This concert celebrates a seminal work by one of the great radical voices in 20th century music, the composer who once said that his creative responsibility was ‘not the making of choices, but the asking of questions’. At one level, John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes resemble the two-part sonatas of the Baroque master Domenico Scarlatti. But it’s the differences that mark Cage’s work out as epoch-making: the mathematical relationships that govern the duration of each component part; the philosophical idea that each work began life, in Cage’s words, as ‘an empty container,’ and the way in which, for the first time, the piano itself became a container – for bolts, wedges, screws, plastic strips and other objects inserted between the strings, so that the instrument can be lyrical and percussive – and, thus ‘prepared,’ can sound both more and less like a piano.  In this exceptionally stimulating evening, ANAM pianists will explore Cage’s complete Sonatas and Interludes, interspersed with readings from Cage’s prose, which is just as influential as his music.

John CAGE Sonatas and Interludes

Timothy Young (ANAM Head of Piano) director/piano 

ANAM Pianists