Göteborgs Konserthus Peter Friis Johansson plays Cage

John Cage (1912-1992) Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano A common feature of John Cage's work is how he manages to question our listening, our expectations and what music is in general. During the 1940s, John Cage wrote a long series of works for prepared piano. A piano whose sound is modified by attaching or placing different materials between the pianostrings. The most radical of Cage's efforts is found in Sonatas and Interludes. 16 sonatas and 4 interludes on an instrument that sometimes sounds like a chime, sometimes like a dull rattle, where screws, nuts and pieces of rubber quickly make the piano become a percussion instrument. The form of the many movements reflects the early sonata forms, but it is not the tradition that we think of when we hear this peculiar world of sound. It is the rhythms, the percussion-like and the often brutal distance that is created between the dynamic and the sonorous. During the years Cage composed the suite, he came to be deeply inspired by Indian philosophy and not least its thoughts on the spiritual power of music. Cage himself mentions how in this music he wanted to explore different rasas – or emotional states; from peacefulness to anger. Where John Cage is often associated with free notational forms for posterity, here we encounter a composer with a detailed musical image, where the work's variability is found in the capricious effect of the preparation – each piano will sound different.

Peter Friis Johansson has established himself as one of Scandinavia's most sought-after pianists. In 2009, he became Swedish Radio's P2 artist and that same year went on a European tour with concerts in, among others, the Vienna Musikverein and Concertgebouw. In 2012, he suffered a finger injury, but made an international comeback when he won first prize at the Alaska International Piano-e-Competition 2014. In 2015, Peter Friis Johansson performed cycles of Franz Schubert's piano sonatas all over the world. The first of five albums that will include the entire cycle will be released in 2022. He has premiered piano concertos by Sven-David Sandström and Andrea Tarrodi with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2020, he completed Laura Netzel's piano concerto and premiered it with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra. In 2025, he was nominated for a Swedish Grammis for a recording of Bo Linde's piano trio. Peter Friis Johansson is also a passionate chamber musician who engages in far-reaching collaborative projects. With Emil Jonason he forms the duo Emil & Peter. He is the founder and artistic director of Järna Festival Academy, Sweden's largest chamber music festival.