Empty Words, Part III: Live Teatro Lyrico Di Milano, 2 Dec. 1977

(2-CD set) This is something of an epic in reverse: A diminutive vocal exercise divided into four distinct parts that gradually breaks down the writings on sound from Henry David Thoreau's Journal into pure vocalize. Disarticulated, distended and utterly transformed, Cage's recitation utterly abandons all connection to linguistic meaning and becomes pure aesthetic glossolalia. The nearly 3 hour performance documents Cage reading from the third part of Empty Words at Teatro Lirico in Milano during 1977 before an increasingly restless crowd of Italian students as it erupts into one of the great, if unnoticed, art riots of the last century. (Previously deleted: 12/1/04. Original release date: 6/7/02)