Composition / All styles

Margaret Leng Tan's second recording, on piano: Cage's Primitive and In the Name of the Holocaust (first recordings), Hovhaness, Crumb, Satoh's Cosmic Womb for two pianos with digital delay, and Ge Gan-ru's Gu Yue. Released in 1988.

One  could  take Wolfram Schurig's Ultima  Thule  for  five  ensembles,  a  work  whose  mere  instrumentation  in-vokes  that  utopian  place  which,  according  to  the composer, should automatically be the goal of any authentic  artistic  activity,  as  a  motto  for  Wolfram Schurig‘s  entire  compositional œuvre.  In  ancient Greece,  the  name  Thule  referred  to  the  northern-most part of the world, whose accessibility and actual existence, however, remained uncertain. Since Virgil,  th…

With each composition, Annesley Black embarks courageously on a new experiment with an open future; while at the beginning of the compositional process the material can still mean many things, it gradually ceases to do so. And at some point, all ambiguities are cleared up: the piece stands. The paths that have led to this point are ultimately paradoxical: they are “immensely labyrinthine and completely logical at the same time” (Black). In their own unique way, the pieces gathered on this CD pre…

* 2021 stock * Acousmatic events dispense with performers. There are no musicians, even at public concerts. The audience is able to follow what is emanating from the loudspeakers with eyes closed and still not miss anything. What it hears is composed, and demands the same attention as any other kind of music listened to on a stereo system or via headphones. It is worth remarking this fact because so many people are no longer able to hear things without seeing something as well in video clips or …

*2020 stock* Unlike my earlier freetonal and 12-tone works, my music since 1981 has been characterized by the use of repetition, and since 2004 by generally soft dynamics. While often termed "minimalist" or "postminimalist," I have come to prefer the term "focused music," as my works tend to concentrate on very specific, and often a limited number of, music elements. Typically, there is but a single dynamic level specified, and sometimes not even that. I like to provide a good deal of freedom fo…

*2020 stock* The double CD Improvisaciones is an homage to the Iberian baroque organ. Germán Valverde Usano’s music reminds one of the rich music tradition of the autonomous community of Castile and León as well as its rich cultural heritage with over 100 conserved Iberian baroque organs. The recordings took place in 2016 in San Agustín in Capillas not far from the capital city Palencia (Spain). Germán Valverde Usano’s passion for the Iberian organ as well as his extraordinary musical talent are…

The work of LA based music-maker John Krausbauer has so much to do with minimalism as with trance music as with soundart experimentation and "performance based" sound forms. And where, as he himself states, the "Trance-Psychedelia is the aim and goal". Firmly rooted in the 60s/70s Minimalist movement of LaMonte Young and The Theater of Eternal Music, as well as the trajectory out of that...(with the likes of Conrad, Flynt, Wada, Palestine, Chatham; Oliveros, Radigue etc etc), "beats" also touch …

From early beginnings to the present: The composer Bruno Strobl began his studies in composition comparatively late. First came his degree as a classroom teacher, the profession in which he worked until retirement, guiding countless pupils towards music, including contemporary art mu-sic. His own interest in electroacoustic music was triggered during his studies in the 1980s, and one of his early pieces for tape, Hiatus, can be heard on this CD. The Latin “hiatus” means gap, and the basis of thi…

Bruno Strobl has a soft spot for sounds – for decades, he has been tinkering with them, changing them, playing with them. In the past by means of analog sound processing machines, for a long time by computer software and electronic instruments. Mostly, however, it is an analog sound that he takes as a starting point. Three sound generators are the core of his interest for the pieces collected on this CD. Three working tools moreover: a circular saw of the craftsman, four old water mills of the L…

*In process of  stocking* The score for ‘Truth, exercise for a listener’ comprises a catalogue of options for a musical performer. In four parts each focusing on a different facet of our faculty to listen, it offers open ended material for the performer to deal with; sounding actions, silent actions, still actions, moving actions, interpretative actions. All can be selected, combined, omitted or extended at will. Multiple exercises can happen simultaneously. In a general sense the piece is an at…

Could you imagine music as a geyser? Erupting violently, waiting on tense standby, forever renewing itself... Or, just the contrary, as a sigh? An operatic sospiri, inhaling and exhaling, a tangible, rhythmic fluctuation... Or as walking with your eyes closed with full alertness to the sounds of unknown origin? That’s what Marcin Stańczyk’s music is like.The milestone of his career turned out to be the composition Sighs (2008–10, rev. 2012) for chamber- or symphonic orchestra. It got him the pre…

