Records Ruin the Landscape
eBook - PDF

Records Ruin the Landscape

John Cage, the Sixties, and Sound Recording

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Records Ruin the Landscape

John Cage, the Sixties, and Sound Recording

About this book

John Cage's disdain for records was legendary. He repeatedly spoke of the ways in which recorded music was antithetical to his work. In Records Ruin the Landscape, David Grubbs argues that, following Cage, new genres in experimental and avant-garde music in the 1960s were particularly ill suited to be represented in the form of a recording. These activities include indeterminate music, long-duration minimalism, text scores, happenings, live electronic music, free jazz, and free improvisation. How could these proudly evanescent performance practices have been adequately represented on an LP?

In their day, few of these works circulated in recorded form. By contrast, contemporary listeners can encounter this music not only through a flood of LP and CD releases of archival recordings but also in even greater volume through Internet file sharing and online resources. Present-day listeners are coming to know that era's experimental music through the recorded artifacts of composers and musicians who largely disavowed recordings. In Records Ruin the Landscape, Grubbs surveys a musical landscape marked by altered listening practices.

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Yes, you can access Records Ruin the Landscape by David Grubbs in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Media & Performing Arts & History of Contemporary Art. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. Preface
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. Introduction
  5. 1. Henry Flynt on the Air
  6. 2. Landscape with Cage
  7. 3. John Cage, Recording Artist
  8. 4. The Antiques Trade: Free Improvisation and Record Culture
  9. 5. Remove the Records from Texas: Online Resources and Impermanent Archives
  10. Notes
  11. Selected Discography
  12. Bibliography
  13. Index