American Classics: John Cage

By virtue of including John Cage in its American Classics series, EMI Classics demonstrates a heightened understanding of the importance of contemporary music unusual for the label, drawing from the EMI Electrola catalog in Germany. In American Classics: John Cage, two rare, LP-era recordings made in 1972-1973 are included; one extracted from a highly regarded, coveted four-LP box set Music Before Revolution by German new music group Ensemble Musica Negativa, and another couple of pieces drawn from an album by the English ensemble Gentle Fire only issued in Germany. Ensemble Musica Negativa, led by Heinz-Klaus Metzger and Rainer Riehn, perform Cage's early works Credo in Us (1942) and Imaginary Landscape No. 1 (1939); in the Credo, pianist Christoph Keller plays the piano part very well, and Johann-Nikolaus Matthes also proves quite handy at realizing Cage's whimsical turntable part; it almost comes off at points like a proto-techno piece, and it fully embraces Cage's intentions in terms of the effect of "surprise." However, the percussion playing in the piece is not particularly strong, seems hesitant, and not quite up to speed. Imaginary Landscape No. 1 is a very interesting choice, as it is seldom played owing to its requirement of two variable speed turntables equipped with a foot pedal and frequency records, this sounds more like a standard frequency tester with a dial, and perhaps that's what's in use. Taking advantage of some options that Cage did prescribe, the Concert for Piano and Orchestra -- or at least, some parts from the score -- are performed in tandem with the Solos for Voice 1 and 2, sung simultaneously by sopranos Bell Imhoff and Doris Sandrock. The interpretation sounds just like a typical Darmstadt Festival-styled chamber work by Boulez or Stockhausen, and that's none too surprising as Ensemble Musica Negativa's Heinz-Klaus Metzger had very strong ties with Stockhausen at the time and, up to a certain point, both he and Riehn participated in Stockhausen's performances as well. There is an extent to which certain Cage scores can tend to take on the raiment of the given environment in which they are performed, but this seems more like an interpretation that imposes its will upon Cage's materials. However, Metzger and Riehn later became artistic directors of the Frankfurt Opera and commissioned the Europeras 1 and 2 from Cage, which he happily accepted.
Truly surprising is the filler; two Cage works performed by Gentle Fire, or at least some of the members of this important British new music collective more or less headed by Hugh Davies; active from 1968 to 1975, most of the group's recordings were never released. Music for Amplified Toy Pianos (1960) has a score of transparencies similar to Cartridge Music; however, whereas Cartridge Music tends to be very noisy and busy, Music for Amplified Toy Pianos is very wispy and often silent. This performance is true to Cage's intentions and sounds more like him than the earlier material. Gentle Fire has the patience to wait out the silence as prescribed; not many performers in 1973 were quite yet to that point of involvement or patience with Cage's work. All three versions of Music for Carillon (1952) are included in a slightly hissy recording made at Loughborough Carillon in Leicestershire; while credited to the group as a whole, this performance was made by Graham Hearn alone.
The liner notes and track listing to this disc are very sloppy; Music for Amplified Toy Pianos is listed on the inside cover, front, and back as Suite for Toy Piano, a work this is certainly not. However, the most egregious problem is that the 4:31 track identified as Cage's Rozart Mix is not that at all; judging from the instrumentation in use, this appears to be The Straits of Magellan by Morton Feldman combined with perhaps a stray fragment of an Earle Brown piano piece attached to it. These are other tracks from Music Before Revolution but are not works by Cage; EMI's inattention to this detail is unfathomable and renders what was a promising product at least partly defective.