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Donaueschinger Musiktage 2004
Unusually, the 2004 annual COL LEGNO release from the Donaueschinger Musiktage is devoted to the work of one composer, Englishman Benedict Mason, and to just one extensive and curiously-titled work, commissioned in 2001 by the German Südwestrundfunk. Specially written for the hall in Donaueschingen where this live recording of the work’s first performance was made, Mason’s music explores space and acoustic, as well as the character of a variety of instruments, to fascinating effect.
Sings Dhrupad
Master of dhrupad traditional indian chant,present an exceptional performance live in Bombay, Morning meditation. With a 20 Page booklet. "This recording illustrates Amelia Cuni's highly original musicianship... A great deal of her music's appeal rests on the resplendent luminosity of her voice, and the emotional intensity with which she charges her renditions." - Deepak S.Raja
Arbete Och Fritid
Much needed reissue of this long-lived Swedish band's fourth album, from 1973, with an excellent 20' bonus track from 1974 tagged on. Terry Riley's 1967 visit to Sweden and his work with these musicians when they were still just young ones in High School resonates here, and you get a weird and vibrant mixture of Riley, the Third Ear Band, bits of free improvisation and ancient Swedish folk music all blended into an excellent, droney whole.
Karawane Der Mystiks
Alfred Otterstaetter began playing music in the late '70s, releasing homemade tapes and records under different band names. Blumen des Exotischen Eises LP was released in '86 in the quantity of 100 copies on his Dead Eye Records. It was recorded between '83 and '85 and consisted of spontaneous music, some of it played by Alfred alone on different instruments with overdubs, and some with friends. Some tracks have early '70s open-air spaced out feel, others -- more heavy hypnotic Teutonic sound. O…
Musica Viva 02
Musica Viva 02: Space and sound, modernism and pluralism, "perfect harmony" and, finally, the fascination of collectively organized fireflies.
How To Get Started
"John Cage conceived How To Get Started almost as an afterthought -- a performance substituting for another that was previously planned in 1989 for delivery at 'Sound Design: An Invitational Conference on the Uses of Sound for Radio Drama, Film, Video, Theater and Music' presented by Bay Area Radio Drama at Sprocket Systems, Skywalker Ranch, in Nicasio, California. In his introduction, Cage talks about the difficulty of initiating the creative process, while exploring the usefulness of im…
String Quartets Vol. 3 (Nos. 7-9)
String Quartets Nos. 7, 8 and 9 suggest that Rihm has finally left behind the neo-romantic expressive pathos of earlier compositions: “Real or virtual allusions to the past are rarely to be found any more – and the same holds of the luscious and revelling strings. Remnants of tonal harmony are, with a few exceptions, almost completely obliterated. … Instead, new constellations come to the fore, emancipated from traditional conceptions of sound – heeding, in particular, the principle of polarity …
Casse-tete
Composed in 1979 and edited on LP in 1984 by Amaryllis. Reissue on cd by Oral, 2008. Contrary to an electronic music delighting itself in soaring above reality in self abstraction, the concrete music of Bernard Bonnier has a down on earth hearing, and a dancing too, altough now and then out of beat. Bernard Bonnier has defined chameleon-music as: '...a mime* trying to beat its parth through the puzzle (casse-tête: literally 'head-breaker') of soliciting madness, sundowns, violence, science, love…
Musica Viva 11
Today, the piano concertos by Béla Bartók are regarded as works of classic modernism and are considered suitable even for conservative audiences. Musica Viva, the concert series for contemporary music in Munich, included the piano concertos in their program back in 1957, a time when it was by no means a matter of course to hear this music in established concert halls. The man at the piano was one of the greatest of his trade: Géza Anda, a fervent and uncompromising advocate of Bartók's oeuvre, w…
The Rara Requiem
Added to these are bits and pieces of first names of real people and opera characters, and numerous quotes from older works by Sylvano Bussotti – who combines it all to a work that is also a grand opera: The Rara Requiem was written as the third part (acts 4 and 5) of Lorenzaccio (1968-72), the story of a renaissance man. A pandemonium of sounds, the subtotal of Bussotti's previous oeuvre – and the celebration of a proud renaissance man who confronts death with the courage of contempt. "The musi…
Der Tod und das Mädchen II
The tale of the Sleeping Beauty set somewhere between science fiction and biting social criticism. In her texts Elfriede Jelinek explores the states of sleep, of apparent death, of semi-consciousness, or of being barely awake – and in doing so investigates Austrian everyday life in all its uniqueness, including all the petty power games and battles of the sexes. Jelinek's grim texts, recited by Anne Bennent, Hanna Schygulla and an artificially generated voice, are combined with Olga Neuwirth's t…
Jättiläisrotta
The burgeoning Finnish free-folk movement has been garnering much praise & attention over the past year. First CD release by Avarus who play a left-field blend of noise, folk & free jazz. From the same circle of psychos who bring us Kemialliset Ystavat, Maniac's Dream, Pylon & the Anaksimandros. Backward, dirt-eating freak folk that makes the Animal Collective sound like Judy Collins.
