John Cage episode centers on a concert performed in England on Cage's 70th birthday. Featured are partial performances (sometimes overlapping) of a number of pieces, including "Roaratorio" (with Cage as narrator), "Forever and Sunsmell," "Double Music," and others. Highlights include a performance by Marcel Duchamp and interview commentary by Cage and others.
Four American Composers : This is a 4-part documentary that follows four different contemporary composers performing/creating/building their shows. Peter Greenaway leads us, with a great sense of balance between the performances and the interviews, through the creative process of 4 very different composers in style (sound and noise, repetition and discipline, vocal experimentation, poetry and musical freedom) who are all framed under the same musical genre - contemporary music. A Great way to get introduced to this music and to understand how much of it is intellectual or playful.