John Cage: 4’33”– Sounds Like Silence: Silence Today

John Cage’s (1912-92) 4’33” premiered on August 29, 1952, distilling the composer’s philosophical explorations of silence into four minutes, thirty-three seconds of performed, charged silence. Elegantly, provocatively, the piece asked: what does silence sound like?

Cage’s questions about the nature of silence and sound continue to reverberate decades later; this volume–the most comprehensive on the piece to date–brings together new theoretical writings and artistic works exploring Cage’s composition. A wide-ranging list of contributors, contemporary and historical–from Merce Cunningham to Rage Against the Machine–weigh in on Cage’s work alongside Cage’s original scores and the composer’s own subsequent engagements with his most famous piece.