Cage: A Flower for voice and piano

A fresh approach to one of contemporary composition’s most iconoclastic and inventive figures, ‘As It Is’ is issued to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of John Cage. Early Cage is the subject here, strikingly original songs and piano pieces from the 1930s and 1940s. Songs in which Cage set words by writers whose vision was as independent as his own – James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, and e e cummings. They are performed by the Russian pianist Alexei Lubimov – who championed Cage’s work in Russia and later had a close working relationship with him – and his compatriot, vocalist Natalia Pschenitschnikova.

As Paul Griffiths writes, “The music exists in singing that has a raw, living edge, and it exists in piano tone that can be utterly simple and utterly remarkable. There is also a third presence, that of the producer, bringing forward the extraordinary resonances that come from Lubimov’s piano, with preparation or without.” With Manfred Eicher producing, the recording was made in December 2011 in Zürich. Lubimov grasps both the playfulness of the music and its message of freedom.

Lubimov previously included Cage’s In a Landscape on his 2002 debut recording for ECM New Series, Der Bote (461 8122), a disc of piano elegies. Among his other acclaimed recordings for the label are works by Scriabin, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Arvo Pärt, and Valentin Silvestrov. Earlier this summer his double album of Debussy’s Preludes and other pieces (476 4735) attracted huge praise and was BBC Music Magazine’s ‘Recording of the Month’ in July. Natalia Pschenitschnikova has appeared on two previous ECM discs of Giya Kancheli as a flautist.

Cathy Berberian was born in the United States of Armenian parents. While proficient in the traditional concert repertoire, Miss Berberian was renowned for her contribution to contemporary music. Her enormous flexibility and range together with a strong sense of theater and innate musicality have been acclaimed by press and public alike, and have inspired the creation of compositions by major contemporary composers such as Berio, Bussotti, Cage, Milhaud, Maderna, Pousseur, etc. One of the highlights of her career was her musical relationship with Stravinsky who made the final version of the “Elegy for JFK” for her voice and with whom she gave concerts and made Columbia recordings of Stravinsky’s vocal music.

Continuing their critically acclaimed series of John Cage’s works, MDG presents this next volume of his works for piano and other instruments. Mike Svoboda (tenor trombone) joins award winning advocate of this music, Steffen Schleiermacher, along with singer Anna Clementi, who join forces once again for this recording.

John Cage may still be known as avant-garde, a musical rebel, who greatly influenced music all over the world. But not all his music was written for prepared piano or consisted of electronic sounds. He also wrote several pieces for the ‘traditional’ combination of violin and piano. One CD of this album is devoted to this complete part of Cage’s output. He developed a keen interest in percussion, hence his prepared piano compositions. This lead to a number of unusual works, including one for voice and percussion. Such as the four dances for piano, voice and percussion. All of Cage’s songs are present here as well, with Three songs and Five songs on texts by E.E. Cummings and James Joyce. Cage was stimulated in his work by other disciplines of art.

Remarkable in this respect was his collaboration with choreographer Merce Cunningham. The composer travelled extensively with the Cunningham Dance Company. This lead to a couple of pieces of ballet music for a single piano (with one item for voice). Both Four walls and The Seasons are recorded here.