In praise of... silence | Editorial

In a season in which we are bombarded with noise, a bit of silence is more than desirable; it is necessaryAs the title warns, John Cage's 4'33" is four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence. Soundlessness. Nothing. And yet it is the piece that Billy Bragg, Suggs (yes, him out of Madness) and Orbital, among others, are covering in a bid to keep the latest produce from the X Factor pop-sausage machine off the top of the Christmas charts. As gestures go, it follows the puckishness of John Ca...

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