Composer: John Cage
Performer: Aki Takahashi, Margaret Lancaster, David Shively
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Mode
Release: 2021
Size: 258 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
01. Swinging
Cheap Imitation
02. I.
03. II.
04. III.
05. Perpetual Tango (1984)
Cheap Imitation
06. I.
07. II.
08. III.
09. All Sides of the Small Stone for Erik Satie and (Secretly Given to Jim Tenney as a Koan)
Cage – Satie – Feldman – Takahashi sums up the focus of this album. All of these works by Cage are influenced by Satie. Cage’s friend and colleague Morton Feldman made an arrangement of Cage’s solo piano Cheap Imitation for a trio of piano, flutes/piccolo and glockenspiel. Feldman’s admiration for the pianist Aki Takahashi caused him to gift this arrangement to her. And, full circle, you have the repertoire of this album. The major discovery is Feldman’s arrangement of Cheap Imitation for this very Feldmanesque instrumental ensemble. It is unknown why Feldman made this arrangement in 1980. Knowing of Takahashi’s reputation as a pianist specializing in new music, Feldman had invited her to be an artist in residence at the university where he taught. When she was leaving, Feldman gave a musical score to Takahashi as a gift. It was a copy of John Cage’s solo piano piece Cheap Imitation with annotations by Feldman. He told her that this was an instrumental version of this piece: flute, piano, and glockenspiel.