Cage, John - Piano Music for Guitar

Piano Music Arranged for Guitar features five early and mid-career compositions by John Cage, dating from 1933 through 1948, all arranged for solo guitar by Aaron Larget-Caplan. The compositions required little adjustment from the originals, mainly in the form of register modifications, and fit very well on the guitar. All phrase and dynamic markings follow the published originals. Very few left and right hand fingerings are included in the publication to allow the performers their own realizations. All of the works retain their original keys and are presented in chronological order:

• Three Easy Pieces (Round, Duo, Infinite Cannon)
• A Room
• Chess Pieces
• Dream
• In A Landscape

Cage’s exploration of contrapuntal music and simple forms are found early on in works for two voices and the use of unusual phrases lengths. The later works explore modes, resonance, and begin to show influences of Far East aesthetics in their spaciousness and dealings with time. The collection is only the second work in the Cage Oeuvre to be published featuring the guitar, the first being Larget-Caplan’s arrangement of ‘Six Melodies’ for violin & guitar issued in 2015.

A recording dedicated to John Cage on guitar will be released in 2018 on Stone Records Limited (UK).