Time is Music: Elliott Carter and John Cage

A dual portrait by Scheffer of Elliot Carter and John Cage, two aged avant garde composers who have indisputably influenced the development of modern music. Both are inhabitants of Manhattan and they have a remarkably large number of sources of inspiration in common (namely Schönberg, who introduced the twelve-tone system, Charles Ives and Picasso). However, Carter and Cage use completely different conceptions where the relation between music and time is concerned. Taking a stroll through Manhattan, Carter tells about his musical activities and the idea behind the music. Scheffer combines these words with fragments from Carter's compositions and frequently illustrates these with visualisations of them. Thus, we enter into the musical world of an enthusiastic composer's mind who claims that music is the only medium to grasp the phenomenon of time. We meet John Cage in different working situations. With a naughty glance he expounds his views about the phenomenon of coincidence, the I-Ching philosophy, and the essence of music as they are expressed in his work. The fact that he considers all sounds as music also shapes his musical products. By means of the selected musical fragments Scheffer succeeds in giving form to Cage's often rather cryptic contemplations. In Time is Music the media of music and film go hand in hand in a flowing portrait about two special people. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)