ANTS RECORDS

Joshua Pierce, piano & prepared piano,

with Robert White, tenor & AFMM Ensemble

From the liner notes of Eric Salzman: “John Cage wrote for

keyboards throughout most of his life. Most famously, he

invented the so-called "prepared piano" but he also wrote for

unprepared piano in both traditional and untraditional ways.

His later piano works employ an almost ferocious complication

and virtuosity at the outer limits of performer possibility.

Earlier he used electronic extensions, chance and performer

collaboration in complex ways. His early keyboard music was

written for himself to play, much of it meant to "accompany"

modern dance performances. Cage's piano, prepared and

unprepared, was the orchestra for a whole genre of solo

dance performance by some of the greatest figures of

modern American dance.”

This recording of Four Walls grew out of live performances by

Joshua Pierce and dancer/choreographer Sin Cha Hong at

the Seoul NYMAX Festival and Anthology Film Archive's

Courthouse Theater in New York City on October 27 and 28,

1994, marking the work's fiftieth anniversary. Plans to extend

this album as a double CD came about as a result of Mr.

Pierce's brilliant and relevatory performance of the

composer's magnum opus: Sonatas and Interludes recorded

"live" at the Microthon Festival held at New York University on

May 23, 1999, marking his twenty-fifth anniversary of live

performances and his association with the music of John

Cage, and in particular, Sonatas and Interludes.

A very special feature of this summation of Pierce's work with

the piano music of John Cage, is the presence of two

compositions here recorded for the very first time: the

Prelude (Piano Sextet) for Six Instruments in A minor, from

1946 and the Three Early Songs, from 1933.

The 56-pages three languages booklet (english, italian and

french) including photographs, liner notes by Eric Salzman,

essay by Michele Porzio and extensive biographical notes of

the performers, completes this double CD edition.

This release represent a great occasion to approach, at the

highest level, the early piano masterpieces of the 20th

century most important and influential composer, uniquely

performed by one of he’s most dedicated and well known

interpreters.

JOSHUA PIERCE

One of a handful of brilliant and creative musicians of his

generation, Joshua Pierce's passion and sensitivity has earned

him a world-wide reputation as a prolific pianist who has

forged his own individual and unique style with a vast

repertoire of music spanning all eras of piano literature. His

technical mastery has afforded him the ability to move easily

from the concerti of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, to the

big works of Brahms, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, to the

provoking sounds of John Cage, Charles Ives, Ivan

Wyschnegradsky, Harry Partch, Teo Macero, Karlheinz

Stockhausen, La Monte Young, Toru Takemitsu, Swen

Sandstrom, Maurice Ohana, Ben Weber, Sofia Guibadulina and

many others.

track list

Disc 1

1-16) Four Walls (1944) 52'25"

17) Primitive (1942) 04'17"

18) In the Name of the Holocaust (1942) 06'01"

19) Quest (1935) 01'01"

20) Our Spring Will Come (1948) 04'10"

21) Prelude (Piano Sextet) for Six Instruments (1946) 04'56"

22) Ophelia (1946) 05'16"

Disc 2

1-19) Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano (1946-1948)

50'13"

20-22) Three Early Songs (1933) 03'02"

23-24) Two Pieces for Piano (1946) 09'13"

25) Music for Marcel Duchamp (1947) 05'04"

26) Spontaneous Earth (1944) 01'36"

27-29) Three Easy Pieces for Piano (1933) 02'57"

30) The Unavailable Memory of (1944) 02'35"

31-32) Two Pieces for Piano (1935/rev.1974) 02'43"

released 13/02/2004