** In process of stocking ** Kairos presents Parametrical Counterpoint by José Luis Hurtado. Composer José Luis Hurtado’s music has been performed across continents by ensembles and soloists such as the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, JACK Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, the Callithumpian Consort, CEPROMUSIC Ensemble, Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, Quatuor Molinari, Émile Girard -Charest, Lora Kmieliauskaite, Tony Arnold, Garth Knox, Claire Chase, Le Nouvel En…

Saturations is a composition by Danish multidisciplinary artist Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard, and features a clarinet choir consisting of 19(!) clarinet players. Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard (b. 1979) considers his work to be a basic research in realities working within the domains of imaginary & physical sound as well as other non-sonic media, and since 2012 Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard has experimented with creating music that lets the instruments transcend their inherent sonic norms and reappear in another for…

* In pocess of stocking * In Better Shape Than You Found Me is a one-hour piece jointly composed and realized by American composer/violist Jordan Dykstra and Dutch composer/musician Koen Nutters in the year 2020. Dykstra plays viola, pitch pipe, crotales, piano EBow, electronic programming, field recordings, and Nutters delivers the piano programming and field recordings. The two bring together their sounds and structures in very organic ways, merging into a single, intriguing sound world. Maste…

Neuma presents the complete recordings of Roger Reynolds’s "imAgE" series (2007-2015). The series features six pairs of comparatively short, related works that showcase several solo instruments: flute; viola; cello; contrabass; piano; and guitar. Each pair, composed for the same instrument, represents opposing ideas- the first is evocative, and the second is more articulate and punctuated. All works were composed for the performers on the album.

Two works from different periods come together in this "case-book": Ora (1997/2001) and Visitazioni (2011/ 2013). Times ... ways ... experiences intersect. Ora is a single stream of sounds and silences of 120 minutes. It can be "healed" (replaced) according to the feel of the listener. Its division into sections - like the same graphic score - have this unique feature. Headphone listening at a low volume is absolutely privileged. Visitazioni, referring to similar principles but changing the ways…

How many sounds can a piano produce without using the keyboard? Some answers can be found in this recording, where the whole instrument is investigated using different techniques to reveal a world of unexpected richness, textures, and resonances.But it’s not just that: it’s also a journey in what the concept of “piano” became in the imagination of three composers (and a pianist). Each, in fact, gave shape to an original sonorous universe, and the task of reconnecting the subtle threads between c…

** 2021 Stock ** CP² Recordings presents In Memoriam Paul Zukofsky. This album presents the last music program designed by the late violinist/conductor Paul Zukofsky. Both Monkeys At Play and Josef Hauer’s Zwölftonspiel are first recordings. The program served as his New York memorial concert in 2017 played by pianists Aaron Likness and Andrew Zhou. All recordings were made at Oktaven Audio in Mount Vernon, NY on August 22-24, 2019, recorded and edited by Ryan Streber, mastered by Ian Turner. Ch…

** 2021 Stock ** CP² Recordings presents Shapey - Riegger - Piston - Crumb - Sollberger - Berger. Ralph Shapey: (1921-2002) Evocation For Violin, Piano, And Percussion; with Raymond Desroches, percussion; Publisher: Theodore Presser Co. Wallingford Riegger: (1885-1961) Sonatina; Publisher: E. B. Marks Music Corporation. Walter Piston: (1894-1976) Sonatina; Publisher: Boosey and Hawkes, Inc. George Crumb: (1929-) Night Music Ii; Publisher: C.F. Peters, Inc. Harvey Sollberger: (1938-) Solos; with …

** 2021 Stock ** CP² Recordings presents Roger Sessions: Duo for Violin and Piano, Sonata for Violin; Peter Mennin: Sonata Concertante; Easley Blackwood: Second Sonata. Performed by Paul Zukofsky, violin; Gilbert Kalish, Easley Blackwood, pianos. The Sessions Duo for Violin and Piano and the Mennin Sonata Concertante were both recorded at Paul Hall, The Juilliard School, NY in 1971. They were engineered by Horace W. Grenell and originally released as part of the Desto set "Music for a 20th Centu…

