John Cage & Hans Otte: Orient meets Occident on Live Disc
A musical meeting of two composers, seminally influential on the sound of the piano in the 20th century, is now available through German label Wergo. „Orient Occident“ features works by John Cage and Hans Otte, both mainstays of the new music scene on two different continents and in different positions. The CD features eight of John Cage's Piano sonatas, his „Interlude #1“ and „Gemini“, juxtaposing them with excerpts from Hans Otte's „Book of Sounds“ and „Book of Hours“. Performed by Philipp Vandré on „regular“ piano and Elmar Schrammel on a prepared model, „Orient Occident“ was conceptualised by Ingo Ahmels – a close friend of Hans Otte and the man behind the multimedia project „Hans Otte: Klang der Klänge (Sound of Sounds)”. In that book/CD/DVD combination, Ingo Ahmels portrayed the composer and tireless organisor shortly before his death. To coincide with his 80th birthday, he also set up a concert to bring together Otte and some of his influences on the same night. That concert is now the basis to „Orient Occident“ which Wergo aptly calls „a quiet hommage“.
Hans Otte and John Cage were friends and soulmates throughout their lives. Otte introduced many German listeners to the works of Cage, whom he would regularly invite to the events sponsored by his employer Radio Bremen. Vice versa, the contact with Cage was not unimportant to his own, still sadly overlooked, oeuvre, which culminated in the two compositions mentioned in the first paragraph: „The Book of Sounds“, a collection of twelve piano pieces and „The Book of Hours“, an even more ambitious and stretched-out cycle.
The idea of „Orient:Occident“ goes deeper than that, however. Even though both Hans Otte and John Cage were representatives of what has been called the „beautiful piano sound“, they, too, had their unique characteristics: The „occident“ part of the disc belongs to Otte, while eastern philosophy strongly influenced the integration of „oriental“elements into Cage's oeuvre.
„Orient Occident“ was also the title of an album on Pogus Records from last year, which captured early pieces by Otte, large parts of whose work is still awaiting release.
Homepage: Wergo Records
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