(Old school) Karlheinz Stockhausen
This is the fourth release in the series [old school]. The first three CDs, dedicated to the music of John Cage [zkr0009], James Tenney [zkr0010] and Alvin Lucier [zkr0011] have been highly acclaimed. London's Wire Magazine wrote: 'The rigour and discipline they collectively bring to this compositions make both discs utterly enthralling, from start to finish.' The new release is dedicated to the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen.' 'I do not want a spiritualistic session. I want music.' Karlheinz St…
Las Orillas
“It seems most important to me not to stop being a connoisseur; I freely confess that I would rather be considered a hedonist than an analyst.” This statement by Luis de Pablo is reflected in his music; not in violent yet superficial currents of sound but in finely differentiated sound as de Pablo’s Las Orillas (1990) demonstrates: “The composition is very linear, particularly in the slower parts. The orchestration has therefore been planned especially thoroughly such that each voice has a meani…
Une Soirée Vian
The Soirée Vian, a kind of meta-cabaret created in 1991 based on a commission by the WDR, develops along the narrative red thread of Boris Vian's novel The red grass and turns into a dizzying journey through the absurdly crazy worlds of Vian's universe. The fullness and polystylism of this venture undertaken by Denys Bouliane might indeed almost make the listener dizzy, not least due to the fantastic performance by the electro-acoustic ensemble "Série B." Their "musical roller coaster ride from …
Pléiades
Featured works: "Pléiades" and Psappha." Performed by Kroumata Percussion Ensemble; Gert Mortensen, percussion. "Xenakis has been very interested in percussion music -- ever since his orchestral piece 'Terretektorh (1966) in which the instrumental forces are spread throughout the hall, by way of 'Psappha' (1975) for a lone percussion virtuoso all the way to 'Pléiades' (1979) for six percussionists -- perhaps the largest composition in the entire percussion repertoire, and the most daring …
Bad Boy\'s Piano Music
George Antheil was not only always ahead of his time; he was also an alert contemporary and ready to take in all artistic trends of the first half of the 20th century. There was hardly a kind of music he wasn't aware of, hardly a madness he didn't take part in, and hardly a scandal he missed, or missed to cause. All his personal entanglements are certainly reflected in his compositions – and we wouldn't expect any less from him; but his continuing reputation as a genuinely unique character is ne…
Whitehouse
This project involves the unique German avant-garde orchestra performing a selection of tracks from the Whitehouse catalogue. The rehearsals and mixing were done in collaboration with William Bennett but he doesn't actually perform on the recordings. Anyone familiar with Zeitkreitzer's Rendition of Lou Reed classic Metal Machine Music will be fully aware that these guys can magnificently translate noise music and in this case electronic music through acoustic interments. Bennet's compositions h…
Happy days
Back in stock. Released: 1997.Jim O'Rourke is a rarity: a genuine bridge between the avant-garde and the underground. From his production work (Smog, Wilco, Faust) to his own freewheeling excursions as a solo performer and member of outfits like Gastr del Sol and Sonic Youth, his work continues to bring the out there in here. Happy Days pits a lone guitar against a phalanx of hurdy-gurdies, a decided shift away from the composer's electronic-based work. A roiling hornet's next of activity that F…
