If you have a fast connection, you can download a performance of John Cage’s 4′ 33″, in full orchestral version, all three movements. But be warned, it’s a 38.5 MB file.

Best bits: the close-up of a first violinist trying not to smile during the first movement; conductor Lawrence Foster wiping his brow at the end of the first movement and grinning impishly; the close-ups of the small alarm clock placed prominently on the conductor’s desk.

The post-performance commentary by the BBC Four announcers begins with, “Well that’s one of the most extraordinary performances I have ever experienced here in Barbican Hall,” and gets funnier from there. I especially like the comment, “You could cut the tension with a knife,” and the comments about the people who always cough during performances managing somehow to keep from coughing during this performance.

Ah yes, this BBC performance brings back a happy memory. A few years back, when I was the Director of Religious Education at First Parish in Lexington, Lee Ridgway, then music director of that congregation, played 4′ 33″ as the prelude to a regular Sunday worship service. It was remarkable. Lee walked out, took his seat at the organ, opened the music, and sat there. Suddenly you could hear all those half-heard sounds that are always partially drowned out by the prelude: people chatting with their neighbors, people walking in and sitting in the creaking pews, doors swinging shut, paper shuffling as people leafed through the order of service. Then Lee closed the music, and Ellen Spero began the opening words; a few startled heads turned towards her suddenly, as those people wondered if they had missed the prelude altogether. A bravura performance by Lee.

(In case you’ve never heard 4′ 33″ before, in the piano version, the performer comes out, sits at the instrument, and… sits at the instrument for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. For Cage, the music in the piece arises from the sounds that are always present but that we usually ignore. And yes, it’s also a very funny piece of music.)