a drone masterpiece, The psychedelic sounds of musical pioneer Henry Flynt's drone works with collaborator C.C. Hennix are quietly becoming the stuff of legend. Over some 40 plus minutes, we are treated to a true tour de force that's part Hindustani inflected musical miasma and part warped hillbilly vibrational swing that sways in and out of auditory focus. This is vertiginous music for the third ear. Line Up: Henry Flynt (Violin); C.C. Hennix (Pandit Pran Nath Tamboura)
This album is another chapter in the life of avant-hillbilly Henry Flynt, this time documenting his more experimental recordings. The centrepiece of the record is a slightly unnerving collection of howls, judders and raspberries unnervingly titled ‘Central Park Transverse Vocal #1-4’ – luckily there is more on the cd than this though, I can’t say the squealing does a lot for me other than irritate. However, ‘Raga Electric’ is clearly the standout track and does pretty much exactly what it says o…
Paysages Planétaires on Alga Marghen may be the great unrecognized masterpiece of ethno-electroacoustic music, a 3CD box that arrived in 2004 with almost no fanfare and has waited two decades for ears ready to hear it. Henri Pousseur and Michel Butor, collaborators across forty years and more than twenty works, here achieve something that resonates uncannily with Jon Hassell and Brian Eno's "Fourth World" concept. Yet Pousseur, the serialist pioneer who worked alongside Karlheinz Stockhausen and…
Harry Partch (like his friend Anaïs Nin) considered his life's work to be a letter to the world. His last act was going to be to add the enclosures. He never got around to it. After 20 years of working on the Partch archives, Philip Blackburn has now completed the seven-part 'Enclosures' series as it were on his behalf. Enclosure 7, the culminating DVD of this multimedia series, is a monumental tribute to the most significant works of this American original and iconoclast. It includes n…
This massive 4CD set is the second "enclosure" in the series. It is sub-titled "Historic Speech-Music Recordings from the Harry Partch archives," and includes "archival recordings, including works from the 30s & 40s, a lecture on just intonation, excerpts from the 1935 hobo journal Bitter Music, and a sound documentary featuring Partch at the piano
No Obi. Awesome CD release documenting the 'magic' world of Harry Bertoia sound scuptures. This reissues two of this American genius's many self-released LPs as a great public service. His "sounding sculptures" consist of "ranks of tall slender rods, placed either upright or at special slants in rectangular formations. These metallic faces are not rigid, but 'give' when stroked -- at the same time releasing lingering musical chords of a weirdly haunting nature."
Perhaps best known for his piano work Book of Sounds these two works by German composer Hans Otte were composed in the 1970s. In that decade his aesthetic creed became increasingly clear: "the search for the character and individuality of sound as such, which must be rediscovered and re-experienced independent of superimposed structures. The composer understands the dialogue with sounds as the discovery of their nature." (Ute Schalz-Laurenze)While Hans Otte was an enthusiastic, one might say vis…
This piece develops a preoccupation already begun in “Naissance du verbe” (Birth of the Word), the result of research on language and phonemes undertaken by Bernard Ucla. The idea behind this research is that the sign in language is not arbitrary, but that the choice of phonemes at the origin of languages obeys a long elaboration, and that between the meaning of words and the phonemes that express them, mysterious relationships exist: the phoneme is not a neutral acoustic substance but carries s…
Granulations-Sillages develops an idea glimpsed at in Franges du Signe: the existence of extreme times, at the edge of our faculties of perception, which only the electroacoustic music tools allow us to realise. Two natures of phenomena, opposed in all respects (the Granulations-Trails and the Tutti), alternate through seven movements that constitute the piece. The work is designed for six channels diffused in concert on a main stereo system facing the public and two auxiliary stereos (group of…
Between 13 and 25 December 1923 the Gurdjieff Institute gave a series of eight public demonstrations of the Sacred Gymnastics and Movements at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. The music, composed by Gurdjieff to accompany these dances, was orchestrated by Thomas de Hartmann and performed by an orchestra of thirty-five musicians.In January 1924, Gurdjieff and his pupils sailed to America for a series of public demonstrations in New York, Boston, and Chicago. At Gurdjieff`s request, de Har…
This unique collection comes with an attractive and profusely illustrated 144-page book with many previously unpublished photographs of Gurdjieff and recollections of people who were present when these recordings were made. It further contains several chapters by Gert-Jan Blom about the process of selecting and sequencing the tracks, audio restoration of the recordings, the history of Gurdjieff’s harmonium music, transcriptions of Gurdjieff’s stories and an extensive track notes-section. The boo…
Guillermo Gregorio (b. 1941, Buenos Aires) is an Argentine composer, clarinetist, and saxophonist whose career bridges avant-garde music, visual art, and architecture. Active on the Argentine experimental scene from the 1960s through the early 1980s, he was a key member of groups like Movimiento Música Más (a Fluxus collective), the Experimental Group of Buenos Aires, and the Group of Contemporary Music of La Plata, engaging in Fluxus events, multimedia spectacles, and experimental concerts.
