Compilation / Toru Takemitsu, He Yuxuan Remembering Cage

John Cage passed away (August 12, 1992). Without warning, shocking.

For me, 1992 was a very bad year. Because not long ago, I just heard the news of Messiaen’s death. It was really a big blow to "lose" two of my beloved composers in such a short period of time. For many of Cage's "admirers", this was the year to celebrate his 80th birthday. Celebratory concerts have already started in many countries and cities. Who knew, fate would play a trick - now, we have no choice but to turn celebration into remembrance.

Death is inevitable. From this great sadness, I did not feel empty. Instead, I "saw" a clearer blue sky. Because, from Cage and his works, I have experienced the immortal temperament - what death brings to him is eternity.

From Cage, I learned how to live. In other words, I understand the relationship between life and art better. I always thought that music was the essence of life. But for him, music and life are basically the same thing. And such simple and obvious facts have long been forgotten. In a highly professional modern society, life and art are clearly separated. People are forced to learn skeletal creative techniques, each one getting better and better than the last. Music has become separated from life and has become a cold symbol that only stays on the score.

The "emergence" of John Cage once shocked the entire Western music world. His concepts broke the deeply rooted traditional structure of classical music. In fact, he just reminded people of a basic common sense: silence is the mother of all sounds. Through Cage, sound was liberated, and he initiated a revolution that abandoned artistic "hierarchy." His artistic concepts are often compared with "Dadaism": indeed, his works do have similarities with Dada art, but there are still some differences between them. For example, people often say that his dismantling of traditional structures came from "Dada", but the root of Dada art is a theory of negation - negating the past and negating tradition. Cage's "deconstruction" lies in affirming the past and is a development based on tradition. Therefore, I think that Cage’s works will have a greater impact on future artistic possibilities than those of Dada artists.

After the World War, I first heard the name of John Cage through the recommendation of two intellectuals, Shuzo Takiguchi and Kuniharu Akiyama. However, after that, it wasn’t until 1961 that I heard Cage’s work for the first time, at a concert of John Cage’s works in Osaka. The conductor of this concert was the master composer Toshi Ichiyanagi. At that time, he had just ended his long life in the United States and returned home in glory. Music critic Hidekazu Yoshida wrote after the concert: "From now on, we will be shocked by the name John Cage for a long time!" Yes, I can still recall the first time I listened to Cage's music. That whole-body tremor.

In that era, twelve-tone sequence and serialism were the mainstream of avant-garde music, and people respected the Vienna Second Music School as the "ancestor". Objectively speaking, these music creation techniques and talents are full of wisdom, but they also obliterate the power of emotion and sensibility in musical art.

"4 Minutes and 33 Seconds", which premiered in 1952, has undoubtedly become a legend. However, through this masterpiece, stubborn people did not fully understand Cage's musical talent. On the contrary, they were more willing to regard him as a philosopher of performance art. But soon, from his subsequent creations, people gradually realized that his works were not just individual, but unique.

John Cage formed a long and close relationship with lovers of Japanese art.

Although we can no longer see him, we can still clearly remember his gentlemanly, indescribable and mysterious smile.

I can’t think of another “artistic revolutionary” as elegant as Cage. Inspiration Garden

Summer finally shows its face in Nagano Prefecture.

Usually, even at such a high altitude, it is very hot at noon every day. But this year is an exception. It's already July and the temperature is almost never higher than 13 or 14 degrees. Sometimes it even rains and snows like in winter. It is said that the Meteorological Bureau has carefully studied the issue of climate anomalies. But even though those forecasts have been relatively accurate, we still can't completely trust them.

In the past two centuries, scientists have conducted many studies on energy and matter. So much so that today, people are increasingly convinced that they live in an era of complete scientific knowledge. However, the fact is that there are still a lot of unknowns and mysteries in our information. For this reason, I can hold my breath and sigh, because the good news is that knowledge is far beyond human control, even if humans think they can control everything. Too much artificial research can always destroy some original beauty: the deliberately shaped "reality" breaks people's imagination and creative desire. However, the world can always give us some surprising illusions.

The breeze blew and mist filled the sky. Blue-black mountains appear with the light. I actually started to question whether it was an illusion. At this moment, when my consciousness is wandering on the edge of reality and illusion, I can always feel an impulse of music. Inspiration does not come from strong and dramatic collisions of ideas, but from the exploration of the unknown and mystery. There is a subtle surge and change in the natural world. It is not as strong as man-made changes, but it is the source of all mystery. My creation begins with observation and listening: observing the invisible and listening to the inaudible.

People's awareness of things is not unified, but varies from person to person and has different levels and levels. Therefore, my feelings may not be felt by others at all. But I am not alone, because I am alive - and at the same time, I was created for the purpose of living.

The question is: by what? By whom?

My music is a signal to the unknown. And I believe that others in the world are sending their own unique signals at the same time. When our signals meet and are attracted to each other, a new harmony ensues. This new harmony immediately creates a physical feeling for each other. For example, when you listen to an unknown work by an unknown composer, you will suddenly feel empathetic and excited. This is a manifestation of the harmonious interweaving of signals. As mentioned above, nature is surging and subtly changing. Therefore, my music is not completed because of the form of the score. My work can never be "complete". They refuse to be "finished," they shift their meaning depending on the listener—they are surging.

Perhaps, the characteristics I mentioned are far from the creative intention of Western art. Western musicians firmly believe that composition is vivid and precise, an impulse that actively displays struggle, joy, darkness, and beauty. And I, as an Easterner, stand on the opposite side of Western art: I like the unsolvable and unreal - these "ambiguities" are my ultimate source of inspiration.

I'm not sure if all Far Eastern, Asian and Japanese composers feel the same way as I do. I am not a composer who can represent Japan, nor can I even be called a "Japanese" composer. I was born and raised in Japan, so I was naturally and irresistibly influenced by Japanese traditions. For a while, I tried hard to reject the excessive influence of this monoculture, but I soon discovered that it was impossible.

However, some of my efforts did work. Now, in Western countries, fewer and fewer people call me a "Japanese" composer, although I still feel uncomfortable every time I go abroad. People's understanding of things does change, but it does not expand. People always mistakenly think that their horizons have expanded, but in fact it is just a transformation.

The world has entered globalization. People have not become cosmopolitans because of this, but the world itself has become more and more homogeneous. All cultures begin to transform into one culture.

But such changes also have benefits. When a Japanese young man learns Western modern music (an art that is completely different from his own culture), he has the dimension to view his own tradition through the eyes of others. Any kind of art needs to be liberated from its own solid traditions.

The scenery of the mountains triggered all the above thoughts. Time flies. When I raised my head again, I found that the blue-black peaks had returned to the clouds and disappeared.

Maybe, this is another fantasy of mine?