|
|
It was inevitable that I would become interested in modern music. It had already started when I first met Dr. Reisberg, who became my mentor. Because I had heard it since I was young, I had always liked the music of Copland, Bartok, Hindemith, and especially Stravinsky. I cut my score-reading teeth on Le Sarce du Printemps, a work I listened to sometimes several times in a week, and considered the most wonderful piece of music I'd ever heard.
In the fifties there was a TV show called
I've Got a Secret, hosted by Gary Moore. Contestants
came out, ``whispered'' a secret to Gary Moore, which would be
shown on the screen, and a panel of celebrities tried to guess
what it was. One day a man came on whose secret was he was going
to play a musical composition that he wrote---for several radios
and contact microphones. The composer was none other than John
Cage. It was the first I heard of him, but I heard a lot more
starting the next day when I told Dr. Reisberg. I eventually met
John Cage on at least three occasions that I can remember. Cage
became one of the most influential composers of the twentieth
century.
|
|