Cage: Concert for Piano & Orchestra

John Cage (1912-1992) was one of the most controversial composers of the 20th century. He is best known for his 1952 work 4'33" which involves not a single note of music being played.

This selection of Cage's music provides a rare opportunity to get to know a range of works that were written between the years 1939-65, which were some of the composer's most productive years.

Credo in Us is a ballet score written for Cage's long-time partner and collaborator the choreographer and dancer, Merce Cunningham.

Imaginary Landscape is scored for four performers who play a muted piano and cymbal as well as two variable-speed phonographs with amplifiers, Imaginary Landscape No.1 is important for being one of the first examples of electro-acoustic music.

Cage's Concert for Piano and Orchestra has no overall score, but all the parts are written out in detail. A performance of the Concert may include all of the instruments, but may also be performed as a solo, duet, trio or any combination of the given instruments, resulting in a change of title (e.g. solo for piano or Concert for piano, voice and 2 violins, in case it is combined with a Solo for Voice.) In this recording two solo voices are used.

The Suite for Toy Piano is one of Cage's works for prepared piano and the Music for Carillon bring this collection to a fascinating conclusion.

Stefano Scodanibbio has transcribed the Freeman Etudes and Dream for doublebass and in this recording also serves as the conductor of Concert for Piano and Orchestra and Radio Music. "Scodanibbio. I thought he played beautifully. He played 'Ryoanji' absolutely better, than anyone I ever heard. I haven't heard better double bass playing than Scodanibbio's. His performance was absolutely magic". John Cage

"Concert for Piano and Orchestra" and "Atlas Eclipticalis" by John Cage are among the most important and influential pieces of the 20th century music. They represent a culmination of Cage's revolutionary concept of time, sound and form, which so influenced the music in Europe and America in the 50s and 60s. Both orchestral pieces are not based on the traditional score.

The S.E.M. Ensemble, with pianist Joseph Kubera and conductor Petr Kotik, had worked closely with Cage for more than two decades. Both pieces are recorded in full versions, including all 86 parts orchestra in "Atlas Eclipticalis". The recording was supervised by the composer.

Eric Salzman wrote in an article to these works: "This music is a walk down an unknown city street or perhaps a forest or a meadow where birds may sing and trees may fall and mushrooms grow."

This year, on 5 September, the music world is going to celebrate the 100th birthday of the American composer John Cage. WERGO very early turned to the oeuvre of the avant-garde musician and to the release of his most important works on LP or CD – including "Etudes Australes", "Roaratorio" or "Sonatas and Interludes", his "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra" or his "Diary: How to improve the World (You will only make Matters worse)".