With Cage's soundscape concept, it's definitely unorthodox of him back in 1952 to simply strictly compose a piece using the piano without actually playing as expected, or traditional at the time. Even now were he to perform like that, it'd still be unorthodox. Assuming the audience had paid, I among them would have probably left early being unimpressed and disappointed in spending money to see a man make seemingly incoherent noise while he dares to call it music.
It's an interesting idea in earnest, and should have in some manner prepared the audience for something unique. My impression was of a impoverished man looking to make a quick dollar on the unsuspecting fool with their own boredom to lose. I was surprised to have learned that he never actually received any commission for his 4'33 performance. Oddly, the audience applauded his eccentric performance, able to see further into the meaning of the piece and made the insight that everything in life truly was music. One technique I noticed Cage use was anticipation, he held his hand high in the air to signal the next note, but held a long pause. as to hold the audience there for a moment, suspended in that anticipation, it was very clever, but personally over-used, and the tension grew the longer he did so. Another I noticed was his return to the piano cover, the sound of it closing and opening was the only other primary sound, indicating the next movement/phrase of the performance.
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