i bought this cd about four years ago out of curiousity and to hear more of Cage's music - having heard the odd piece (via other perfomers such as on Joanna MacGregor's "play" cd etc ) of his unique piano compositions. This cd (Vol.2) is well played and recorded with Boris Berman (as per Vol.1 Sonatas + Interludes for prepared piano also reviewed) conveying the far more astringent rhythmic side of composition unearthing a strange, unsettling soundworld drawn as it was from eastern philosophy + sounds. many pieces emulate metallic percussive instruments from the far east,BUT with little sense of the hushed delicate works he composed in his Sonatas + Interludes.
i personally think Vol.1 the Sonatas + Interludes is the far better place to start to explore than Vol.2 here, which is far more rhythmic + dissonant proving to be a bit waring after a while. much more atringent and avant-garde albeit with a wider scope of experimental techniques + timbres than Vol.1, but is far less "melodic". Enigmatic titles of works here such as "mysterious adventure" and "totem ancestor" might put some off his work as pseudo-msytical gibberish perhaps - but the listener is immediately drawn into Cage's fascinating and hermetic sound world. alternating between still delicacy and the astrigently rhythmic, Boris Berman projects the strange oriental influenced sounds here in keeping with Cage's adoption of eastern philosophies + metallic sonorities) and most importantly - strangely rewarding.
a fine antidote to much manufactured western music but go for the "Sonatas + Interludes" first..