** 2021 Stock ** CP² Recordings presents Artur Schnabel: Dance and Secret & Joy and Peace; Sonata for Solo Violin  performed by Paul Zukofsky, Conductor and Violinist; The Gregg Smith Singers. Dance and Secret & Joy and Peace by Artur Schnabel were recorded February, 1993 at BMG (originally RCA) Studio A, New York City. Producer: Joanna Nickrenz. Sound Engineer: Jay Newland. Montage: PZ, with Elite Recordings, New York City. Mastering: Soundbyte Productions, New York City. Sonata for Solo Violin…

Putojefe Records is proud to present Vortice Rosso, the first album by Italian composer Flavio Bonometti: a tumultuous journey through the languages of the avant-garde masterfully synthesized in 12 pieces of contemporary classical. After a brilliant career as a violist at La Scala Theatre in Milan and in many other orchestras, Flavio Bonometti gave up the stage to dedicate himself exclusively to his music. The tracks of Vortice Rosso, produced and recorded over the last 10 years, are born from t…

De-formation: Piano Variations, a work for solo piano. Composed and performed by Diamanda Galas in September 2019, the 21:19 minute piece is based on the expressionist poem Das Fieberspital (The Fever Hospital). Written by German poet Georg Heym in 1912, Das Fieberspital's depiction of warehoused patients of yellow fever presaged the treatment and hiding of infected and damaged soldiers later in WWI. De-formation depicts a march and delivery of maimed and infected soldiers to hospitals and indus…

** In process of stocking ** Kairos presents Kaleidoscope by Eunho Chang. Born 1983 in Daegu, Republic of Korea, Eunho Chang began his musical studies with piano lessons at the age of seven. He studied composition at the Keimyung University, Fryderyk Chopin University of Music and obtained his PhD in musical composition at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music under the supervision of professor Marcin Błażewicz. He has been selected for various workshops and masterclasses, such as Impuls Acade…

**500 copies** This is French composer / pianist Melaine Dalibert's third solo piano album, following his well-received 2018 album Musique pour le lever du jour and 2017 album Ressac. Cheminant contains a diverse array of Dalibert's unique compositions for solo piano, ranging from the up-tempo rhythmic Percolations performed masterfully by Dalibert's right hand, to the slow, prolonged meditative Music in an octave and Cheminant, to the kaleidoscopic Étude II with the repetitive hammered chords, …

Clara de Asís composed the piece 'Without' for the duo of Erik Carlson (violin) and Greg Stuart (percussion) in 2018. In this 43-minute piece, de Asís gave a precise framework for the position and the duration of each sound section and each silence, as well as a rough outline for the texture and the volume of each sound, the use of tone or noise (or tone-noise), and the materials for the percussion, but a large part of the score was open for the two performers' freedom.In the realization of this…

Christian Wolff, piano, objects, charango, flute. Antoine Beuger, voice, whistles, EWR recordings (1995) of Christian Wolff’s “Stones”.Antoine Beuger started composing music in 1990 and has released on his own label, Edition Wandelweiser Records, as well as Erstwhile Records. Beuger’s work is best exemplified by two releases, his first, Calme Étendue (Spinoza) and A Young Person’s Guide to Antoine Beuger. Calme Étendue (Spinoza) is an album that attempts to take the 17th century philosopher Spin…

"The Popol Vuh- the Book of Counsel“ of the K'iché-Maya belongs to the most important creation myths of the early advanced civilizations in the world. A Maya from the K'iché people, who had learned Spanish during the conquista, wrote down the the texts in K'iché with Latin letters between 1545 and 1555. Before that, the texts were only passed on orally.  Father Francisco Ximenéz copied this book and translated it into Spanish. Then he returned the original to the K'iché people. In this way the b…

* 2021 stock * The structures of Chris Newman's music are apparently simple, like his music pictures: large, thick dots of notes, but a lot of space in between: "The raw and the cooked" (Roland Barthes). He himself likes to cook well and with pleasure. Just his lamb chops, for example. He only puts them in a hot pan with oil; there is also chard, just pulled out of the water, but also more complicated things: coq au vin or bœuf bourguignon.His music has a strong physical structure, is quasi carn…

*2021 stock* What is one to make of Maria de Alvear’s two long solos for piano, De puro amor (‘Of pure love’) and En amor duro (‘In hard love’), both composed in 1991. The scores themselves, if one decides to start from here, are completely perplexing. Pages and pages are marked with hastily scratched notes, sometimes repeating themselves dozens of times. Little priority seems to have been given to rhythm, dynamics or articulation; even less to the notational conventions such as barlines, spacin…

