Special

Some striking highlights are these musical breaks:


Mag ik even uw aandacht... (Rudolf Robot)

The B-side of this single (parody of "O Superman" by Laurie Anderson) contains the title "Mag ik even uw aandacht" ("May I have your attention please"). In the picture below you can see that there is nothing for 1'30" except some old-fashioned record ticks.

Click the beginning and end of the sound to hear sound clips of the record.



Rubbing doesn't help (Magnapop)

Track 13 of the album of Magnapop is titled "Rubbing doesn't help". There are two very long breaks in this song: form 3'30" until 6'33" and from 10'30" until 11'30".


4'33" by John Cage

John Cage composed a striking composition for piano. It goes like this: a pianist enters the stage and takes his place behind the piano. He plays nothing for 4 minutes and 33 seconds and leaves the stage again.
The deeper thought behind the duration of 4'33" is the amount of 273 seconds. The temperature of -273 degrees Celsius has been set as the absolute zero by Kelvin. At that temerature nothing moves anymore.

There is a version for piano. The pianist does not play anything during 4'33", but he moves twice to show that there are three parts.

Om Friday january 16, 2004 the London Symphony Orchestra played 4'33" during a live radio bradcast of BBC3. The conductor turned a page twice, to show the three parts.

See also: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/2133426.stm




Big noises at odds over the sound of silence

By David Lister Media and Culture Editor
(Independent, 21 June 2002)

'The Sound of Silence' may have prompted engaging harmonies from Simon and Garfunkel – but a more literal appreciation of the absence of noise has prompted one of the more curious copyright disputes of modern times.

Mike Batt, the man behind the Wombles and Vanessa Mae, has put a silent 60-second track on the album of his latest classical chart-topping protégés, the Planets. This has enraged representatives of the avant-garde, experimentalist composer John Cage, who died in 1992. The silence on his group's album clearly sounds uncannily like 4'33", the silence composed by Cage in his prime.

Batt said last night: "I've received a letter on behalf of John Cage's music publishers. I was in hysterics when I read their letter.

"As my mother said when I told her, 'which part of the silence are they claiming you nicked?'. They say they are claiming copyright on a piece of mine called 'One Minute's Silence' on the Planets' album, which I credit Batt/Cage just for a laugh. But my silence is original silence, not a quotation from his silence."