Charlemagne Palestine
Charlemagne Palestine is an American minimalist composer, performer, and visual artist. A contemporary of Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Phill Niblock, and Steve Reich, Palestine wrote intense, ritualistic music in the 1970s, intended by the composer to rub against Western audiences’ expectations of what is beautiful and meaningful in music. A composer-performer originally trained to be a cantor, he always performed his own works as soloist. His earliest works were compositions for carillon and electronic drones, and he is perhaps best known for his intensely performed piano works. He also performs as a vocalist.
Charlemagne Palestine is an American minimalist composer, performer, and visual artist. A contemporary of Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Phill Niblock, and Steve Reich, Palestine wrote intense, ritualistic music in the 1970s, intended by the composer to rub against Western audiences’ expectations of what is beautiful and meaningful in music. A composer-performer originally trained to be a cantor, he always performed his own works as soloist. His earliest works were compositions for carillon and electronic drones, and he is perhaps best known for his intensely performed piano works. He also performs as a vocalist.
The God Bear Archives II
*90 copies limited edition* During the year 2021, Charlemagne Palestine entrusted us with numerous archives recently found on audio cassettes dating from the 70s and 80s. After a long process of listening and selection, we are pleased to present the second volume of these archives to you.
CHARRRLLEEMMMA GGGNEELANDDDDDS SS”””””” CCCRREATTO RRSSSSSCCCARILLON NNN”””””””” DINGGGDONGGGDINGGGzzzzzzz ferrrr SSSOFTTT DIVINI TIESSSSS!!!!!!!!! with STTT THOMASSS ‘’’’”‘”DINGG GDONGGGDINGGGzzz zzzz ferrrr TONYYY’’’’’’’’
DINGGGDONGGGDINGGGzzzzzzz!!!!!!! In the newest record by the iconoclastic Brooklyn-born composer Charlemagne Palestine (b. 1947), find two mesmerizing works for carillon, the keyboard-controlled bell tower derived in the 16th century. On side A, a new piece recorded at the artist’s studio in Belgium—a high-ceiling, stuffed-animal-packed paradise he calls Charleworld—among friends and “divinities,” his name for the thousands of plush toys he’s amassed since the ’60s. On the flip side, Blank Forms…
The God Bear Archives I
*300 copies limited edition* During the year 2021, Charlemagne entrusted us with numerous archives recently found on audio cassettes dating from the 70s and 80s. After a long process of listening and selection, we are pleased to present the first volume of these archives to you.
theeOorgannnissstheeGgreattestttSsynthesizerrrEverrrrrrrr
*2023 stock* Charlemagne Palestine's performance on the organ of the Friedenskirche, Eupen for the reihe-M showcase at the Meakusma Festival 2019 was one of the many highlights of that year's festival edition. This record features the full live performance as Palestine conjures up his dense definition of maximized minimalism, introducing the performance with a minimalist drone and himself singing on top. His voice touches upon melancholy and the absurd and gives the piece context and direction. …
ਚੈਨਲKAANALचैनलRÁÐעָרוּץ
**Blue vinyl Limited Edition to 300 numbered copies ** Matière Mémoire presents ਚੈਨਲKAANALचैनलRÁÐעָרוּץ by Charlemagne palestine, Oren Ambarchi and Eric Thielemans.
Illuminations / Meditative Sound Environments (2 LP in bundle)
** 365 copies ** This bundle includes the two LPs Charlemagne Palestine and Simone Forti released by Alga Marghen: "Illuminations" and "Meditative Sound Environments".Awesome Alga Marghen re-release presenting "Illuminatios", or Charlemagne Palestine and Simone Forti duo interactions, illuminated with dim red lights.
In early 1970 Morton Subotnick asked Charlemagne Palestine to join his soon to be created Media Department at the new “Dream School of the Future” endowed by the Disneys to be calle…
Illuminations
** 365 copies, remastered edition ** Awesome Alga Marghen re-release presenting "Illuminations", or Charlemagne Palestine and Simone Forti duo interactions, illuminated with dim red lights.