*2021 stock* Angelus novus is the third opera by Madrid composer Jorge Fernández Guerra. This time, he draws on a selection of texts by Walter Benjamin, which he uses to create a dialogue of sorts between a male character and a female character, who could be an alter ego or perhaps an angel. The dialogue appears to transpire during the final moments of the character’s life, which may be reminiscent of Benjamin’s final moments at the Spanish border as he fled the Nazis.  Angelus novus premiered a…

**2021 stock** Flores, like any other work of Maria de Alvear, deals with the ideal of inner freedom. This is not a mere claim, it is manifested in the shape of the piece itself. Written in the author's typical mixture of composition and notated improvisation, the text leaves a certain scope to the seven instrumentalists as to the elaboration of the rhythm and at times also the intonation. The score has almost no directives for the parts of the two singers: what and how the singing is performed …

The Nine Unfinished Symphonies were conceived as one entity. They are written in my musical native tongue; the musical grammar and idioms with which I have become so familiar that I can converse in them spontaneously, without thinking, so that I can devote my full attention to what I actually want to do. It appears that we need narratives, such as the ‘sacred’ number nine with symphonies, or the concept of the Unfinished, which stands in sharp contrast to the fragmentary or the ‘uncapitalized’ u…

When you are listening to his pieces and are completely at ease, they offer the listener the beauty of pure sound: I believe this also applies to his likeminded friends. Even when and if they are of a continuous narrative type, they just create the right situation to listen to sounds. As the title reveals: Painted cakes are real, too. The beautiful sounds are repeated in order to remain purely sound. This repetition does not build up a narrative, it becomes more complicated and excited not in or…

"Leukert brings back intuition into the computer-mechanical techniques of contemporary classical music. His compositions derive from the hearing experience - he has become a David Lynch for the ‘cinema pour l’oreille’, who is operating with the ironically associative scepticism of Godard. A blessing that Maria De Alvear’s small label ‘World Edition’ now produced eight of Leukert’s audio pieces on CD; among them the enchanting trilogy Wildwechsel" . - Alban Nikolai Herbst

That’s the name of the game... Marco Blaauw plays on a quartertone double bell trumpet, a shell, brought from Madagascar,a slide trumpet, piccolo trumpet, quartertone flugel horneven megaphone and flexible tube. Gijsbrecht Royé plays on a self-made bass-zither. To play on the four groups of bass grandpiano strings, he uses different kinds of sticks; two bows (normally used for double bass), metal strings, nails, brushes, knives, rat-tailed files and metal scouring pads.

* 2021 Stock * Metamusic. A suitable term for all these works, if by this we understand that musical aspects are somehow transcended, transgressed. Sitting between chairs. A transgression which leads, through interactions of materials and intentions, controlled use of randomness or indeterminacy, conceptual game of measurement or definition, to the contemplation of music itself as yet another fragment of the whole, because the sound objects may have a dramatic or musical nature. How could this w…

For a brief period between 1940 to 1954, the now-defunct paper The New York Herald Tribune maintained a staff of music critics who were valued for their ability to write about music (especially less accessible modern music) in clear language for a general audience. This groundbreaking department was headed up by composer Virgil Thomson and over the years included John Cage, Paul Bowles, Lou Harrison, and Peggy Glanville-Hicks. Around the same period, Thomson was asked to curate a series of recor…

Other Minds’ recent release of new works commissioned and performed by pianist Sarah Cahill. A Sweeter Music is a collection of new compositions based on the theme of peace and war.The composers on this disc are Frederic Rzewski, Terry Riley, Meredith Monk, Yoko Ono, The Residents, Phil Kline, Kyle Gann, and Carl Stone (in the entire project there are eighteen composers involved). Sarah commissioned these particular composers because of their commitment as anti-war activists or their strong poli…

At some point it seemed appropriate that Other Minds honor the deceased progenitors of American experimental music by presenting their music side by side with their spiritual offspring. And thus was born “A New Music Séance.” Other Minds composers are mostly individualists who have forged their own paths that are very personal and that announce their creators as boundary pushers. These individualists flourished because others, equally daring, led the way. The series was subtitled, somewhat tongu…