John Cage
John Cage (1912 to 1992) was an American composer, writer, philosopher and printmaker, and the figure who did most to widen the idea of what music can be. Educated in California and on a study tour of Europe, he studied with Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg, gave up painting for music in 1934 and in 1940 devised the prepared piano, inserting bolts and rubber between the strings so that one instrument became a percussion orchestra. From Music of Changes (1951) he composed with chance operations drawn from the I Ching, so that his own taste would no longer decide the notes, and with 4'33" (1952) he framed silence and the sounds around it as a piece.
John Cage (1912 to 1992) was an American composer, writer, philosopher and printmaker, and the figure who did most to widen the idea of what music can be. Educated in California and on a study tour of Europe, he studied with Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg, gave up painting for music in 1934 and in 1940 devised the prepared piano, inserting bolts and rubber between the strings so that one instrument became a percussion orchestra. From Music of Changes (1951) he composed with chance operations drawn from the I Ching, so that his own taste would no longer decide the notes, and with 4'33" (1952) he framed silence and the sounds around it as a piece.
Gelbe Musik (1991)
A rare signed and numbered screenprint created for the tenth anniversary of Ursula Block's legendary gelbe MUSIK record store in Berlin. Edition of 60, signed and numbered, 54 x 100 cm. Founded by Block in 1981, gelbe MUSIK was one of the world's most important places for New Music enthusiasts, a gathering point for collectors, artists, and radical sound practitioners. Cage (*1912 Los Angeles – †1992 New York City), student of Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg, was among the most influential co…
Number Pieces (Piano)
2018 release **
"Two versions of Cage's 'One' and one of his 'One5' performed by pianist Guy Vandromme. 'One' was written in 1987, a ten-minute long piece for solo piano. Per the Cage Works page, the commentary is: "This work comprises 10 systems of piano chords, varying in dynamics, selected by chance. Each system is roughly 1 minute long, and all but one is flexible. Each system contains 2 sets of chords. The order of each set is maintained, but the relationship between the two sets of chords …
Il Gesto Del Suono
2009 release ** Featuring: Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, Steve Jansen, Demetrio Stratos, Emanuele Casale, Robert Ashley, Stefano Scodanibbio, Edoardo Sanguineti, Nine Horses, Walter Prati, Robert Wyatt, Fred Frith, Massimiliano Viel, Picchio Dal Pozzo.
On Tour
2011 release ** "Stemming from the homonymous biennial festival in the Czech Republic, Ostravská Banda – with its twenty musicians – thrives under the direction of Peter Kotik, a veteran of unconventional orchestration and artistic director of the S.E.M. Ensemble in New York City. Standing out among the large group is Joseph Kubera – a name already referenced in a contemporary context – a talented pianist with a resume rich with collaborations with masters such as Alvin Lucier, Robert Ashley, Mo…
Utopia Americana
1992 release ** "A wonderful view of what is "American" in contemporary American music from an Italian producer's perspective, with a nice cover photo of Joey's Navajo Cafe and Dining Room framed by several pickup trucks parked outside. Including rhythmic-based music and sound-text rhythms from ordinary speech (Allen Ginsberg's works), some dreamy electronic music by Pauline Oliveros, and solo jazz by Steve Lacy, this is an interesting collection of new recordings and reissues of tracks from out…
Annum Per Annum
1995 release ** Contemporary music for organ by Arvo Pärt, John Cage and Giacinto Scelsi.
The Perilous Night / Four Walls
1991 release ** How well early, full notated, Cage is standing the test of time, especially the works for prepared piano and for percussion. The Perilous Night is a 12-minute prepared piano piece completed two years before Cage started his classic Sonatas and Interludes. The Perilous Night, which uses fairly elaborate preparations, is nothing like so well known, although included on Jeanne Kirstein's important 1970 CBS double LP. The connection between Cage and Jasper Johns was re-emphasized whe…
Singing Through
1990 release ** "Beautifully performed pieces from 1942 to 1985 by vocalist Joan LaBarbara with piano and percussion. Contains: A Flower (1950), Mirakus (1984), Eight Whiskus (1984), The Wonderful Widow of 18 Springs (1942) for voice and closed piano, Nowth upon Nacht (1984), Sonnekus (1985), Forever and Sunsmell (1942), Solos for Voice (from the Songbooks) #'s 49, 52, 67 (1970), Music for Two (by One) (1984)."
