John Cage/ Apartment House — Number Pieces (boxset)

Number Pieces is a four-CD boxset compiling together pieces composed by John Cage during the late ’80s and early ’90s, as part of his Number Series. This set collects together both short and longer works- with runtimes between three minutes and one hour. Sonically the material moves between haunting tone studies, building modern ensemble works, skeleton pattern-based composition, and emotional-to-brooding soundscaping. The whole collection of thirteen works are played by members of the highly respected modern ensemble collective Apartment House- and as we’d expect the playing throughout is highly skilful, cleverly nuanced, and(largely) quietly impactful.

The boxset is released on the always worthy/ respected Another Timber- a Sheffield based label that releases some of the most important/interesting work within the modern classical/ modern composition fields. The set is presented in a similar way to the labels 2019 Morton Feldman piano boxset- coming in a glossy flip side box. Each of the five CD’s come in their own slip sleeves- the design of both the box of the slip sleeves follow the labels house style design, which finds plain white backdrops with different coloured shapes and different colour wash backgrounds. The set also features a forty-four-page inlay booklet- this takes in a full list of players on each track, a great write-up about Cage's number pieces in general, and write-ups about each of the tracks featured here.

The Number Series pieces were composed in the last five years of Cage's life between 1987-1992, and in all took in over forty tracks.  Instead of using formal titles, each piece was named after the number of musicians needed to perform it- going from duos, trios, quartets, all the way up to full orchestral pieces featured up to a hundred-plus players.  As with much of Cages output, he didn’t take a formal/ normal route with composing these pieces -each of them features no time signatures,  bar lines to break up their scores, or a conductor. Each musician decided when to play using a stopwatch- and a Cage developed a system called ‘time brackets’ – in the early composition of the series the time brackets were set, to lay out exactly where each player should start & finish- but later on they decided themselves where to stop and start.

The first disc in the set takes in five pieces- and these feature between five and fourteen players. We open with three five minute tracks, and each of these feature five players. Next, we have "fourteen"(1990)- which runs twenty minutes. Here we find a blend of string, horn, percussion, and bowed piano- sonically the track is all about slowly rising and shifting pitches, that create both a decidedly malevolent and uneasy air.  The final track on the first disc is "Five3"( 1991)- this runs at forty minutes, featuring Viola, cello, violin, and trombone. And it finds the five players spacing themselves out quite widely to start with, though as it moves on the spaces seem to lessen, with these wonderful simmering dwells occurring, where the players either stand on their own, work as duos or join together to create a series of tone studies, which move between rising & simmered, to the fraught & pressing.

The second disc takes in three pieces- and these have between five and seven players. We open with "Five"(1988)- this runs for five minutes and finds a blend of violin, viola, accordion,  double bass and bass clarinet- the piece shifts from sustained/ amassed-yet-slowly pitch-shifting dwells, onto sudden instrument drop out/ falter- all creating a great feeling of simmering unpredictability. Next, we have "Seven"(1988)- this twenty-minute track features a piano as its loudest and most prevalent instrument, and this slowly treads out a series of stark patterns. Around it, we find string and wind instruments,  and one percussionist- and these really add in elements of hazy ritual ominosity and lulling dread to the tracks makeup. The disc is finished off with "Seven2"(1990)- this is one of the longer works on this collection running at fifty-two minutes. It’s for two percussionists, one cello, one double bass, one bass flute and one bass trombone. And here we find this wonderful drifting ‘n’ hazy soundscape, where reserved rumbling-to-lightly hammering percussive detail hoover and lightly meld with bass drones and deep slow-mo tone glides. All making for a spellbindingly eerier and subtle unbalancing track.

Disc three features five tracks in all, with runtimes between three and thirty minutes a piece. We open with "Five"(1988)- which features one viola, one violin, a double bass, bassoon, and a bass clarinet- the spot on five-minute track is all about waving and slow-moving blends of wind sustains and glum string saws. Moving on we have "Six"(1991)- this three-minute track is focused on petering, slowly billowing, and lightly slicing percussion tones- with the whole thing having somewhat of a slurred organic industrial feel to it. The disc plays out with "Ten"(1991)- this thirty-minute track features two violins, one viola, a cello, one oboe, a trombone, a clarinet, percussion and a piano. The track is all about creating an uneasy, bleak, at points lightly grating and dragging sound world. It would work as a wonderful soundtrack for Carpenters The Thing- if it was set on an isolated farm in the America rust belt in mid-winter. 

Finally, on disc number four we have just three tracks. We open with the simmering-to-weaving tone drifts of "Five"(1988)- a five-minute track that features two clarinets, a bassoon, an oboe, and a bass clarinet. Onto "Eight"(1991) which is the longest track here at the hour mark- it features one trumpet, a tuba, a bassoon, an oboe, a clarinet, one flute, a horn, and a trombone.  Here we find overlapping-then-drifting tone sustains- which create a  track that’s full of forlorn grandeur and fading pomp. Lastly, we have "Four5"(1991)- this is a twelve-minute track for two clarinets, a bass clarinet, and one bassoon. And here we find a mix of slowed note pitch shifts and sudden silence- all making a track that creates both anticipation and gently curdling dread.

In finishing it’s great to see these later pieces by Mr Cage getting such wonderful and thoughtful treatment from both Apartment House and Another Timber. This boxset is unquestionably one of the key modern classical highlights of 2021, and it’s a release I can certainly see myself returning to again and again in the future. If you’d like to buy this direct, please head here- but do be aware that apparently, stocks are getting low on this boxset. So if you are interested in this, it's something you need to pick up sooner, than later!.