I did cancel one performance in Holland where they thought my music was so easy
that they didn't rehearse at all. And so the first time when I found that out,
I rehearsed the orchestra myself in front of the audience of 3,000 people and
the next day I rehearsed through the second movement -- this was the piece
_Cheap Imitation_ -- and they then were ashamed. The Dutch people were ashamed
and they invited me to come to the Holland festival and they promised to
rehearse. And when I got to Amsterdam they had changed the orchestra, and
again, they hadn't rehearsed. So they were no more prepared the second time
than they had been the first. I gave them a lecture and told them to cancel
the performance; they then said over the radio that i had insisted on their
cancelling the performance because they were "insufficiently Zen."
Can you believe it?
-- composer John Cage, "Electronic Musician" magazine, March 88, pg. 89
