Review of Bertrand Chamayo – The Works of Cage

Innovative solution to the problem: Since there was only room for a baby grand piano on the stage for the music of a 1940 Seattle dance production, but John Cage had drum sounds in mind, he created it using a piano. With screws, rubber parts and much more. The prepared piano was born. The rest is history. Bertrand Chamayo dedicates himself to these expanded possibilities with a passion, which can be felt in every Cage piece on the album. He delivers complex rhythmic figures with confident insouciance, and the isolated piano sounds are inspired and almost orchestrated. And we are always amazed when we hear: beyond the traditional piano tone, there is a great variety of magical sound worlds that Chamayo brings to light with exquisite brevity and sensitivity, from harp-piano alternatives to gamelan echoes. It's also great how he creates amazing pantomime characters out of everything.

The Cage: A Mysterious Adventure, Unavailable Memory, Primal, In the Name of the Holocaust, The Perilous Night, The Root of Unfocus, Daughters of the Lonely Island and others

Bertrand Chamayo (piano)
Erato