★Other Minds
Namely
If an artists’ work is a composite of influences from others, Beth Anderson’s Namely inverts that notion, creating a work from the names themselves of her influencers. The album consists of 65 short pieces, each using the name of one of Anderson’s va…
Hyperchromatica
On his latest recording, Hyperchromatica, Kyle Gann expands on Conlon Nancarrow’s work with player pianos and multiplies it. This expansive new work was written for three computer-controlled disklavier pianos that Gann tuned to an intricate system of…
Composer-Critics of the New York Herald Tribune
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 ge…
Lexical Music
When Charles Amirkhanian’s Lexical Music was released on pioneering Bay Area record label 1750 Arch Records in 1980, it was heralded as a masterpiece of the then nascent text-sound poetry scene. The New York Times called Amirkhanian “expert at the so…
A Sweeter Music
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, Meredit…
Scenes from a New Music Séance
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 ar…
First Life: The Rare Early Works
Before the premiere of his legendary WPA political musical The Cradle Will Rock, and his opera Regina (based upon Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes), Marc Blitzstein (1905-1964) produced striking chamber music that deserves a wider audience. Yet the…
Ring of Fire
Home to earthquake swarms and volcanic eruptions, the countries of the Pacific Rim also produce some of the world’s most groundbreaking composers. San Francisco’s Del Sol String Quartet leads an inspiring seven- country tour. 20-page booklet essay by…
Hands Like Waves Unfold
Kui Dong’s first release of solo improvisations. Better known as a composer, Kui Dong’s solo improvisations playfully exploit the full range and color of her prepared piano, with a dedication to the detail of each sound that only an accomplished comp…
Songs of Ned Rorem
Originally released on LP by Columbia Records in 1964, this album features some of the most outstanding soloists of the day: Charles Bressler, Phyllis Curtin, Gianna D’Angelo, Donald Gramm, and Regina Sarfaty, accompanied at the piano by the composer…
10 + 2: 12 American Text Sound Pieces
The best-selling recording in the history of American sound poetry, 10+2 was a novelty at the time of its release in 1975, when unpitched speech was rarely used outside of literary circles as performance material. Out of print for 20 years and availa…
Ego Scriptor Cantilenae: The Music of Ezra Pound
Between 1920 and 1933, the American poet Ezra Pound composed two complete operas and several pieces for solo violin, all in a very personal language that drew from sources as diverse as troubadour music and Igor Stravinsky. The resulting body of musi…
Antheil Plays Antheil: The Rare SPA Recordings and Private Audio Documents 1942-1958
The rare SPA recordings and private audio documents, 1943-1958. Composer George Antheil (1900-1959) is most remembered for his mechanistic piano music hailed by 1920s Paris, but by 1948, when he’d become the third most-played American-born composer o…
Lost Works, Last Works
Hidden treasure is always thrilling, particularly when it means recovering the forgotten works of a great artist. This historic CD offers a selection of previously unrecorded rarities by composer Conlon Nancarrow, including Piece for Tape, a dazzling…
The Virtuoso Pianolist
This CD marks the first time that Igor Stravinsky’s own pianola version of his famous composition Les Noces has been released commercially. In addition, Rex Lawson’s ingenious arrangements of well-known classics, including Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhaps…
Solo for voice 58 : 18 microtonal ragas
**2021 stock** The world premiere recording of Solo for Voice 58 by legendary American avant-garde composer John Cage. Italian-German dhrupad singer Amelia Cuni is the ideal interpreter, trained in classical Indian singing but also able to improvise …
Studies for Player Piano
The definitive recording of Conlon Nancarrow’s Studies for Player Piano, originally released on LP by 1750 Arch Records, newly remastered in spectacular sound, representing the most faithful reproduction of what Nancarrow heard in his own studio. Thi…