John Cage - The Seasons / Leng Tan, Russell Davies, et al
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CD Details
Composer: CagePerformer: American Composers Orch
Conductor: Davies
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2000-06-13
Music Label: Ecm Records
Soundtracks:
- Seventy-Four For Orchestra - Version I
- The Seasons: Prelude I, Winter
- The Seasons: Prelude II, Spring
- The Seasons: Prelude III, Summer
- The Seasons: Prelude IV, Fall
- Concerto For Prepared Piano And Orchestra: First Part
- Concerto For Prepared Piano And Orchestra: Second Part
- Concerto For Prepared Piano And Orchestra: Third Part
- Seventy-Four For Orchestra - Version II
- Suite For Toy Piano: I
- Suite For Toy Piano: II
- Suite For Toy Piano: III
- Suite For Toy Piano: IV
- Suite For Toy Piano: V
- Suite For Toy Piano (Orchestration: Lou Harrison): I
- Suite For Toy Piano (Orchestration: Lou Harrison): II
- Suite For Toy Piano (Orchestration: Lou Harrison): III
- Suite For Toy Piano (Orchestration: Lou Harrison): IV
- Suite For Toy Piano (Orchestration: Lou Harrison): V
Music reviews of John Cage - The Seasons / Leng Tan, Russell Davies, et al
Music Review: Probably the best introduction to the composer
Rating: 5 Stars
I have always been among those who have viewed John Cage as, perhaps, a great artist, but not really a composer. And then releases like this come along to seriously threaten to undermine that assessment (which makes me at least notionally able to understand why some people do not like this disc as well). For there is no doubt that the works here are "real" music - very good, real music, in fact.
The title-piece, The Seasons, is a relatively early work which reveals the influences of Stravinsky. It is still recognizably Cage, however, but Cage at his most lyrical and poetic. It is a harmonically rather static work which emphasizes the cyclical nature of the seasons at the expense of a forward-driven narrative, but where nuanced colors create wonderfully subtly shifting atmospheres. The Concerto for prepared piano stems from the same period and displays many of the same qualities - relatively static but subtly shifting harmonies creating a delicate fabric of tone colors, but also looking forward to the later Cage more than The Seasons. Both are works which fortunately can be appreciated in complete independence of Cage's obsession with the Eastern philosophy and mysticism that inspired them.
Seventy-Four comes in two version, the last from just short time before the composers death. This is a seamless tapestry of sounds slowly moving in two overlapping parts, this time clearly inspired by Buddhism and more avant-gardish sounding than the previously mentioned pieces. The Suite for Toy piano stems from the time of The Seasons again and is a remarkable piece, exploiting the limited resources and timbres of the Toy Piano more fully than one should have thought possible - with almost memorable tunes - though in this work I am less convinced that the performance by Margaret Leng Tan is as ideal as in the other works; it sounds a tad rhythmically vague and insecure. And of course, Lou Harrison had to come along and orchestrate it, which seems to violate the whole idea behind it but works surprisingly well and is, against all odds, really able to capture the impact of the original (at an abstract level, at least).
Performances, with the possible exception of the Suite for toy piano, are uniformly excellent (I think) and truly manage to realizes the subtleties and fragility of these soundscapes. Recommended to anyone curious about Cage, particularly those who up until now have found his music rather unapproachable.
Description of John Cage - The Seasons / Leng Tan, Russell Davies, et al
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