There are many covers of John Cage's "Four Minutes And Thirty Three Seconds" but this one is of high audio quality, conducted by Lawrence Foster for The BBC Four with the accompaniment of a full orchestra. While Cage originally wrote his piece merely for piano, I feel an orchestral approach amplifies the ambient possibilities, and also drives home both socio-political and enviro-cultural points that Cage's 4'33" so gloriously confronts. If you have never experienced this work before please keep an open mind. Some argue this is not music, but quite the contrary, Cage's 4'33" reminds all of us that the universe itself sings in ways we often take for granted. Since the days of Pythagoras in ancient Greece, mankind has contemplated the humbling and yet awe-inspiring revelation that, from our heartbeats to the powerful silence of our two Voyager spacecraft hurtling through space, we are all contributing in some small way to musica universalis: The Harmony of the Spheres!
2