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Monday at LACMA, Joel Sachs will perform some of composer John Cage’s works from 1948.

John Cage, one of the most recognized composers of the 20th century, may be best known for a time when he was silent.

One of his most famous pieces, “4’33,” is four minutes and thirty-three seconds of a pianist onstage, not playing, where only the noise generated by the audience and ambiance of the concert hall are considered the “music” of the piece.

However, this Monday, Cage will be remembered for what he did in between the silence. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is hosting a performance of the music of this truly unique American composer. Pianist Joel Sachs will be playing several pieces composed by the icon and innovator Cage.

Besides using silence to create new ways of appreciating and understanding music, Cage experimented with radios, phonographs, computer programs and Zen Buddhism in his works.

His works were composed over a span of six decades and include a mix of styles and approaches to music that make it tough to identify one particular work or period as more notable or significant than any other. But in Monday’s performance, Sachs focuses in on one particular year in Cage’s prolific career, playing several works the composer created during 1948.

These pieces were composed just a few years before Cage began incorporating randomness and chance in his works, using devices that make it difficult for the performer to control how a particular piece would sound. But for Monday’s concert, Sachs knows what the pieces will sound like.

“There’s nothing improvised about these particular pieces,” said Sachs. “The only thing you can’t predict is how the piano will react. All pianos are a little different, so it’s impossible to have a performance sound exactly the same twice.”

The performance features the “Sonatas and Interludes,” one of Cage’s best-known works, as well as “Suite for Toy Piano,” “Dream” and “In a Landscape.” Sachs will be playing all of them on the piano, but as would be expected with a performance of John Cage’s music, none of it will be standard piano playing.

“Suite for Toy Piano” is actually played on a children’s toy piano, which creates a more high-pitched sound and incorporates an element of humor to the performance.

For “Sonatas and Interludes,” Sachs will perform using the Cage invention of the “prepared piano,” which is constructed by strategically placing household objects like screws, pieces of plastic and pieces of felt onto the piano’s hammers. The placement of these objects transforms the piano music into that of a percussive orchestra, creating a variety of sounds and musical textures.

“Everything about the sound changes, there’s a large variety of colors, it’s extremely beautiful,” said Sachs.

But while the objects expand the sound of the piano, they also mute the instrument’s output.

“The prepared piano makes the instrument much quieter, actually. I’m hoping the air conditioner won’t be working,” said Sachs.

An award-winning musical director, writer and professor, Sachs is the founder and conductor of the New Juilliard Ensemble as well as co-director of the new music group Continuum, which has performed nationally and internationally in countries such as Central and South America, Armenia, Mongolia and Uzbekistan.

Sachs has performed these specific Cage works several times since the early 1990s, and most recently 2 years ago in Brazil.

Sachs also knew Cage personally during the last 20 years of the composer’s life and he has high regard for him.

“(Cage) was a very inspiring person. He had guts when it came to artistic ideas,” said Sachs. “He was a very amusing and nice person.”

Joel Sachs performs at LACMA Nov. 17. Student admission is free. Call the ticket office at (323) 857-6010 for more information.