[silence] Brophy & Cage

[Ian Pace]

I haven't seen Brophy's essay yet - which aspects of Cage's work in 
particular is he advocating a more critical attitude towards? One of the 
collections of essays about Cage (can't remember off hand which one) says 
something in the introduction about how, when an artist is controversial, 
they tend to attract a group of jealously protective admirers around them, 
who feel the need to defend them at all costs. I've seen quite clearly how 
that has happened with numerous more recent composers. Cage is now probably 
the most recorded of all composers who established their reputation in the 
post-1945 years, it's certainly time for critique of his work that isn't 
simply dismissive. I feel Cage's self-mythologising in particular needs 
looking at. There is FAR too much adoring writing about Cage that takes all 
his own perspectives on most matters at face value.

Apologies for self-promotion here, but if anyone's interested, my own 
article '"The Best Form of Government....": Cage's laissez-faire anarchism 
and capitalism', taking an extremely critical view of Cage's politics, will 
be in the new issue of Open Space magazine (Fall 2006), which will be out in 
the next few weeks.

Ian

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cory P. Mathews" <cmathews@umail.ucsb.edu>
To: <silence@list.mail.virginia.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 3:57 AM
Subject: [silence] Brophy & Cage


> Hello Silencers,
>
> Has anyone seen Philip Brophy's little essay on page 106 of the
> November 2006 issue of The Wire (#273)?  I'm interested in the group's
> reactions.
>
> More importantly, though, I wonder if this may signal the end of
> defending Cage.  Or, might this essay be a call for more critical
> reactions to Cage and his musical/philosophic/aesthetic legacy? (Of
> course, this is not the first critique of Cage--I'm thinking of
> Douglas Kahn's Noise, Water, Meat.) Could it be that the anxiety of
> Cage's influence (in Bloomian terms) is hindering the aesthetic shift
> that will usher in the next big thing in music's history? At this
> historical juncture, might it become necessary for both composers and
> scholars to challenge (read: "think more critically about") Cage in
> order to incite change? (Not that change is desired, better, or even
> "necessary.")  I have to admit, that it was refreshing to read
> Brophy's viewpoint, just because so much writing and scholarship about
> Cage falls under the "apologist" category in my mind. Not, to start a
> big nasty debate here, but I'd like to know if anyone has any
> reactions on this subject.
>
> Cory
>
> ps. Props to the 4 presenters (Hicks, Bernstein, Grimshaw, and
> Haskins) at the first ever all-Cage session at the American
> Musicological Society conference last Friday.  Great stuff guys!
>
> -- 
> cory mathews
> PhD candidate, musicology
> university of california, santa barbara
> cmathews@umail.ucsb.edu
> http://ucsbmusicgrads.net
>
> Music gives us alternative imaginative geographies for the places we 
> inhabit.
>                                                Simon Critchley
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
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