In the news:
Originally published Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 5:30 AM
An early marking of John Cage's 100th birthday
Seattle celebrations of the 100th anniversary of composer John Cage's birth get an early start this week with performances of Cage's "First Construction in Metal" by the UW Percussion Ensemble and the complete "Sonatas and Interludes" for prepared piano by Adam Tendler.
John Cage's 100th birthday
Sept. 5, 2012, will mark the 100th anniversary of composer John Cage's birth, and two concerts this week get a jump-start on the celebrations.
On Tuesday, the UW Percussion Ensemble will perform Cage's "First Construction in Metal," a driving, giddy, rambunctious concoction composed in 1939 when Cage was teaching at what's now Cornish College of the Arts. Former UW composition professor Robert Suderberg and two other composers also have pieces on the program.
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Meany Hall, University of Washington, Seattle; $10-$15 (206-543-4880 or www.music.washington.edu).
On Saturday, the Wayward Music Series brings New York pianist Adam Tendler to town to play Cage's complete "Sonatas and Interludes" for prepared piano (an innovation Cage famously came up with while at Cornish). The cycle, written 1946-48, is one of the last things Cage actually composed rather than created through chance procedures, and it's an hourlong sonic wonderland of fragmentary melodies, scurrying syncopations and lullaby-like beauty. The tamperings with the piano create gamelanlike percussive effects as well as eerie otherworldly tunings: Cage at his best.
8 p.m. Saturday, Chapel Performance Space at Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N., Seattle; $5-$15 cash or check only at the door.
Michael Upchurch, Seattle Times arts writer
