John Cage / John Tilbury
Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano
Decca Headline (UK) 1976
HEAD 9 (LP) w/company inner sleeve, insert
sleeve : EX+ (slight wear on corner.)
media : EX+/EX+ (some slight sufrace noise.)
An album of "Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano," composed by John Cage, arguably the most important avant-garde composer of the 20th century, between 1946 and 1948, performed by British pianist John Tilbury. It is said to be a work that attempts to musically express "nine permanent emotions," a tradition of Indian aesthetics found in the writings of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, a Ceylonese metaphysician and philosopher of Indian art. The materials inserted into the internal strings of the piano are strictly specified by Cage and consist of three types, with the choice of which to use left to the performer. In this work, pins, bolts, glass shards, and erasers appear to be used. This is a monumental work, with Side A running for 29 minutes and 35 seconds, and Side B for 32 minutes and 45 seconds, demonstrating Cage's intention to "introduce disorder where there is organization and order into the history of chaos." We have received a UK pressing with an insert.