John Cage "Eight"

 

The soundscape conceptualized by Cage appears minimalistic and yet complex.

If I were to describe John Cage´s composition with three simple words, I would most likely choose to use gloomy, orchestral, and unearthly. The last-named adjective proposes numerous questions, first and foremost what exactly distinguishes the earthly from the unearthly. What I aim to express in the use of the word is probably the vague but dominant impression of a familiar distance towards the sounds perceived. Whilst the sounds are eluding themselves from classification, they trigger memories and associations that seem to appear in a non-coherent manner. Although the enduring fluid sounds create a comfortable space to linger in, their timbre appears to be more distressing than comforting. As a listener I find my courtesy captivated. The aimless wandering in which my mind seeks to escape is obstructed as the sounds I listen to constantly change in tone and character. The sounds take me on a journey through time and space, introducing me to familiar as well as unfamiliar soundscapes without rest. Due to the piece´s length the journey like character is further emphasized and a somehow transcendental experience promoted. Besides the listening experience is of an almost mystical kind that sparks images of an unknown past, creating an almost comfortable sense of alienation. Closing my eyes, I feel invited to float above the ground into a world of imagination and (un-) familiar memory as Cage´s composition visually hints at and reminds me of traditional landscape painting and spacy Sci-Fi imagery (take a city scape from Metropolis or Blade Runner for example) at the same time. Both associations - but especially the image of a landscape - are strongly shaped and triggered through the concept of silence and the idea of absence that comes along with it. If I close my eyes, I can´t help but visualize open, deserted fields or streets that imply a surprising capaciousness suggesting emptiness and opportunity. The impression is further emphasized through the disability to completely grasp and classify a certain sound or an associated instrument or source of noise as it is an ever-changing subject of transformation. In consequence, Cage´s piece evokes a certain uneasiness from time-to-time causing an atmosphere of diffuse tension that is never quite released.

Apart from that, Cage´s recordings are eluding themselves from any melodic or recurringly rhythmic schemes, as they are found in later popularized ambient music by artist such as Brain Eno (e.g. Apollo from 1983), later Aphex Twin (e.g. Selected Ambient Works Volume II from 1994), or - to name a more recent release - GAS with “Der Lange Marsch” (2021).