Prom 47 (17.8.12): Cage Centenary Celebration

[Orphical]

Volkov and the BBCSSO did a similar programme in Glasgow a few weeks ago. Robert Worby introduced and it will be on Hear and Now some time in the future.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Volkov and the BBCSSO did a similar programme in Glasgow a few weeks ago. Robert Worby introduced and it will be on Hear and Now some time in the future.

[geofflikesmusic]

I was at the concert and enjoyed it, particularly the vocal pieces. I enjoyed the spacial sound of Four2, for me definitely I highlight.

It was nice to finally hear John Tilbury play some Cage in person too, having been a fan of his Decca recording.

[Bryn]

My "reference-recording" (as it is the first one I encountered [in 1977], and a much cherished one on top of that) is the one by Ensemble Musica Negativa, Hermann Danuser as soloist, Rainer Riehn conducting, produced in 1972, and part of a 4LP set Music before Revolution (EMI 165-28954/7), consisting of works by Cage, Earle Brown, Christian Wolff, Feldman and Ichiyanagi.

Are you sure it was the Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber Orchestra in that set. I know it had the later Concert for Piano and Orchestra, and that recording has had a CD issue:

[heliocentric]

Are you sure it was the Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber Orchestra in that set. I know it had the later Concert for Piano and Orchestra

I've just finally bothered to pull the set out of its housemoving box and yes, you're right Bryn. (The Music before Revolution set has also been uploaded at Wolf Fifth so that's how I'm going to listen to it, having currently no vinyl-playing device.)

[Bryn]

I've just finally bothered to pull the set out of its housemoving box and yes, you're right Bryn. (The Music before Revolution set has also been uploaded at Wolf Fifth so that's how I'm going to listen to it, having currently no vinyl-playing device.)

Good old Wolf Fifth, eh?

[heliocentric]

I love the cover of that Cage CD by the way. The unsuspecting buyer might imagine that they're about to hear something in the manner of Grofé.

(edit) PS: the item in the Music before Revolution set is indeed the Concert for Piano and Orchestra (with Solos for Voice 1 & 2, which frequently dominate the texture), in a considerably drier and more aggressive-sounding performance than the somewhat restrained one given in Huddersfield in 2008, which was the most recent version I've heard. I had almost no memory of it from the LP box set, though I guess I might not have listened to it for at least twenty years, but I'm looking forward to reacquainting myself with the rest of its contents now.

(another edit) ... which is well worth doing. The Feldman pieces, for example, come from a period in his work (the 1960s) that isn't given much attention these days. The recurrent broken piano chords in Between Categories (1969) seem very reminiscent of those in Piano and String Quartet (1985).

[bluestateprommer]

Having never been to a BBC SO Total Immersion Day (but having seen schedules on line and in brochures), I started to wonder if this marathon John Cage Prom was basically the equivalent of a Total Immersion Day at the RAH, albeit a shorter version than what's at the Barbican. This is because while this Prom was tremendously interesting and imaginative, to me, there was just too much of it for one evening, even trying to take it relatively piecemeal as I did, listening to it on iPlayer later. By even just the close of the first half, my brain was exhausted. I thought that this single Prom could easily have been 2 separate Proms, each with its own interval. Still, I'm glad to have heard it, as I am not that familiar with John Cage at all, and all praise to IV for curating it and RW and the Proms management for giving it the green light.

[Bryn]

Having never been to a BBC SO Total Immersion Day (but having seen schedules on line and in brochures), I started to wonder if this marathon John Cage Prom was basically the equivalent of a Total Immersion Day at the RAH, albeit a shorter version than what's at the Barbican. This is because while this Prom was tremendously interesting and imaginative, to me, there was just too much of it for one evening, even trying to take it relatively piecemeal as I did, listening to it on iPlayer later. By even just the close of the first half, my brain was exhausted. I thought that this single Prom could easily have been 2 separate Proms, each with its own interval. Still, I'm glad to have heard it, as I am not that familiar with John Cage at all, and all praise to IV for curating it and RW and the Proms management for giving it the green light.

In terms of performance minutes, as against total concert duration, I don't think the Cage Prom was not that much different from your average Prom. A fair bit of time was spent on setting up for each next performance. O.k., I had the front rail to offer some support but I found no particular challenge to either physical or intellectual endurance. There again, I found the three days of the 1982 Cage at 70 fest in Islington flashed by all too quickly, (I only managed to attend one day of the Cage Uncaged Weekend staged by Radio 3 at and around the Barbican in 2004).

[Bryn]

Somewhat OT but this seems like a likely thread to be visited by those who might be interested:

http://www.cafeoto.co.uk/john-tilbury-oren-ambarchi.shtm

[IRF]

O.k., I had the front rail to offer some support

I wish I had had a rail to lean on! My knees aren't up to extended standing these days. I sat down for most of the second half -- and most of the people around me were doing the same.