Cheap John Cage: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 10 (Music) (John Cage, Steffen Schleiermacher) Price
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| ARTIST: | John Cage, Steffen Schleiermacher |
| CATEGORY: | Music |
| MANUFACTURER: | MD&G Records |
| TYPE: | Chamber Music & Recitals, Classical |
| MEDIA: | Audio CD |
| TRACKS: | Opening Dance, Furniture Music Etcetera, I., II., III., IV., V., I., II., Four3 |
| UPC: | 760623079820 |
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Customer Reviews of John Cage: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 10
Unusual Cage, but interesting Steffen Schleiermacher's series of John Cage's piano works was originally scheduled to reach an end after volume nine. However, while Schleiermacher was recording this series, he received word of other, previously undiscovered Cage pieces, and decided to record them. This disc contains them, plus some miscellaneous fill-up pieces, thus entirely justifying its subtitle, 'Etcetera'.
The disc starts off with a brief Opening Dance, an early-1940s dance piece. This is in a similar style to his Sonatas and Interludes, though it is for piano rather than prepared piano. Following this is a second previously unknown work, Furniture Music Etcetera, from 1980. This work is barely more than a sketch for realisation by the performer: it consists of instructions on when to play fragments of Satie and when to play fragments of Cage. Schleiermacher's reconstruction, thus, is necessarily speculative, but it entertains for its 20 minute duration.
Schleiermacher continues with the Suite for Toy Piano, from 1948. He had previously recorded the version for piano, but for this disc he bought a toy piano and recorded on it. This is a minor work, almost inevitably, but one recorded several times: I found Margaret Leng Tan's ECM recording marginally preferable.
Tan has also recorded the music for 'Works of Calder', a film about the mobiles of Alexander Calder. Her rendition scores over Schleiermacher in that she also includes the percussion music and narration from Burgess Meredith that appeared in the film itself. (Cage had intended to create the entire soundtrack with percussion and electronics, but ran out of time and had to supply 15 minutes of prepared piano music instead.) The music isn't Cage at its best, and I found little to separate Tan and Schleiermacher's readings in terms of desirability.
Lastly, Four^3, a work for the rather extraordinary combination of piano, offstage piano, violin (or oscillator) and twelve rainsticks. This is one of Cage's late number pieces, and thus the part for each performer indicates single notes or brief phrases, and a range of times between which the performer may start and stop playing them (in the case of the violinist, (s)he plays only one single tone for the whole piece). This is a more effective work than might be expected, the rainsticks providing an aural backdrop against which brief fragmentary melodies appear in the two pianos, with the high pianissimo violin tone flickering in and out of the texture.
This is a rather arbitrary selection of works, but Cage admirers will want to hear Four^3 (there is a rival recording on Mode, though I have not heard it) and Furniture Music Etcetera.
great for all types of music lovers
For $18, this should not be missed, even if you only have the most passing interest in classical music
Excellent
Get the otheres in the series as they all represent excellent value