Daughters Of The Lonsome Isle

John Cage & Margaret Leng Tan (Artist), John [1] Cage (Composer), Margaret Leng Tan (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Margaret Leng Tan
• Composer: John [1] Cage
• Audio CD (November 24, 2009)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: New Albion Records
• ASIN: B000000R3U
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #232,353 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible renditions of Cage piano pieces, December 22, 1999

By 

Justin Oser - See all my reviews

This review is from: Daughters Of The Lonsome Isle (Audio CD)

Margaret Leng Tan, the pianist on this album, knew and played for John Cage himself for more than a decade. The insight that comes with such a relationship with the composer shines through on this album. I can scarcely imagine better versions of these wonderful piano pieces. The pieces span a variety of types of pianos (prepared piano, toy piano, regular piano, bowed piano) and moods. From the incredibly beautiful ("In a Landscape" is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard) to the aggressive ("Ophelia") to the minimalist ("Music for Piano #2), this album spans quite a bit of the possibilities for piano music. I highly recommend it, but should caution you that you must have an open mind to enjoy this--this could be unlike you might have heard a piano played before (or imagined it could be played). If you like this, I recommend "The Perilous Night/Four Walls," which also has Margaret Leng Tan playing piano.

5.0 out of 5 stars Eaves Drop on a Luminous Affair of Spirit Between Cage & Tan, June 28, 2010

By 

Lindsay N. Bowker "We Are The Angels We Have ... (Stonington, Maine) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Daughters Of The Lonsome Isle (Audio CD)

I have few regrets, but as I continue my journey into Cage's works I am beginning to regret that I was not old enough to be at Black Mountain when he was there..or that I didn't have the opportunity to know him as Margaret Leng Tan did years later. Now I am tempted to add to my very small list of regrets that I have not seen Margaret Leng Tan play Cage..that I don't know her. This is a lovingly, joyously compiled, beautifully interpreted selection of the many ways in which John Cage explored the possibilities of piano during a specific early time in his career ( 1940-1953). It includes the original work for prepared piano, Bacchanale, a suite for toy piano, the hauntingly beautiful "In a Landscape" and a piece, "Music For Piano #2", in which Ms. Tan, with Cage's enthusiastic endorsement, bowed certain sections with fishing line. They discussed this piece the day before he died in 1992. It is a great privilege, through this album, to eaves drop on a luminous affair of heart and mind between Tan and Cage.