The Music Salon takes on Ligeti's Poème Symphonique for 100 metronomes, Reich's Pendulum Music and Cage's 4'33":
You might reply, that in the two pieces discussed above, the composer definitely had intentions. Well, ok, but they were not really expressive intentions, were they? In other words, while these might be justifiably considered experiments, they do not seem to have what I would term aesthetic content. Neither does Cage's 4'33 which I talk about here. Neither do any of Cage's pieces where the notes were chosen with chance procedures. The common element in all these pieces is the removal of any possibility of human aesthetic expression.
I think this was a phase that was mercifully brief. What surprises me is that people keep scheduling 'performances' of this stuff. Like some jokes, they are amusing once, but not for a second time.
I, on the other hand, expect to keep listening to all three works indefinitely. Maybe I don't care as much about human aesthetic expression...
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