Reissues

The sonata originated in the Baroque as a small, one-movement form, which nevertheless already contained the core of the sonata to be later developed and composed in elaborate detail by the Viennese Classics. In his Sonatas and Interludes John Cage stuck to the concise, one-movement form, thus establishing a link to Scarlatti and Bach's preludes as well as to Chopin's Préludes and Satie's piano pieces. Other than many of his later, freer works, these small but complex gems are fixed and noted do…

A conductor enjoys the privilege of being able to reconsider his attitude to musical works over and over again. The composer Boulez adheres to the same maxim: of his own compositions he regards only very few as being finished; most of them are, to him, "work in progress." The first two pieces on this collage CD were actually withdrawn by Boulez after their premiere as he wished to think them over again. Later on, Polyphonie X (1951) in view of its extremely strict serial procedure appeared to hi…

The renowned American architects Sullivan, Wright and Mies van der Rohe are the center of attention in the composition Ekphrasis [Continuo II], even though originally Berio had no such thing in mind: "While I was working on Continuo, it was not my intention to compose a metaphor for architecture, or write a homage to the famous Chicago architects... Neither did I refer directly to the amusing but nevertheless solid constructions by Renzo Piano... However, as the work progressed I became aware th…

A king listens: its subtitle identifies Un Re in ascolto, this special combination of music and drama, as a "musical action by Luciano Berio and Italo Calvino". A dialogue between composer and writer, between different forms of theater – and also, if you like, between Shakespeare and Thomas Bernhard. And, indeed, he is a "Theatermacher", an impresario, this Prospero (Theo Adam), who is accompanied by the director (Heinz Zednik) and the actor "Friday" (Helmut Lohner) and to whom a musical and sce…

The second CD of col legno's Wien Modern Edition is dedicated to Luciano Berio, who throughout his life kept on searching for new sounds, and new instrumental and orchestral organizing principles in his work. His Sequences for solo instruments are among the most important landmarks in recent music; later on, Berio decided to "comment" on some of these notoriously complex solo works from an orchestral perspective. Chemins and Chemins IIb are adaptations of the Sequences for harp and viola. "The b…

Berg's early lieder owe their existence largely to the young composer's great interest in literature; nevertheless it was his friend Hermann Watznauer, who actually inspired him to embark on composing his first lieder around 1900/01. And Berg enjoyed himself so much that he continued along the same lines until 1903, completing another 30 lieder; even Arnold Schönberg was essentially fascinated by them: "Berg's earliest compositions, however clumsy they may have been, already reveal two qualities…

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…

Now, which are the points of contact between these two composing gentlemen? "In both composers, a childlike quality shows in their indifference (or impartiality) towards the utilizable musical material: 'sophisticated' and 'lesser' styles, ragtime and music hall, neo-gothic and bitonality, typing machine and doorbell, jocular or praising quotes – everything is linked with everything, without any previous weighing and selection, without preconditions, following a kind of anarchic play instinct. […

Numbered edition of 600 numbered copies in a trifold 10" inch sleeve with original artwork. Re-issue of the Maurizio Bianchi's early Lp Mectpyo Bakterium . Included in this re-issue is a bonus disc with 55 minutes of ultra rare material officially published on CD for the first time here.Disc 1: First two tracks are from the 1982 LP 'Mectpyo Bakterium' released by DYS Records, USA. Third track is from '40 Days/ 40 Nights' compilation on Stratosphere Music, Japan. Fourth track is from 'Internation…

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…

The master of partial tones: Ivan Wyschnegradsky continued Scriabin's harmonic principles and (successfully) searched for new tone colors.

One of the most significant musical works of the twentieth century is now available in an archive-quality recording. Only now, using surround-sound technology can the twenty-six channels be balanced out and distributed, spatially and dynamically, with minute accuracy across the five speakers: a time-consuming and fascinating task, evoking the optimist Sisyphus. With this double SACD, André Richard and Peter Hirsch’s team, who had already worked on the first performance of the then new Prometeo i…

Works of art are often triggered by private events. Sarà dolce tacere (1960), for example, was written on the occasion of the 40th birthday of Bruno Maderna, Nono's (former) teacher and close friend; and also in 1960 Nono wrote Ha venido for his daughter's first birthday. Djamila Boupachà (1962), ¿Dónde estás, hermano? (1982) and Quando stanno morendo (1982), on the other hand, are clearly expressions attributable to the politically involved, the committed cosmopolitan Nono.

