mills2.txt Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 09:35:21 -0700 Subject: Cage pointer (haven't I mentioned this before?) From: gtaylor@heurikon.com (One Cointreau, on ice....) In light of the recent couple of posts on the late Mr. Cage, I just thought I'd mention again that I've found James Pritchett's book "The Music of John Cage" [Cambridge University Press] to be one of thos volumes that has actually gone a long way toward providing light rather than heat on the subject of Mr. Cage's music [since that's what it's about. Scores and everthang....] *and* its aesthetic and historical contexts. It's quite a short read, and - at the very least - the explication of the overall architecture of Cage's early percussion works is worth the price of admission alone. I think it should provide you with a good idea of the range of Cage's compositional output over the course of his career, as well. I'd sure like to see a volume of as high a quality on Mr. Partch.... An interesting aside: he alludes to it a bit in the introduction to the book, but James *certainly* didn't start his musical career as a fan of Cage's work - if anything, quite the reverse. What changed his view was a serious look at the work itself, and the experience of meeting and getting to know Cage. I think that at least some of the insight gained helps to make this an interesting book, and I commend it to your attention. With regards, Gregory _ I would go to her, lay it all out, unedited. The plot was a simple one, paraphrasable by the most ingenuous of nets. The life we lead is our only maybe. The tale we tell is the must that we make by living it. [Richard Powers, "Galatea 2.2"] Gregory Taylor/Heurikon Corporation/Madison, WI Received: from eartha.mills.edu [144.91.3.20] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Thu, 25 Jul 1996 19:22 +0100 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id KAA11551; Thu, 25 Jul 1996 10:22:23 -0700 Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 10:22:23 -0700 Message-Id: <93960725172039/0005695065PK1EM@MCIMAIL.COM> Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu