Bertrand Chamayou: Cage2 album review — ‘prepared’ piano pieces by an American iconoclast

Without knowing what music this is, how could one guess? The range of sounds is complex and bizarre, as much mechanical as musical. What instrument is playing? How many performers are there?

After an imaginative album pairing Erik Satie and John Cage at the end of last year, pianist Bertrand Chamayou has returned with a recording devoted entirely to the music of the latter.

Among his multifarious areas of experimentation Cage explored the possibilities of the “prepared” piano, which involved placing all manner of objects between the piano’s strings — bolts, screws, pieces of rubber, woollen fabric, bamboo strips or coins. Many of his “prepared” piano works were written to be performed with dance and Chamayou has responded by devising a staged performance with choreographer Élodie Sicard that brings together a dozen of these pieces, dating from 1940 to 1945, under the title Cage2.

That also forms the running order of this album. As Chamayou uses pianos prepared in different ways, no two pieces sound the same. “Mysterious Adventure” opens with a virtuoso display of sounds, from dull thumps to pinging and bangs. “In the Name of the Holocaust” evokes the distant tolling of bells. The short “Primitive” sounds delicately Japanese, while “Daughters of the Lonesome Isle” feels little short of a solo concerto, the pianist aping the sonic variety of an orchestra.

It is not often that pianists at the top level venture into this kind of material and Chamayou is to be congratulated for his sense of adventure. Try sampling some music that is a rare bird in the concert hall.

★★★★☆

‘Cage2’ is released by Erato