A modal composition, the patterns alternate between a mode in B and a mode in G. With the use of both the soft and sustain pedals, Cage creates music that seems to suspend time. Many listeners are conscious of the repetitions during the first several parts of Sonatas and Interludes.
Louis would typically play this masterwork for our American Foundations summer class and other interested member of the general public. * * * * * * * * * * John Cage had already gained a reputation as a leading figure of the avant-garde -- largely for his development of the prepared piano -- when he wrote Dream in 1948. This designation seems strange if one assumes that all music is intentionally expressive, but the term makes perfect sense when taking into account the subsequent direction of Cage’s career, namely composition determined by chance operations.
On November 7, in UNC’s Person Hall, Wake Forest University professor Louis Goldstein celebrated American Music Week with an exceptional presentation of John Cage’s complete Sonatas and Interludes. One scarcely realized that 64 minutes of music had elapsed. The music consists of groups of pitches that are allowed to resonate (either by holding the keys down or by using the sustaining pedal); the degree of resonance of the performing instrument determines the rhythmic flow of the piece. The experience of listening to Sonatas and Interludes can be likened to the exploration of an utterly strange and beautiful landscape or piece of architecture. This was near the end of a period during which Cage wrote prolifically for modern dancers; Dream, in fact, was composed at the request of Cage's longtime collaborator, dancer/choreographer Merce Cunningham. This recording captures the feel of that proximity to the player. Scodanibbio's realization is like a version for solo piano and chamber orchestra that works very well; if it seems a little "Darmstadt-y, its that the texture, when thinned out to this extent, resembles a Darmstadt-styled chamber piece in a superficial sense, whereas full piano and orchestra realizations combine Cage's wispy instrumental elements in a far denser texture.
He is a superb artist with great command of sound, a technique that perfectly serves his intentions that are motivated by profound understanding nurtured through long acquaintance. One must imagine floor fans and locusts buzzing for some of the first performances I heard; then, the gentle woosh of central climate control. Cage’s “Sonatas and Interludes” eloquently spoke of this, all the more beautifully in the hands of Goldstein — even more so `neath the bowels of the very instrument, with eyes closed in ecstatic wonder. John Cage did write some music for double bass, or at least pieces specific to a string instrument that can be played on double bass with authority, namely 59 1/2," for a string player (1953) and 26'1.1499," for a string player (1955); the latter piece being rather famously recorded for Nonesuch by Bertram Turetzky in the 1970s. Sonatas and Interludes is caught between two worlds, and yields different emphasis from either approach. The first five Freeman Etudes (1980) are heard in transcriptions for double bass; they start off fine, but after a time the limited range of the double bass -- despite Scodanibbio's facility with it and his technique of "arco mobile" (so-named by Luigi Nono) -- begins to defeat the performance, as the ear starts to hunger for more variety of sound. By Mike Silverton in La Folia, Volume 3, Number 1, Nov. 2000, Permit me to quote Nicholas Slonimsky on Ignacy Paderewski (Baker’s Dictionary of Music, Schirmer Books, 1997): “As an artist, Paderewski was a faithful follower of the Romantic school, which allowed free, well-nigh improvisatory declensions from the written notes, tempos, and dynamics; judged by 20th-century standards of precise rendering of the text, Paderewski’s interpretations appear surprisingly free, but this very personal freedom of performance moved contemporary audiences to ecstasies of admiration.”. The soul is the gatherer-together of the disparate elements (Meister Eckhart), and its work fills one with peace and love.” Hardly typical words for a revolutionary of the avant garde.