Modern music without tears

Here's a piece of modern music that you needn't fear: 4'33"!

As Peter Guttman relates, "4'33" was inspired by Cage's visit to Harvard's anechoic chamber, designed to eliminate all sound; but instead of promised silence Cage was amazed and delighted to hear the pulsing of his blood and the whistling of his nerves." In performance, the piece works as well for those innocent of its charms as it does for those who are in on it, as it were: we hear the symphony of sounds that we routinely ignore. Add the incredulity and confusion of newbies to occasional antics on the part of a performer, and you have a piece that we never tire of.

After all, as Berlioz notes, it takes 10,000 brass bands to equal the impact of a silence.

Guttman post: http://www.classicalnotes.net/columns/silence.html