With CAGE2 Bertrand Chamayou brings together 20 dance-inspired pieces written for prepared piano by the American composer John Cage (1912-1992). It continues Chamayou’s recorded exploration of Cage’s music, which began with the Erato album Letter(s) to Erik Satie, released in 2023. Juxtaposing the music of Cage and Satie, whose work Cage championed and revived in the mid-20 th century, the album was welcomed by the Guardian as “a gem of a collection”.
This album takes its title, CAGE², from a stage show, built around 12 pieces for prepared piano written by Cage between 1940 and 1945, which Chamayou and dancer-choreographer Élodie Sicard toured around France. For practical purposes, it was necessary to have four pianos, each ‘prepared’ in different ways, on the stage. The mathematical power of 2 applied to Cage’s name in the show’s title (“Cage squared”) refers both to the complementary presence of two performers – a pianist and a dancer – and to the square formed by the four pianos, each in a corner of the stage.