"All my works always start out from a human incentive: an event, an experience, a text in our lives leads to my instinct and my conscience and wants me to bear witness, as a musician and as a man." This is how Nono, in 1960, described his motivation as a composer, the incentive inducing him to speak up through his music. His opus 1, the Canonic variations on the series of op. 41 by Arnold Schönberg, is based on the twelve-tone series used in Schönberg's composition; it actually takes effect in t…

Researching into the fringe ranges of hearing, and actually going to the limits: electronics – live or prerecorded – was one of the tools employed by Luigi Nono in pursuance of this object. In his work Das atmende Klarsein he moreover endeavored to expand the ability of listening: "Waking up the ear, the eyes, human understanding, intelligence, is what is essential today," the composer, also a politically aware man, observed in the early 1980s. Das atmende Klarsein "is a key work of Nono's final…

This piece is sung by the Swiss “deep voice”, Marianne Schuppe in trio with herself, a feat made possible by playing back recordings of her own voice. This is not minimal music; melodic lines arise, sensual, beautiful, and undoctored, swaying like a lullaby, yet boosting the overall rhythmic intensity. There cannot be many works which demand of the soloist such careful timing, intense concentration and voice control.

For Bunita Marcus was written in 1985. "This work, which I have dedicated to Bunita Marcus, [...] deals with the death of my mother, and with the notion of a slow death. I simply didn't want the piece to die. So I used this unwillingness compositionally in order to keep the piece alive, like a patient suffering from an terminal disease, for as long as possible." (Feldman) It is not the loud raging, the last furious revolt of a dying human being that Feldman depicts here, but a slow nodding off a…

In other works, such as For Philip Guston, which continues for several hours, Morton Feldman actually would go beyond the bounds of possibility, also overtaxing the concentration of both his musicians and his audience. Nevertheless, like these other words Triadic Memories also requires contemplation, listening without restlessness. Though perhaps not intended by Feldman, a strong contemplative element is inherent particularly in this composition, settling like a haze on the tones that seep in sl…

Morton Feldman dedicated a whole series of compositions to the relationship between solo instruments and the orchestra: after Cello and Orchestra (1972), Piano and Orchestra (1975), Oboe and Orchestra (1976) and Flute and Orchestra (1977/78) his Violin and Orchestra (1979) marks the conclusion of these "relationship works." The variety of sound accumulated around the violin, or through the violin, in less than an hour's time ranges from delicate whispers to cantilenas in rich tones and sharp rep…

In the early 1970s Feldman increasingly turned his attention to works for orchestra, in most cases combined with a solo instrument, like Piano and Orchestra (1975). One aspect that was important to him in all of these works was a research into sound, an "unceasing effort to create, by way of exclusion and integration, by operating with colored projection surfaces and various spatial levels, a kind of self-supporting structure elastic enough to take up the exactly fixed initial impulse and contin…

In the early 1970s, Feldman increasingly turned his attention to works for orchestra, in most cases combined with a solo instrument. The compositions dating from this period include, among many others, Cello and Orchestra (1972) or Oboe and Orchestra (1976). One aspect that was important to him in all of these works was a research into sound, an "unceasing effort to create, by way of exclusion and integration, by operating with colored projection surfaces and various spatial levels, a kind of se…

Music and carpets? Well, the latter's slightly irregular patterns certainly inspired Morton Feldman to write his Crippled Symmetry (1983). "With Feldman, composing more and more takes on the nature of writing a diary; he weaves and knots his sounds like the Turkish nomads make their carpets, the ones he admires so much for their asymmetrical deviations in pattern." (Ulrich Dibelius) It is just these deviations from the standard, that which is slightly shifted, slightly out of place, that Feldman…

An opera? An anti-opera? A monodrama? Whatever it may be: Neither (1977) marks the meeting of the kindred artistic souls of Samuel Beckett and Morton Feldman.

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…

Well ... Mr. P.C. C.P. has clearly taken a peek at my “Holy Grail” list - in it, nestled amongst such unattainable classics as Karel Appel’s “Musique Barbare”, Paul Boisselet’s “Le Robot”, and Il Gruppo Nuova Consonanza’s ill-fated Cinevox-label album is the LP in question; a split release featuring a pair of pieces made at the tail-end of the 1960s at the GRM by Jacques Lejeune and Christian Clozier, respectively. Released as part of EMI / Pathe Marconi’s mythical “Perspectives Musicales” serie…

Recent claims made re: Tod Dockstader’s absence from the public eye since releasing his owl-label lps in the late 60s are somewhat off. In 1979 this and another “companion” volume were released on the boosey & hawkes library music label; consisting of a spate of sound-queues made by mr. dockstader for production/documentary use. this sounds like no other dockstader recording you’ve heard. There are a couple of “fat brass synth-fanfares for sci-fi” kind of queues, but for every one of those there…

There’s not much in the way of documentation on the Early Danish Electronic Music scene other than the Else-Marie Pade, Jørgen Plaetner, and Gunner-Möller Pedersen discs on DaCapo - all fantastic sets full of wonder, but mired in a certain air of government-funded academia (i.e. Men / Women in lab-coats working in sterile studios; having to demonstrate their yield / progress in regular / weekly iterations to secure further funding; being afraid to take it finally and fully out). This item should…

One composition from 1967 (the first), the rest from the late 70s. Here we have patiently forming compositions of a variety of means, although to be fair, the order in the title is clearly in order of importance. The voice is the most important element in three of the four compositions (the second is mostly ambient and dominated by piano and atmospherics), while the last is most likely where Jocy draws the electronics (although their appearance is fleeting and only used as window dressing). Thro…

A collection of late 60s pieces from 6 hellenic composers; only one of which even rates a single listing in the Hugh Davies book (that would be Michael Adamis.) See that on the cover? its the patch-bay of an ems vcs3, possibly the most legendary/covetable analogue synthesizer.Here is an exchange that i’ve fabricated as a possible explanation of how this record came to be:Adamis: “I’ve just come back from London and look what i have: it’s an EMS VCS3. It’s a(n) Electronic Sound Synthesizer.”Ada…

1969 plunderphonic / Musique Concrète epic from Luis De Pablo, a Madrid-based Composer working out of his own home-studio - referred to in the Hugh Davies catalogue as simply “Madrid (Luis De Pablo.)” I’ve seen a few different versions of this record - various European pressings; this Creel Pone replicates the Spanish Clave and German Polydor editions - it’s even rumored that each pressing contains a different version of the piece (!?) along with their different Psychedelic artworks.Music…

i have a stipulation in my concert-rider that reads thusly: ‘If the promoters of the show take me to a record store wherein I find one of my personal “Holy Grail” LPs for a reasonable price, I will perform that evening for free. Because of this, people are always asking me about my “Holy Grail” records and offering advice (“French & German electronic music from the 50s through 70s? You mean J.M. Jarre & Tangerine Dream?”, or “Pierre Henry? have you heard this really obscure one; ‘Messe Po…

(Originally released in 1968) this is one of the most bizarre records ever released and one of the most sought after titles on the collectors' market. The Maledictus Sound are to instrumental rock what Frankenstein was to science... a laboratory monster... a strange creature assembled from a mish-mash of diverse musical sounds. Psychedelic pop, romantic ballads, musical tongue-in-cheek, drugged out chipmunks, near-delirium sound effects, horror movie screamadelia and a mega-twisted '60s vibe. Ec…

Volume 333 is the third album by the Montreal collective L'Infonie, and it is considered by many to be their masterpiece. Released in 1972, this surprising, hard to categorize album is a mix of experimental groove, psychedelic jazz-rock and.... classical music, that will appeal to Zappa fans, but also to chamber music audiophiles. An extraordinary listening adventure and a monument of undeground Kébécois rock! Formed in Montreal in 1967, L'Infonie existed officially until 1974. Seven years of pu…

Reissue of their legendary first LP, released originally in an edition of 100 in Australia only. Total rock-noise-guitar-percussion-vocal madness that destroys any ideas of what sound and structure should or shouldn't be. Best band ever? Limited to 500 copies.

Reissue of this obscure Canadian album from 1975, originally issued on the A.R.C. Record label, with extended mixes and bonus material from the same period. Performed by David Rosenboom and J. B. Floyd (pianos, one in each channel) & Trichy Sankaran on South Indian percussion (mrdangam and kanjira). On April 19th, 1975, at Northern Illinois University, three musicians met in a milestone event from which emerged a unique, improvising trio with two pianos and South Indian percussion. Fortunately, …

Legendary Post-Mortem Industrial / Power Electronics from Italy. 13 tracks spread between 2 LPs containing material from the more aggressive era of his early tape works. LAST COPIES LEFT!

The duo is back with a mini album, 4 tracks and 20 minutes of music recorded live when Smalltown celebrated its 10 year anniversary in Oslo in February 2004. As with their debut album Gustafsson & Nilssen-Love`s punkrock roots are highly visible & the musical expression is an explosion of energy created by breath & muscles. ÒSplatterÓ is raw power that brings to mind the the wild & beautiful days of Albert Ayler and Peter Brotzmann`s Machine Gun session.

Crookt Crackt Or Fly is a 1994 album by Gastr del Sol released on Drag City. The album was written and performed by David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke, with John McEntire (percussion), Steve Butters (percussion) and Gene Coleman (Bass Clarinet) also contributing. All tracks were recorded by Brian Paulson in October 1993 at King Size studios.

Intro sampler collection of Glenn's various guitar orchestra classics for the uninitiated. Glenn has personally selected a track listing representative of his absolute unique-on-this-planet vision, with material ranging from the delicate celestial beauty of Symphony No. 3 to the demonical, otherworldly terror unfurled in No. 10. Selections is the ultimate 'in' to Branca's work if you're yet unacquainted with the most influential composer of the era.

Reissue of a magnificent, impossible-to-categorize French classic originally released on the hopelessly obscure d'Avantage label in 1976. Pretty much the definition of musical anarchy, "Paralleles" begins with an atonal duo for trombones, wends its was through accompanied poetry readings and cornet solos, vamps into a rap delivered by Vince Taylor (France's answer to Eddie Cochran and Bowie's inspiration for Ziggy Stardust!) on 'Rock N Roll Station' (which Nurse With Wound deconstructed later on…