For several months now, I have had a message sitting on the 20th Century forum at Explore Records's site. It expressed the hope that the Explore release of John Tilbury's Petersham recording of Cage's Sonatas and Interludes would not carry over the track division error found on the old Decca Japan issue. I got no response to the message, so when I saw that Caiman were offering the disc at a low price, I ordered it. It arrived in the post this morning. Same fault as the Decca Japan issue. I had hoped that someone with an ounce of familiarity with the work would have picked up on the error before launching the international issue, but no. Ah well, we probably all tend to listen to all 16 sonatas and 4 interludes at a go, I suppose. Shame they didn't retain the original Decca artwork, too. They did, however, keep Tilbury's programme notes. They are worth a read. The transfer is otherwise very good, I think.

Yes, james, and the timbres are so much more clearly presented in the CD issue. John Tilbury is so right about the placing of the mutes. It's the sound that matters, not the bloody ruler. I remember when Tilbury played the work at the Cage at 70 celebration in Islington, Cage was very forthcoming with his praise for the performance. It is all too easy for someone playing this work to forget that it was written at the height of Cage's engagement with the tonal qualities acheivable from piano preparations, and before the chance philosphy became predominant.

Another recoding I have a particular fondness for is the early digital one played by Yuji Takehashi. Then, more recently, there's Schleiermacher. I have not heard the Margaret Leng Tan on Mode yet, but intend to do so. Tilbury's approach has, if he will excuse the aristocratic referrence, a particular nobility though.

My favorite remains Nigel Butterley's version on Tall Poppies.  I own four versions, and I'll admit that I might like this one best b/c it was the first one I bought (maybe 12ish yrs ago?).