FundamentallySound Blog

Saturday night found Lee and I at the arts and crafts style Swedenborgian Church, for the Other Minds sponsored New Music Seance. The programming was a little uneven, but there were two pieces that were great to hear live: In A Landscape by John Cage and Patterns of Plants by Mamoru Fujieda. Sara Cahill played them both well with a focus on their warmth. I used to listen to Patterns of Plants all the time when I was living in Japan, but had never heard it live. Speaking to her afterwards, she mentioned that she found the original CD released in Japan a bit cold to her ears, and I tend to agree. Her performance of In A Landscape was nearly romantic in its interpretation. I wouldn't have expected to appreciate it much in this way, but it was effective. In his own way, Cage was a romantic. Anyone who is so concerned with the notion of beauty, even if just to deconstruct then reconstruct it, must be an inner romantic, I think.