JOHN CAGE: One Seven; Four Six – Sabine Liebner, piano – Wergo 6797 2, 60:00 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] (11/11/14) ***:
I am highly familiar with the work of the renowned American composer, philosopher, writer and iconoclast John Cage. I have played some of his music. I have several of his scores (which, to me, are always visually fascinating) and reviewed many recordings of his work over the years.
One thing is consistently true and will probably always remain so: his music is for a niche audience. People may respect and admire the wildly creative sense of “just because” that pervades his art. I am somewhat in that camp. Some people enjoy the sound and texture of some of his music. I am there as well. I have not met anyone who finds Cage or his music a source of random, casual enjoyment. And, yet, he is to be respected and remembered for his ideas that have found their way into the work of many other later composers and artists.
So, the two extended piano works heard here are perfect examples. Both One 7 and Four 6 are thought of as two of his “number pieces” from the last years of his life and each of the works in this ‘series’ contains elements of chance music in their construction, a Cage trademark.
One 7 was written in 1990 for “any way of producing sounds” and was dedicated to fellow experimental composer Pauline Oliveros. It is also – in Cage’s own description – an “extraction” from the other work here, Four 6. Oddly (or not) One 7 in its original form was “voice one” in (that is; one part of) Four 6. Adding to the intrigue behind the construct is the fact the two works are scored within time (not with conventional bar lines and so forth). The sections – even the very beginning – of each piece begin at a certain amount of seconds in. In other words, the works “begin” with silence so when one begins this CD is important to know that the first sounds encountered (as Cage notes in the score: “long tone, low register, mezzo forte”) are actually to be performed at thirty-four seconds in, and so forth.
Four 6 begins in similar fashion and the “sound” of the piece is very similar and wholly dependent on the “interpretation” of the performer. The booklet notes point out that in Cage’s number pieces there are actually two sets of sections in one that the performer must select from and interpret, et cetera. (There are the “scores” with lexical titles, i.e. One, Two, Three … and those with numerical titles, e.g.: 1, 2, 3… paired together as separate works) One can see why the two works here are completely a product of the choices made by the performer(s) in question.
In this case, pianist Sabine Liebner is a respected interpreter of Cage’s music and the explanatory essay/booklet notes by Clemens Gresser are far more detailed and dense than is necessary for just a review such as this.
Here are a few simple things to remember about these works and much of that of John Cage: they don’t “have” to be exactly thirty minutes each; these performances just are. These performances will absolutely not sound like those of some other performers using a different way of producing sounds; not even another pianist.
Lastly, I admire the raw creativity and – in this case – fairly zen-like stasis of these works. Others may love it. Others may hate it. Cage would have been fine with all of those possibilities
—Daniel Coombs
