On February 4, 2025, Melbourne was treated to the final performance of The Cage Project, a visually and sonically enhanced performance of John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano, performed by the extraordinary French pianist, Cédric Tiberghien.
But this was no ordinary recital. The Cage Project, instigated by Musica Viva Australia’s Paul Kildea, involved augmenting the sounds produced by the prepared piano with “a whole new sound world outside the instrument”. Kildea writes that his goal was to give audiences a greater understanding of the innovation – the radical change to resonance – Cage brought about when he inserted objects amongst the piano strings to create an entirely different soundscape.
Kildea enlisted maverick composer/percussionist Matthias Schack-Arnott to design and create this “new sound world”, a technical team was assembled, and The Cage Project was born.
For this performance, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall – packed to the rafters – was more dimly lit than usual. The grand piano was centre stage as usual and the lid was open, as usual. But in an intriguing visual twist, the glorious golden internal frame and strings were reflected in the lid, signalling the important part the piano’s innards would play in this performance.
Above the piano hung a massive metallic mobile: a giant array of antenna-like rods on which several large discs and other indiscernible objects were suspended. Schack-Arnott’s “sonic” was designed to generate resonances corresponding to the 44 altered sounds produced by the prepared piano.
Cédric Tiberghien introduced the concert, revealing the “big emotion” he felt playing in the Project’s “birthplace”; it was during two days of intense experimentation in the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall that the Project came to life.
Cage, Tiberghien explained, was profoundly influenced by Indian philosophy, and Sonatas and Interludes is essentially a long meditative reflection on the path to tranquillity; through sixteen mini-sonatas and four interludes, the music traverses the four “white” and four “black” emotions underpinning Hindi aesthetics before reaching Nirvana. At the end, Tiberghien said, we look back – musically the ending harks back to the opening – and ask ourselves “How do I feel now?”
The next hour was by any measure extraordinary. Tiberghien leant into the keyboard, his left hand coaxing, cradling and cossetting all manner of colours from the prepared and “natural” strings. We heard trills like drumrolls; chimes and pure ‘piano’ tones. His consistently graceful, focused, highly nuanced playing created moments of extreme delicacy.
Then gradually, almost imperceptibly, the mobile sculpture came to life: sonorities faded in and out, accompanied by faint specks of light, flecks of colour, silver beams, glowing discs, a sparkling orb, all revolving in their own orbits on the arms of the mobile.
The Hall’s coiled chandeliers cast huge blob-like shadows on the ceiling, while the mobile’s rotating arms created constantly moving shadows on the walls. It felt like we were a planet, a pivot point, with a host of ephemeral, shadowy shapes orbiting around us. Every surface was reflecting or resonating in some way. Elisabeth Murdoch Hall was alive.
How did this audience feel at the end? Awe-struck, delighted, inspired and fulfilled, judging by the thunderous applause. Matthias Schack-Arnott joined Tiberghien on stage, acknowledging the contribution of technical / lighting designer Keith Tucker, and robotics / system engineer Nick Roux. And when the applause finally died down, these two supremely gifted, unassuming musicians sat on the edge of the stage, calmly taking questions (and gratitude) from the audience. The awe felt at the power of the performance was replaced by awe at the imagination and technical skill that Schack-Arnott, Tiberghien and team had mustered to envisage and create this experience.
Though Cage’s prepared piano works are still performed, Cage is possibly best known, and unfairly pigeon-holed, for 4’33’’ (aka Silence), intended as an exploration of ambient music, but eyed off by lazy music students as their “go to” piece.
So it was pure joy to be immersed in music where the vibrations were the focus, aurally and visually. Cage was endlessly fascinated by vibrations; he felt no need to imbue music with any other purpose. He wrote in his Autobiographical Statement that he envisaged “a music that transports the listener to the moment where he is”. This is exactly what The Cage Project has created: a truly revelatory experience.
Photo credit: Lucy Parakhina
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Sue Kaufmann reviewed “The Cage Project”, presented by Musica Viva Australia at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall on February 4, 2025.
