Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.John Cage's prepared-piano pieces are the second most famous part of his oeuvre, after the legendary 4'33", though the precision and breadth of moods involved here, from hesitant and inquisitive to expansive and reflective, offers the most potent rebuttal to the claims of charlatanry frequently elicited by that silent piece.
The "preparation" of piano strings with screws, bolts and rubbers at crucial harmonic cusps means that each individual performance is subtly different, and James Tenney's interpretations, recorded exactly 10 years ago by the late pianist, are the best I've heard: the piano sounds less damped than usual, the notes more resonant and glacially metallic, with a gamelan quality reflecting Cage's original inspiration for his innovative compositions.
Download:Sonata 1; Sonata 5; Sonata 14
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments