★Pogus Productions
In defense of the machine
This new cd by Brazilian composer Jorge Antunes, one of the pioneers of electronic music in South America consists of 7 works for instruments and tape, composed between 1965 and 2003. Canção da Paz was composed in 1965, and is one of the first pieces in Brazilian music history to use a traditional instrument accompanied by pre-recorded electronic sounds. Insubstituível 2ª was written for the cellist Iberê Gomes Grosso (1905-1983). Antunes was an early pioneer in electronic music. The piece, alm…
Music
A 3 CD set of works by electronic music composer/performer Lou Cohen. This release is a fantastic overview of his works since around 2003, with over three hours of music. Most of these pieces were composed by means of algorithmic and stochastic processes, with emphasis on granular synthesis. Lou Cohen uses Csound as his primary tool for realizing compositions. Csound is a well-known, open-source, programmable music synthesizer. Its antecedents (called 'MUSIC,' 'MUSIC II,' 'MUSIC III,' e…
Tensions at the Vanguard: New Music from Peru (1948-1979)
This new Pogus 2CD compilation, curated by Luis Alvarado (writer, journalist, sound poet), presents some of the most important pieces of the Peruvian musical vanguard of the 1960s and '70s, offering a representative sample of works and composers from this important period in Peruvian music. This release also includes a 24-page booklet in both Spanish and English with an essay giving an overview of the works, the composers, and a brief musical and social history of Peru during this time. T…
Fame
This new CD, Fame, the first all sound poetry release on Pogus, consists of 20 new polypoems produced by noted Italian sound poet, scholar, and sound poetry archivist Enzo Minarelli between 2008 and 2010. Since the early 1970s, Enzo Minarelli has been developing his multiple activities, starting from the written word, which will become related to orality, visuality, performance and television. He has been active in the field of linear and visual poetry, creating several one-man shows and a…
E (and sometimes why)
If, Bwana is always Al Margolis. Trio Scordatura is Elisabeth Smalt, viola d'amore; Alfrun Schmid, voice; Bob Gilmore, keyboard/laptop. The new 2 cd magnum opus by If, Bwana (Al Margolis) has been almost 3 years in the making. It is the first time he has composed works (usually with prerecorded sounds) specifically for another ensemble. Gilmore's Girls, Ringing (Ano)the(r) Bell, and Diapason, maybe were specifically written for Trio Scordatura. Cicada 4AA was the first piece of If, Bwana's…
In the Library of Dreams
'I was going to write about how this is an absolutely beautiful and disturbing record, but I think quoting from the liner notes of James Pritchett really does sum it up. 'Frances White invites us to take a walk through her Resonant Landscape. Where are we going? We are walking through the woods, marshes, and streams of New Jersey. She points out the birds and frogs that make their home there, the water that flows through it and the wind that shakes the trees. But then we turn and there is…
Digital Voices
Aviformes; Kamana; Parcours pour Santur; Paroles sur Lèvres; Paroles sur Langue; Lumière sans Ombre. Barbara Zanichelli, soprano; Anna Maria Kieffer, mezzo-soprano; Nicholas Isherwood, bass. Leo Kupper was born in Belgium in 1935. He worked with Henri Pousseur at the first electronic music studio in Belgium and is founder and director of the Studio de Recherches et de Structurations Electroniques Auditives in Brussels. This is his 3rd release on Pogus and he remains a master at working with elec…
The Almond
The Almond started as a short study for trumpet for the British website Compost and Height. Nate Wooley, a rising young composer known mostly for his radical recontextualization of the trumpet in improvisation and jazz music, was, at the time, feeling constricted by the sound based language he had been using up to that point in both his live solo playing and his earlier solo records. His goal was to make a true solo trumpet record, using only the trumpet as it was intended to be played with no e…
Pieces From The Past: By Philip Corner For The Violin of Malcolm
Five works spanning 30 years from composer Philip Corner written for violinst Malcolm Goldstein, early notated works and later graphic works, four of the pieces from live recordings. "It has been a while in the works, but finally Pogus can proudly announce the release of this wonderful disc. Five works spanning 30 plus years by experimental composer Philip Corner, interpreted by his friend and fellow composer and utterly amazing violinist Malcolm Goldstein. These works consist of early pieces w…
Almost New York
"Twonings" with Charles Curtis, cello and Joseph Kubera, piano. "Almost New York" with Robert Dick, flutes. "Broken Line" with Robert Dick, flute, Danny Tunick, vibraphone, and Joseph Kubera, piano. "Coda Variations" with Robin Hayward, tuba. Pogus is extremely delighted to release this 2 CD set of recordings of works by Alvin Lucier. He is one of the key experimental artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, and is one of my favorite composers. A unique and individual artist: No one sounds quite …
