John Cage

Fear of Cage? Start here. The Satie-like grace of "In a Landscape" blooms with melody while the piano's sustain lets overtones build like clouds. Prepared piano, a Cagian invention, sings with strange reverie on "Music for Marcel Duchamp," "A Valentine Out of Season" and the icy "Prelude for Meditation." Even his nine-keyed "Suite for Toy Piano" is maddeningly charming.