"The most important piece is my silent piece" (John Cage)
4'33" is the test release of Onement. Its oneness is in the tracklisting: five times the same piece. It's a very limited edition of 100 transparent jewelcases with numbered, white CD-R. It's out of print and there will be no reprint.
What is this record?
For the first time ever, a whole CD with recorded versions of John Cage's influential 1952 piece 4'33". Here are five different performances by the ensemble 0 (pronounced "zero"), recorded by Stéphane Garin (also a member of the group) in April 2006, and mastered by Pierre-Yves Macé in June 2006.
Version 1:
One performer with bugle, recorded in the basement of a house in Anglet, France.
Version 2:
One performer with percussion, recorded inside a house in Ustaritz, France.
Version 3:
One performer with bugle, recorded in an empty classroom in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France.
Version 4:
No performer, digital silence.
Version 5:
One performer with percussion, recorded on a hill in the country in Itsasu, France.
How was it done?
The ensemble 0 has performed and recorded 18 versions of 4'33" in various places that are known as quiet (but not silent, of course): a church, an empty appartment in town, a recording studio, a hill in the country, an empty house, a forest, the hall of a small cinema, a cloister...
All the takes were performed by one to four members of the group, with a great respect of the piece: audience of at least one person, score (from Peters edition, N°6777) on a music stand, precise timing with a stopwatch, separation in three movements.
The orginal idea of 0 was to keep five takes: a solo performance of each member of the ensemble (of four musicians) and a tutti version. But in the end, the decision was taken to just select the five versions that the whole band would enjoy.
The digital silence version is more conceptual and can be understood as an electronic performance of 4'33": like in the others, the performer avoids any intentional sound, but this time the audience is only the listener(s) of the record.
What is 4'33"?
The piece is "for any instrument or combination of instruments". It's in three parts and "the movements may last any length of time". Four different scores have been written by John Cage. The one used by 0 only says "tacet" at each movement. The performers must be passive, serious, attentive, static, focused, respectful, and a simple, non-obtrusive action must be taken to separate the three parts.
Though the performers are as quiet as possible, the piece is not silent: the sounds are those of the environment of the performance.
Why a record of 4'33"?
Though Cage's music was not meant to be recorded, the main reason to do it is probably because the musicians of 0 really like the piece. They've rehearsed and performed it live four times. We can also mention that, surprisingly, during the rehearsals, it was the piece that took the longest time to prepare of all their repertoire: hours of discussion and research to understand the work and how to perform it right in front of an audience.
The other reason is that 4'33" is a very radical and important piece in the history of music in the 20th century. It was a great contribution to a larger integration of noise and indetermination, and it opened the door for new territories later explored by lowercase sound, ultra-minimal composition, reductionism, and field recording.
In that sense, 0's disc of 4'33" is a compilation of five field recordings.
