John Cage - Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano (POLL)

It's totally all about Sonata XII, even though (or more likely, because) it's the hookiest. It's like this heartwrenching climax out of nowhere. Some other strong contenders include the rippling Fourth Interlude, the infectious beats of Sonata V and the more fragmented ones of the First Interlude, that recurring glockenspiel-like hook in Sonata VII, and the unmistakeable introduction of Sonata I.

The Second Interlude is remarkably lovely as well.

It doesn't seem right to vote for an interlude, somehow. Even though the second and fourth are contenders -- I especially like the splashy filigree of the second.

So, focusing on the Sonatas, I've got to go with the driving, energized Sonata V. Second place to Sonata VI, with those unexpected, rich cascades of notes that emerge in the middle.

A toughie.

(Hello Paul!)

What? No "4'33"?

Given that it's not part of this piece and really has no connection to it, no.

Hi Julio (I think that's you?!)

It is, yes! Me and my silly name!

Nice seeing you again :-)

Does anyone actually LIKE Cage? I mean, it' always very interesting to read about but then when I've gone to see stuff (Like the When Morty Met John series at Carnegie) it's extremely tedious.

I like his work for prepared piano and toy piano a LOT. I love "Williams Mix." Most of the rest of it, I haven't given enough listens to really say yet.

I forget who said that Carnegie Hall is where music goes to die, stay away from there. find committed people who play Cage in smaller halls.

watching James Tenney play the Sonatas and Interludes last year will probably remain one of my favorite concert experiences ever, I was as wide awake as I've ever been

Yes there is plenty to like, even love - look it up in the archives if you haven't done so.

Sometimes the balance between performance and the conceptual isn't there, when it might have been very time and site-specific and no recordings could ever get that back...but when it comes together the imagination of his writing can be bought out onto the notes.

Check out 26'1.1499" for Cello on here:

http://www.ubu.com/sound/moorman.html

(I think I have another version of this)

Got to be Sonata I. Some of the others get a bit too pretty and gamelan-y, but this is a real mould-breaker.

"In a Landscape" and "Dream" are probably the best intro for a sceptic. They're quite accessible and conventionally pretty, at least by modern classical standards. Also, much of the material on The Seasons.

I actually find him much less interesting as a philosopher. I'll also be honest that I'm not sure I'm really sold on the most extreme chance pieces, either in theory or in practice. When he was good, however, he was sublime.

(And, really, you can't see anything to like in this piece?)

Another recommended starting point = String Quartet in Four Parts

My personal favorite = Music of Changes

I've gotta say that I'd kind of expected this to be a poll about which recording of the Sonatas & Interludes folks liked best rather than which section of the work people liked most.

I haven't had any interest in the subjects of other polls here, so I don't know how they work for pop music, but it seems to me that picking a single section of a long work is more analogous to choosing a favorite verse of a song rather than choosing a favorite song from an album.

But since the work IS one of the few "avant garde" pieces to have enough recordings that distinctions between recorded performances actually mean something, discussing those differences seems like it'd be useful.

I'm not sure which I'd pick if I could only pick one, but besides the original recording by Maro Ajemian (which, by virtue of it's primacy and use of the original kind of piano that Cage first set the measurements for the preparations, probably makes it the least indeterminate performance available), I think the varied interpretations by Louis Goldstein (sort of "Romantic") & Darryl Rosenberg (sort of "Classical") are worth noting. At one point I sat down and listened to a lot of recordings for a radio project, but other than the above, I don't have a lot of immediate memories of distinctions I drew at the time.

All that said, if I had to pick a sonata, I'd probably pick #12.

it seems to me that picking a single section of a long work is more analogous to choosing a favorite verse of a song rather than choosing a favorite song from an album.

You're right but these do feel kind of like self-contained miniature pieces of their own to me, in addition to being parts of a larger work. Besides, there have been at least two polls where people had to pick their favourite line from a song.

I haven't really listened to them in isolation much, so I only know that Sonata I is Sonata I and don't have any sense of which ones the other ones are.

Also Sonata I typically floors me enough that the rest is pure gravy -- though I suspect if I started with a different one it would do the same.

"I've gotta say that I'd kind of expected this to be a poll about which recording of the Sonatas & Interludes folks liked best rather than which section of the work people liked most."

You can always make a recordings poll you know ;-)

I like this idea very much tho' - up till now I only have this tape I made from the Tilbury recording that my library happens to have (on LP, no less!) so if i ever put it on I just let the noises do their work so this poll gets me to listen to this in a different way. And the more I think about it its a really good idea to do it with compositions...put an mp3, separate it onto 'sections' and let the people decide.

As far as the sonatas I've only gotten a cpl of mp3s so far, and I'm running out of time.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

wow @ geir

i am no longer ever surprised at geir

except when he started that depeche mode poll

Weirdly proto-IDM.

does the fact that i want to hear someone program quiet ambient beats behind a few of the sonatas make me a classless herb?