[silence] Cage and authenticity

[John Whiting]

We have been arguing for days, from various viewpoints, that
“authenticity” is the sine qua non of Cage performance. Richard
Taruskin in his “Text & Act: Essays on Music and Performance” disposed
of such Beckmesserish dogmatism once and for all:

> What we call historical performance is the sound of now, not then.
> It derives its authenticity, not from its historical
> verisimilitude, but from its being for better or worse a true
> mirror of [contemporary] taste.
> 
> Being the true voice of one’s time is (as Shaw might have said)
> roughly forty times as vital and important as being the assumed
> voice of history. To be the expressive medium of one’s own age is –
> obviously, no? – a far worthier aim than historical verisimilitude.
> What is verisimilitude, after all, but perceived correctness? And
> correctness is the paltriest of virtues. It is something to demand
> of students, not artists. [p.166]

-- 
John Whiting
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