In early 1970 Morton Subotnick asked Charlemagne Palestine to join his soon to be created Media Department at the new “Dream School of the Future” endowed by the Disneys to be called the California Institute of the Arts. Charlemagne and Simone Forti met there in 1970, when La Monte Young asked them to arrange…
Meditative Sound Environments
** 365 copies ** «I met Simone through Dr. Richard Alpert, a professor at Columbia University who went to India to study with a Hindu guru and he himself became a guru afterwards called Baba Ram Dass. Coming back to US he brought Pandit Pran Nath with him. It was a time when everybody was experimenting. All came with a lot of orientalism because people were into timelessness, meditation and being stoned. It was in that atmosphere that I met Simone because she also knew Pran Nath. Around that tim…
October 24, 1975
**Tape Limited Edition to 100 numbered copies ** A few months after the release of the legendary Strumming in 1974, Charlemagne Palestine gave a masterful and powerful 56 minutes performance in Antwerp in an exciting concert series. With the work and the precious help of M KHA and Lotte Beckwé, we were able to find this recording. We are pleased to offer you this unreleased performance on cassette and CD
MMXX Bundle #2
This special bundle collects the second five releases in the MMXX Series: Charlemagne PalestineJim O’RourkeSusana Santos SilvaKarbé DinelGiuseppe IelasiMatière Mémoire presents the MMXX Series. In anticipation of the year 2020, Matière Mémoire asked 20 great artists to create an original 20 minutes piece and an artwork. Throughout this year, each quarter will see the release of 5 new vinyls, available individually or as a bundle. Each record is limited at 500 copies and comes as a crystal clear …
MMXX-06
Matière Mémoire presents the MMXX Series. In anticipation of the year 2020, Matière Mémoire asked 20 great artists to create an original 20 minutes piece and an artwork. Throughout this year, each quarter will see the release of 5 new vinyls, available individually or as a bundle. Each record is limited at 500 copies and comes as a crystal clear vinyl featuring an original track of 20 minutes on one side, and a laser engraved artwork on the other. Each contained in a transparent sleeve printed w…
Sssseegmmeentss Frrooom Baaari
Stochastic music for percussion and synthesizers from New York avant conceptualist and keyboardist Charlemagne Palestine, here on voice, piano & electronics, with the Italian duo Trrmà a multifaceted project formed by Giovanni Todisco (percussion) and Giuseppe Candiano (synthetizers) in two side-long works of irregular rhythm, complexity and dissonance that build and recede in a suspenseful journey. Recorded in 2018.
Desert Plants
**Essential reading!** Walter Zimmermann interviews Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff, John Cage, Philip Corner, Jim Burton, Phil Glass, Steve Reich, Robert Ashley, Alvin Lucier, Joan La Barbara, Pauline Oliveros, David Rosenboom, Richard Teitelbaum, Larry Austin, James Tenney, J. B. Floyd (about Conlon Nancarrow), La Monte Young, Charlemagne Palestine, Charles Morrow, Garrett List, John Mc Guire and Ben Johnston (about Harry Partch).
Ffroggssichorddd
**200 copies** A famous English conductor said that the harpsichord sounded like "two skeletons copulating on a tin roof". An instrument that was once the basis of every orchestra and chamber ensemble was long ago replaced by the stronger and, for some, sweeter sounding piano. Now the harpsichord is very much the preserve of specialists and early-music supporters and has seen very little progress in design. Enter architect and musical philosopher John Körmeling. In addition to designing utopian …
P V T
**Edition of 500 copies on clear vinyl.** In October 2013, Charlemagne Palestine, Mika Vainio and Eric Thielemans got together for the first time, meeting each other at Les Ateliers Claus in Brussels, for a 4 day residency and 2 live performances. The music of the residency takes, edited by Thielemans, mixed and mastered by Frederic Allstadt, is now released on Godbear, Charlemagne Palestine’s archival music label.Charlemagne Palestine: piano, voice and organMika Vainio: electronics and live pro…
Mort Aux Vaches
**2LP Limited Edition 125 copies. Transparent Blue Vinyl.** First time on vinyl, brand new mastering, and new cover design (a 1974 drawing by Charlemagne Palestine). This is the first release in the 'GodBear' series, a project consisting in the re-issue of existing works and production of unreleased material by Charlemagne. In partnership with the Charlemagne Palestine Foundation. It’s hard to believe now, but until the mid-1990s, many of the most important figures American musical minimalism - …
Arpeggiated Bösendorfer + Falsetto Voice
Small repress available. Within the history of 20th century music, and across the legacies of musical Minimalism, few voices command more respect and adoration than that of Charlemagne Palestine. Discovered by Tony Conrad working in the shadows, once unveiled, the pianist, organ player, and composer, rapidly became a seminal voice in the 1960’s and 70’s New York sonic avant-garde - contributing many the ideas which came to define that movement. While Palestine has returned to us in recent years …
Aaangelicaaa May 10th 2015
Strummmmminggg for Stringggggsss N Thingggggsss is a reworking of Charlemagne Palestine’s venerable Strumming Music from the early 70s. If you’re familiar with the string ensemble version of the piece included on the Sub Rosa reissue Strumming Music then you will not be fully prepared for this. Palestine begins solo, keening in falsetto over rubbed glasses; the strings come in lower pitched, with cellos and basses augmenting the violins. The heavier texture, with Palestine’s singing, creates a r…
The Goldennn Meeenn + Sheeenn
CD Edition. Venerable composer and pianist Charlemagne Palestine revisits his seminal 1976 work ‘The Golden Mean’ in duo with enigmatic artist Rrose, reprising a dialogue started 10 years ago when Rrose was studying at Mills College and looking for a score to Charlemagne’s amazing ‘Strumming Music’…“In 2018 the Festival Variations in Nantes commissions Palestine to perform The Golden Mean, reworking the piece for two pianists. Palestine chose Rrose to join him in this new rendition of the work. …
A Sweet Quasimodo Between Black Vampire Butterflies For Maybeck
Charlemagne Palestine's A Sweet Quasimodo Between Black Vampire Butterflies For Maybeck is a piece for two pianos played simultaneously in a tremolo style that Palestine calls “strumming,” a technique that has defined his piano music since the late ’60s. It spins out its sonic tapestry in surges and ebbs, and dense sonorities with hypnotically dancing overtones grow from its few opening pitches.This live recording from the Maybeck recital hall also contains Palestine’s short comments about his l…