For readers who don't already know much about John Cage or new music generally, Kenneth Silverman's book may be an adequate introduction to a modern composer who is often mentioned but little understood. Silverman brings together information from many previous published sources as well as some fresh biographical insights drawn from many interviews. The writing style is rather dull, but if you're just looking for the basics, this book might do the trick.

I'm sorry to report though, as someone who has worked in the field for many years, that I was hoping for a lot more. The discussions of specific compositions by Cage often lack depth and are at times so simplified that they're inaccurate. And given the number of people who Silverman lists as being interviewed for the book, there just doesn't seem to be enough news here.

This last point is especially sad. Cage himself would have been 100 years old in September 2012, and many peers from the early stages of his career are no longer alive. There are many composers, performers, and artists now in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s who had crucial relationships with Cage that Silverman doesn't seem to have talked with. By the time someone else attempts another general biography of John Cage, many of these people younger than Cage may be dead as well. ( )

A workmanlike, straightforward chronology of the life of the man ahead of the avant-guard as it screamed through the 20th century. ( )

That's funny. When I tried to click on this book in the Goodreads interface, I accidentally hit the "Begin Again" above it. (There are a lot of books with "Begin Again" in the title. Who knew?) The one above it is "How to Forgive Ourselves -- Totally: Begin Again by Breaking Free from Past Mistakes" by one R.T. Kendall. In a word: Oy.

Anyhow, this is very much a biography of the great composer and thinker. It's light on musicological or sonic insight, but rich with a chronology of the life of Cage, who met more people than most of us have as friends on Facebook. Chestnuts like the anechoic chamber incident and 4'33" get perhaps surprisingly brief coverage, as the book, despite being nearly 500 pages long, moves at a fast pace.

John Cage is notorious for composing 4'33'', a silent piece, but his long career involved many compositional innovations and phases as well as a long-standing interest in other arts – dance, visual arts, writing. Silverman’s traditional biography (there are various others focusing on his philosophy or 4'33'') is a good read, nicely captures the many sides of Cage and creates an involving portrait of the New York School of artists that included Cage, his longtime partner Merce Cunningham, artists Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, and composers Earle Brown, Morton Feldman and Christian Wolff.

Cage led a peripatetic early life – moving frequently with his family, dropping out of college and running off to Europe, constantly looking for work. His interest in music developed early on but he was also interested in other subjects – literature, architecture, visual arts. Arnold Schoenberg was one of his first teachers. Cage had had several homosexual relationships but married Xenia Kashevaroff and she often participated in his concerts. They spent the Depression teaching, but Cage used his experiences in composing some of his earliest avant-garde music – percussion-heavy pieces. Silverman gives detailed descriptions of his concerts – what weird instruments were used, who played what, comments from the press – and certainly makes his performance sound like fun. Cage made a number of famous and influential friends – Lou Harrison, Mark Tobey, Morris Graves. Sometimes the celebrity-chasing aspect of it comes through but Silverman also shows that Cage befriended many before they found fame. He started composing for the prepared piano, another Cage specialty. The strings would be altered by attaching variable objects which would give it an odd, changing sound.

Cage and Xenia moved to Chicago and New York, where Cage would be based for much of the rest of his life. They had some connections and patrons – mainly Peggy Guggenheim. Cage composed music for dancers and started a friendship with Merce Cunningham. It eventually turned into an affair and he left Xenia for Cunningham. Their relationship would have its ups and downs but it lasted until Cage’s death in 1992. The pair had many productive collaborations – Cage composing pieces for Cunningham’s dances. Cage became interested in Eastern music and philosophy – his friend Gita Sarabhai taught him about Indian music, he threw himself into Zen Buddhism after hearing Daisetz Suzuki lecture and started using the I Ching random methods to compose his pieces. His chance methods would soon define his music as well as various aspects of his life (Cunningham used them when choreographing, Cage used the I Ching when making etchings and watercolors). Cage and Cunningham had to constantly try to get engagements and employment and toured the U.S. and eventually Europe. They taught at Black Mountain College and Cage would have various professorships over his lifetime.

The New York School started with the friendships of Cage, Cunningham and other artists. Christian Wolff was Cage’s protégée, Mort Feldman was a friend and Earle Brown, another composer, befriended the group while his wife Carolyn was one of the dancers in Cunningham’s company. Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, friends and lovers, also joined the group and Rauschenberg would do the designs for Cunningham’s performances. However, there were also many conflicts among the group which Silverman nicely charts. Cage had many long-lasting friendships with other composers – Harrison, Virgil Thomson, Pierre Boulez – but also many fights and falling outs. He developed a calm Zen indifference towards the critics and jeering audiences but could become emotional and angry towards his friends. Many of the fights were over artistic matters or what he took as public criticism from his friends.

On tours in Europe, Cage promoted his friends’ works and had his own performed by David Tudor, a gifted pianist and longtime collaborator. Sometimes Cage would also perform – reading random pieces of his lectures at while Tudor played the piano. He developed an interest in electronic music, tape splicing, the sounds of random radios and everyday noise and finally the silent piece. He moved to the Stony Point commune and developed a passion for mushrooms which would be another lifelong interest. Cage frequently went mushroom hunting, participated in the mycological society, answered difficult mushroom-related questions on an Italian game show (as well as playing his music) and collected many rare books, which he later donated to a university. Another innovation was indeterminacy – players could decide what notes or how long to play or the order would be chosen at random which meant that each playing of the piece would be different. However, Cage was not one for improvisation – he disliked jazz – and he wanted his pieces to be practiced. A piece performed by the New York Philharmonic angered Cage when the players were allowed to improvised and just played music that they knew.

Cage was always seeking new ideas. In the 60’s, he became an advocate of progressive politics and tried to incorporate those ideas into his work. Silverman gives a nice summary of his influences and beliefs. The author also seems to have a special interest in Cage’s writing – he spends some time describing Cage’s published works, collections and musical manuscripts and his relationship with his publisher. Interesting stuff. As he became famous and well-regarded, Cage had less concerns about making money to survive but was frequently fundraising for his concerts, Cunningham’s tours or other causes. Silverman discusses the varied origins of the “Happenings” that occurred around New York at the time and describes some of Cage’s events – many sounded like a lot of fun. (Although the concerts where Cage stood on stage and made various syllable sounds might have been too much.) One such concert was the HPSCHD, a piece for seven harpsichords, tape players, a slide show and various other things that Cage composed using an early computer. Another was the crazy Europeras, Cage’s computer-randomized mashup of multiple operas, performed with ever-changing costume, settings, lighting and actions.

Other passions would include Thoreau, James Joyce, rocks, chess, etching and watercolors and mesostics. His mesostics were like acrostics but with a capitalized letter in the middle of the phrase. Cage wrote and published many, sent them to friends, and used them for his music. He had never much cared for harmony but reevaluated later in life. With everyone jumping on the electronic music bandwagon, Cage started composing piano pieces again – extremely difficult ones. Cage had many health problems. He found that a strict macrobiotic diet helped clear some of them and soon developed a love of cooking macrobiotic food, taking it with him when he travelled. He and Cunningham moved to New York. Cage, as the old man of American avant-garde music, had many opportunities and invitations. However, some of his friends and former friends died and he had remaining health issues. There was some strain in his relationship as Cunningham frequently travelled with his company and, while Cage used to go with them, he now had his own commitments at home. Cage continued composing, performing and organizing in 1992. There were many celebrations planned for his 80th birthday but he died on August 11th.

Last year, I read another biography of Cage, The Roaring Silence by David Revill. The Silverman is clearly the better book. Revill was extremely thin on the personal information – he gives no indication of what Cage’s relationships with Xenia or Cunningham were like, for example. Silverman does a better job giving the artistic context, describing the New York School and Cage’s involvement with other movements, for example. He also has much better descriptions of performances, Cage’s music in general, and the people in Cage’s life. Revill, for some reason, spends considerably more time describing Cage’s early life. His main focus is Cage’s philosophy, which is fine, but he does it in a rather off-putting way – getting too into the jargon and providing some arrogant-sounding arguments. ( )