A 4-disc box-set with a 44-page booklet of extensive notes, presenting John Cage's Number Pieces which he wrote in the last five years of his life, adapted for mid-size ensembles and performed by the London-based ensemble Apartment House, compositions 'Five' to 'Fourteen' along with alternative versions of three of the pieces; significant and essential.
Pianist Marco Dalpane and soprano Sabina Meyer create a virtual cabaret of songs using the music of Erik Satie and John Cage, interlacing pieces by each in a delicate set of songs that draw the two composers together through a surprising commonality, the lyrics provided from texts written by J. Peladan, C. Mendes, H. Pacory, J.P. Contamine de Latour, &c.; lovely.
John Cage wrote his "Number Pieces" in the last years of his life, using his time bracket technique of short fragments allowing the performer flexibility in interpretation; each piece is titled for the number of performers and its ordinal position in the series, and most pieces are dedicated to a musician; here pianist Guy Vandromme performs three of the "One", or solo, series.
An impressive triple-CD box with recordings of some late works by John Cage, including "Seventy-Four for Orchestra, 1992", "103 for Orchestra, 1991, part 1 & 2", In a Landscape fur Harfe", "Postcard From Heaven fur Eine Bis Zwanzig Harfen", and some of "The Harmony of Maine"; including a 32 page booklet with photos and liner notes by Jakob Ullmann.
A 2003 recording from The Ensemble Daswirdas performing John Cage's 1960 composition "Cartridge Music", described as: "For amplified small sounds; also amplified piano or cymbal; any number of players and loudspeakers; parts to be prepared from score by performers."
The Ensemble Daswirdas performs John Cage's "Branches" composition, which is based on a previous work, "Child of Tree", but here each performer plays an 8 minute variation of that work, which is performed on amplified pods, cacti, and other plant materials.
Edwin Alexander Buchholz performs this beautiful work by John Cage on accordion, originally written for the Japanese sho, where sounds are single tones and chords, up to six part harmonies, or as Cage wrote, "sounds brushed into existence as in oriental calligraphy".
Harpist Gabriele Emde began performing contemporary music by exceptional 20th century artists in the early 80s; in this collection recorded from 1985 to 1987 she presents one of Cage's "Landscape" pieces, a major work by Hans Otte, and several short pieces by Lou Harrison.
2-CD set with recordings by the legendary 20th century avantgarde pianist performing compositions by (and with) John Cage, plus Sylvano Bussotti, Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff.