What John Cage's silent symphony really means

Listen to Frank Zappa, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and others perform John Cage's "silent" piece 4'33".

Why have different musicians recorded a piece of music with no notes? This slideshow tells the story of Cage's infamous, and much performed, work. The first 20 seconds are, appropriately, silent.

To see the enhanced content on this page, you need to have JavaScript enabled and Adobe Flash installed.

Slideshow production by Alan Connor

Related links:

John Cage explains his work

The importance of silence

Wombles composer Mike Batt's silence legal row 'a scam'

Stars stay silent in X Factor protest

More audio slideshows:

Artists and creative block