Conventional Cage

Cheap Imitation is a rather notorious entry in Cage's later work because it's so traditional. However, in this project of methodically listening through Cage's indeterminate compositions, it's become clear that he wrote quite a few conventional pieces in his later years. Obviously, I'm using "conventional" fairly loosely - I'm not saying that you're likely to hear any of these on mainstream radio, or whatever. But you wouldn't hear Cheap Imitation there either. My point is simply that Cheap Imitation, rather than being a one-off, is perhaps better seen as the beginning of a trend of very occasional concessions to traditional melodic and harmonic content.

Here is the rest of that trend, in chronological order (possibly there are some omissions - I might be forgetting something, and in any case I haven't heard all of Cage's later works - but I think this is sufficient to establish that Cheap Imitation is not quite as incongruous as is sometimes supposed):

Cheap Imitation (1969) - transformation of Socrate by Satie

44 Harmonies from Apartment House 1776 (1976) - transformation of various musics from the time of the American revolution

Quartets I-VIII (1976) - transformation of various musics from the time of the American revolution

Some of the Harmony of Maine (1978) - transformation of The Harmony of Maine by Supply Belcher

Hymns and Variations (1979) - transformation of hymns by William Billings

Litany for the Whale (1980)

ear for EAR (Antiphonies) (1983)

Souvenir (1983) - composed on request for a work similar to Cage's Dream (1948)

Eight Whiskus (1984)

Perpetual Tango (1984) - transformation of a Satie piece

Sonnekus2 (1985) - transformation of a Satie piece

Swinging (1989) - transformation of a Satie piece

Four2 (1990)

Extended Lullaby (1991) - I assume that this is fairly conventional, as it's another transformation of Satie, but I haven't actually heard it, so perhaps it shouldn't be on this list

As you can see, most of the pieces are transformations of other works. I think Four2 was written for a high school choir, which perhaps explains why Cage used rather more traditional material. The one that stands out for me is Litany for the Whale, which is reminiscent of Gregorian chant and consists of very straightforward, traditional melodies. This piece really seemed to come out of nowhere (see my review of it for a bit more detail on it). ear for EAR obviously was inspired by Litany.