John Cage: Journeys in Sound

Co-directors Paul Smaczny and Allan Miller handily make the case here that experimental composer John Cage (1912-1992) built his career around sound in all its forms. In an archival interview, Cage explains that his goal was to "open the eyes and ears" to the beauty of noise and other phenomena that don't normally qualify as music. Other interviews and performances feature John Lennon and Yoko Ono, composer Christian Wolff, and Cage's partner, choreographer Merce Cunningham. Several of Cage's pieces, played by various artists and ensembles, are interspersed throughout the film to illustrate Cage's concepts, such as chance operations, which took inspiration from the I Ching (in addition to his compositional skills, Cage was a Zen Buddhist, a mycologist, and a painter). New Yorker critic Calvin Tomkins credits Cage for freeing other composers to look beyond received wisdom about the primacy of traditional instruments. A representative from Cage's longtime publisher, C.F. Peters, even uses the word "instructions" in reference to the composer's music, since many of his compositions read like short plays or stage directions (an example being that the performer should hold a note for as long as possible instead of a specific amount of time). "Water Music," which incorporates a duck whistle, a radio, and a prepared piano, serves as a particularly vivid example. Although scant on biographical details, Journeys in Sound offers a well-rounded examination of Cage's creative process. Extras include four additional performances and an interview with Cage, Cunningham, and artist Robert Rauschenberg on their collaborative process. Presented in DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital stereo on DVD, and DTS-HD 5.1 and PCM stereo on Blu-ray, this is recommended. (K. Fennessy)