Gre…
Comes with 8 page booklet. Originally released in 1973 as a private press LP, 'One' is the first document of GAEB, a mysterious sextet of Californian improvisors. Formed in the late 60's by artist Richard Waters and jazz drummer Lee Charlton, the group made music using Waters's kinetic sculptures. His most important creation was the waterphone, a sort of acoustic synthesizer which used water in its resonators to produce warbling, tone bending vibrations similar to th edeep sea harmonies of humpb…
Restocked, reduced price: beautifully prepared overview of Gottfried Michael Koenig's work (including early 60s WDR electronic classics), produced in conjunction by the Instituut of Sonologie and NEAR/Donemus w/ Edition RZ. During the early '60s, Koenig began writing a program -- named simply 'Project 1,' or PR1 -- designed to compose and generate music via the computer; when in 1964 he accepted the position of creative director with the Institute for Sonology in Utrecht, Holland, he took the so…
Gordon Mumma (born 1935) has played a pioneering role in the development and evolution of 'live-electronic' music. 'Live-electronics' as a concept and practice appears to have originated in the United States in the late 1950s, outside the few institutional electronic studios and often in the context of innovative theatre activity. From its inception, it frequently involved two processes: (1) live performance with accompanying or interacting sound materials on magnetic tape; and (2) the use of el…
A collection of six compositions made in electronic music studios from 1959 to 1984. All were composed for concert hall or theater performance with choreography, as well as for distribution on recordings. Music from the Venezia Space Theatre, The Dresden Interleaf, and Echo-D were composed for quadraphonic theater systems, and were later spatially remodeled for release on stereophonic recordings. A collection of six compositions made in electronic music studios from 1959 to 1984. All were compos…
Subtitled "Describing Planes Of an Expanding Hypersphere". Recorded in 1984 but held up in a post-production stasis until now, this is music for 5 guitars, mallet guitar, violin, drums, bass, keyboards, that is being touted as the "most dense, cacophonous Branca symphony yet." Glenn's music gets quite often inaccurately described as wall-of-sound/noise/guitars/whatever. A wall exists for the purpose of containment. 'Symphony No. 5' is expansive beyond limits, smashing the wall (at least sonicall…
A first monographic compact disc for this composer born in 1951, a pupil of Pierre Schaeffer and Guy Reibel, winner of the Villa Médicis Prize "hors les murs" in 1995, who has also contributed to the musical research activities of the IRCAM, in the Atelier de Recherches Instrumentales (1985 and taken part in the development of the Quatron, the real-time synthesis computing system of the IMCA at Auch (1989-1990).
On 'Diffluences': "The relationship between tape and piano is not the classical one…
Composed in 1979 and realized at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (Lyon, France) by Gilbert Amy with the assistance of Daniel Teruggi. Performed with Fusako Kondo (soprano), Edwige Parat (soloist of Maîtrise de Radio France), Jean-Pierre Drouet (percussions).
**Comes in glossy gatefold sleeve with 20-page booklet ** Features 6 works by the influential Italian avant-gardist of the 20th century, dating from 1961-1990. Pranam I (for voice, 12 instruments and tape, 1972); Anagamin. Celui qui choisit de revenir ou pas (for 12 strings, 1965); Quattro pezzi su una nota sola (for chamber orchestra, 1959); Quartetto n. 4, (1964); Okanagon (Tam Tam and double bass, 1968); Quartetto n. 2 (1961). "For Giacinto Scelsi, music was above all a manifestation of the e…
Aki Takahashi plays Giacinto Scelsi's piano works in 2005 recordings, mostly pieces she prepared with the composer, including the Quattro Illustrazioni depicting the incarnations of Vishnu.
Giacinto Scelsi's music for woodwinds, mostly from the 1950s, for solo clarinet, flute and duos with oboe and piccolo, played by Carol Robinson, who worked with the composer, with Clara Novakova and Cathy Milliken.
Either available separately as a 3" CD, or as a bonus disk within the new Tazartes boxset. "Les Danseurs de la Pluie", which gives title to the complete anthology, is a 12-minute mini-CD, presented on creative disc, including four previously unavailable tracks. Two 1977 killer recordings from the 'Eclipse Totale' sessions of a very wild and residential nature; and two colossal new pieces recorded in 2005.
These two discs represent some of Gen Ken Montgomery's sound art and compositional work from 1981-2001. Pondfloorsample is a collection of sonic explorations utilizing common devices meant to hold something other than sound. As with much of his sound work, the sonic material contains many sounds of everyday life. Having composed extensively for multi-channels, