John Cage and the Glaswegian Circus: an interview around Musica Nova 1990

Extract

We would do the interview in the circle. It was clearing-up time after yet another rehearsal in the Henry Wood Hall, Glasgow, and I was following a slow-moving John Cage of 78 years up the stairs as he embarassingly held doors for me and explained the tight schedule he was bound by. He has now visited the U.K. three times in one year, taking in the Huddersfield, Almeida, and Glasgow's Musica Nova festivals, all in the middle of his usual jet-setting around the world which occupies the greater part of his year. With such tight schedules and a time-consuming specialised diet, it is incredible that he grants interviews at all. His usual answer – based, as ever, in his infamous non-intention – is: ‘because people ask me to!’ Non-intentionality has been his basic aesthetic position since at least the 1950s, and as I found out, he's still finding fresh nuances there. At least when he's got the time to sit down at his desk. Why does he do it?