JOHN CAGE\'S MUSIC FOR RADIOS

The British government hopes to turn off the UK's national and local analogue radio by 2015. When this happens, the layers of hiss, crackle and white noise will be lost, and the push of the button will replace the twist of the dial. The performance of John Cage's Imaginary landscape No.4 (1951) and Radio Music (1956) at Tate Britain's event "Late Night Radio" on Friday, 7th August thus had a peculiar nostalgic potency. Musicians lined up behind their radios, and following Cage's score and conductor Robert Worby, played their radios like musical instruments. Twisting the dials and manipulating the volume, the musicians filled the North Duveen's of the Tate Britain with the curious noises that lie between radio stations. When Cage's pieces were first performed, audiences were experiencing some of the first electronic music concerts. When analogue radio is finally switched off, these pieces of music will become impossible to perform. Imaginary Landscape No.4 and Radio Music highlight how the music of the radio lies in the transitions between tunes and voices. They remind us that when the turn of the dial no longer whirls the listener through an array of incomprehensible sounds, the emblematic experience of radio will be lost.

For further information on Tate Britain's 'Late Night Radio' see

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/aug/06/john-cage-symphony-for-radios

   --Karolina Kendall-Bush