Steve Schwartz <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>Perhaps David should have phrased it this way: You are listening to Cage's
>4'33" if you think you are.  Just as you are "listening" to Beethoven's 3rd
>if it or a fragment of it is playing in your head.

I thought a comparative review of classic recordings of the work might help
other listeners hear the wood for the trees of 4'33".  It has been a taxing
undertaking to narrow the field down to five major contenders, but here
goes ...

1. Philharmonia, c. Klemperer (EMI 4-33001)

One of Walter Legge's very last sessions with Klemperer, scrupulously
rehearsed by Reginald Goodall for the old maestro, a fact which will be
evident to anyone who responds to the monumental grandeur of the conception
and velvet gravity of the execution.  Provided you can take the slow tempo
- this has to be the broadest 4'33" on record - Klemperer's remains a
performance of unsurpassed depth and spirituality.

2. New York PO, c. Bernstein (Sony Classics 'Royal' series 4-33002)

The fantastic range of Cage's masterpiece is demonstrated by "Lenny's"
reading, very different in tone and texture from the EMI.  Lean, mean,
and packing a huge punch, it comes in at a full 4'32" under Klemperer's
timings.  The playing of the NYPO is dazzling, and although Bernstein's
streetwise elan may be too brash for some, his 4'33" remains a milestone,
despite Sony's customarily reverberant acoustic.  The white cat in a
snowstorm painting by Prince Charles on the cover gives this issue added
appeal at mid-price.

3. Chicago SO, c. Pierre Boulez (DGG 43303)

Another controversial reading.  Boulez's precision - accurate to Cage's
metronome markings to within 1 millisecond - will impress some and leave
others cold.  Maybe there is an occasional sense of clinical chill about
his approach, a feeling that he is self-consciously proving a thesis
rather than emotionally responding to Cage's masterpiece; but there's no
gainsaying that he opens up the textures in a way which makes us hear
things in Cage's scoring that we never heard before.  Laudably silent
recording.

4. Monteverdi O., c. Sir John Eliot Gardiner (Archiv 43-304)

Here's one for the HIP buffs.  The use of 1960's period instruments and
low pitch (A=433) lends a special authenticity to Gardiner's bright and
breezy rendition.  Some may find his response to this music superficial,
even flippant; but his light - perhaps even gauzy - textures and infectious
rhythmic spring more than make up for any lack of gravity in the
conception.  Heartily recommended as an antithesis (or antidote) to
Klemperer's monumentality.

5. Charlotte Church, Vienna Philharmonic, c. Sir Simon Rattle (Decca CAC
433-005)

Some would classify the vocal version of Cage's masterwork (arranged
by Andrew Lloyd Webber under the supervision of his bank manager) as
cheap crossover.  That's as may be; but to be fair, if all crossover
were as inoffensive as this, the recording world would be a happier place.
Rattle's impeccable direction lends a note of artistic credibility to
proceedings, and some details of his generally plain reading are seriously
thought provoking.  One thing's for sure - this 4'33" is the best record
its young singing superstar has ever made.

Does anyone else have a favourite version to compare with the above?

Christopher Webber,  Blackheath, London,  UK.
http://www.nashwan.demon.co.uk/zarzuela.htm
"ZARZUELA!"