Onta
“Pogus is very pleased to release its second recording by composer Dimitri Voudouris, a South African composer of Greek birth. As Massimo Ricci wrote in his Touching Extremes review of the first Pogus release: "Voudouris is interested in the 'research of cognitive psycho-acoustic behavioral patterns in humans and the behavior of sound in relationship to continued environmental changes'. Don't let the composer's difficult description fool you into thinking about some kind of cerebral pretentiousn…
(1975-1991)
Just arrived! The research-performance group kiva was created in 1975 by the American trombonist John Silber and the French percussionist Jean-Charles François as part of a research project at the Center for Music Experiment at the University of California San Diego. During the period of its existence (1975-91) various members (often graduate students from UCSD) joined the two permanent musicians, John Silber and Jean-Charles François, to contribute to the groups artistic production. Two persona…
Peruvian electroacoustic and experimental music (1964-1970)
splendid double CD set documenting César Bolaños - one of the leading artists of the Latin American avant-garde of the mid 20th century - amazing early electronic work. The recordings bring together for the first time a definitive edition of his work on a double CD, the music have been digitalised directly from the original tapes and really have a fabulous clarity. So much music these days is labelled as experimental but I often I ask myself if it's creators are genuinely experimenting. That ce…
Equus
Equus is a collaborative work of musique concrète recorded in 2001-02 on a commission from the INA GRM It is truly a delight for Pogus to add this title to our catalog. As Capparos notes: Equus guides us through human memory and history. It may sound a bit strange that sound & music would appear as a vehicle, or as we had cast a lead into a labyrinth. This brings us to the question of whether we are alive or not; travelling the path throughout these soundings would drive us down and up our consc…
Source: Music Of The Avant Garde - Source Records 1-6, 1968-1971
Astoundingly great collection of some of the classic pieces from the 60s avant-garde / live electronic music wave presented here as originally issued (in chronological order) by larry austin & stanley lunetta via their “source: music of the avant garde” magazine & 10” record series between 1967 and 1973 .... Source Records 1 and 2 with Robert Ashley: The Wolfman (1964). David Behrman: Wave Train (1966). Larry Austin: Accidents (1967). Allan Bryant: Pitch Out (1967). Source Records 3 and 4 with A…
Favorite encores
A split CD of works by Noah Creshevsky (4 tracks) and If, Bwana (3 tracks). While on the face of it this may seem a somewhat odd pairing, the pieces recorded here comment on and highlight each other. And an aural adventure is indeed in the offing. Trained in composition by Nadia Boulanger in Paris and Luciano Berio at Juilliard, Noah Creshevsky has taught at Juilliard, Princeton University, and Brooklyn College. He was director of the Center For Computer Music (1994-2000) and is currently Profes…
Love & Lamentation
It must have been quite some years since I last heard music by Simon Wickham-Smith, but there was a time when I played it a lot, especially the various albums he recorded with Richard Youngs. But I guess that's how things go. Interest shifts I assume. To be honest, again, I have no idea when I left off, or why. But its good, as well as strange perhaps to see him back on Pogus Productions. On the cover I read that 'not satisfied with making music, he has also been a Buddhist monk in the Tibetan t…
Lingua II: Maledetto / Antiphony VIII
The work and thought of the American composer Kenneth Gaburo (1926-1993) exhibited many striking changes during his lifetime. In fact, while the world of commercial endeavor still insists that artists develop a recognizable personal "style," Gaburo's life-work can be seen as one of continual change and exploration, rather than one of codification and promotion. Some of these changes are beautifully illustrated by the two works on this CD, Maledetto, for seven speaking voices, from 1967-68, and A…
Prochronisms
Morphogenesis, made up of: Clive Graham, Roger Sutherland, Ron Briefel, Micha, Fred Sansom, and Andy Courdry, was formed in 1985. They were interested in exploring the possibilities of live electronics and collective improvisation. The members have diverse musical backgrounds, including teaching electonic music at Morley College and playing in other groups ranging from Cornelius Cardew's Scratch Orchestra, Nurse with Wound and Organum. Only one copy available.
Combine And Laminates
long time deleted now, this recording is one of their finest. "Combine + Laminates" tends to seesaw between aggressive, noisy sections dominated by Prevost and softer drone-like territories with Tilbury's muffled piano tones in the foreground. Both areas are given immense structural support by Keith Rowe's tabletop guitar arsenal: earthshakingly deep tremors in the louder portions, quietly keening harmonics in the more serene ones. Tilbury's unique genius in integrating the piano's more "traditi…