Violin Works
Modern music－especially American music, with its tendency to invite various traditions to share the same compositional space－can be a generous art, an art which welcomes inclusivity. Here are works by John Cage (b 1912), Yehudi Wyner (b 1929), John Harbison (b 1938), and Stephen Hartke (b 1952)－four American composers from different generations with different sensibilities, representing very different approaches to writing for the violin. Yet however much these works represent various facets of …
Chamber Works 1943-1951
Apartment House presents seven works from John Cage's early period, before he began his systematic exploration of chance procedures. This repertoire captures a transitional moment when Cage had moved beyond traditional methods but before he devised new formal systems—a period when, as pianist Kerry Yong notes, he was "forced to be guided by their instincts and intuition" producing "extraordinary music."
The program balances what Yong calls "simply gorgeous / gorgeously simple pieces like 'Dream'…
Diary: How To Improve The World (You Will Only Make Matters Worse)
2025 stock The acoustic publication of this "Diary" by and with John Cage represents an impressive document, spoken by an extraordinary voice, produced by one of the great artists of the 20th century. The new design of the 8-CD set includes a 64-page booklet in a presentation box (digi-box, carton). The booklet contains several photographs taken in John Cage's loft and during the recording in 1991.
“I began the Diary optimistically in 1965 to celebrate the work of R. Buckminster Fuller, his con…
Études Pour Piano (- Premier Livre -) / Vingt Regards Sur L'Enfant-Jésus (Sélection)
2025 stock The significance of the seven pieces brought together here is that they both generate a striking panorama of the intelligence of the material presented, over a period of four years, from 1939 to 1943, by the composer whom the critic Fred Goldbeck described as “the greatest Giraudouxian of our age”, and clarify in an extraordinarily oblique manner the prehistory of this “automation” of the creative act, towards which one can detect the perpetual temptation in the young Cage.
Etudes Boreales / Harmonies / 10'40.3"
2025 stock Enormous technical requirements make John Cage's "Etudes Boreales" a highly virtuosic work, which requires an extreme sensitivity of feeling for the coordination of fingers, instrument, and intellect. On this CD it is presented in versions: for piano solo and later for cello solo with piano solo. As in the sister works, "Etudes Australes" and "Freeman Etudes", Cage based the "Etudes Boreales" on a star chart. He used the chart of the northern sky that the Czech astronomer Antonín Bečv…
Music 4 Flutes
1993 release ** "Sur cette gravure, Irmela Nolte propose un beau jeu allié à une technique nécessaire quant à ce répertoire, agile, au service des œuvres regroupées ici et dont l’on n’entend pas outre mesure son souffle ni sa respiration. Un panorama intéressant, avec 2 des 4 pièces en solo (1,3) et l’autre moitié où la flûte sera aidée d’un autre dispositif (synthétiseur en 2, bande et enregistrements préalables en 4) qui diversifie les procédés et rompt une monotonie possible dans ce genre de …
Tàmmitam Percussion Ensemble
1990 release (RARE) **
Ionisation (1933) Edgar Varèse 5:58Trio (1936) John Cage 3:56Canticle (1939) Lou Harrison 4:13Polifonica Monodia Ritmica (1951) Luigi Nono 8:50Gloria E Morte (Words By Marco Luzzi) Guido Facchin 1978 11:21Concerto Da Camera(1986) Roberto Beccaci 9:43Pavone, Mulo, Volpe (1987) Saverio Tasca 5:00Il Respiro Della Notte (Liric By Elena Budini) Luigi Celeghin (1989) 3:55Omaggio A Giocando Duchamp Vinci Leonardo Alfredo Tisocco (1975)
The Best Of Nexus
1989 release **
This compact disc contains excerpts from the following releases, recorded between 1976 and 1986.
1. NEXUS RAGTYME CONCERT (UMB DD2)
2. MUSIC OF NEXUS (NE01)
3. NEXUS AND EARLE BIRNEY – 3 record set – (NE 02, 03 & 04)
4. CHANGES (NE05)
5. NEXUS PLAYS THE NOVELTY MUSIC OF GEORGE HAMILTON GREEN (NE 10273)
Actions – Remarks: John Cage’s Variations
Book edited by Cat Hope and Lindsay Vickery on John Cage's eight Variations (1958-76), with a CD of the complete Variations performed by the Australian ensemble Decibel using annotated digital scores, acoustic instruments and electronics.
Mozart Mix
Four-sided flyer for the sound installation of John Cage's Mozart Mix at the legendary gelbe Musik Gallery in Berlin in 1993.
Il Suono Rapido delle Cose
Very nice small photographic poster for the exhibition dedicated to John Cage during the Venice Biennale of 1993.
Europeras 3 and 4
Small two-sided flyer for a performance of John Cage's Europeras 3 and 4 at Hebbel Theater in Berlin in 1990.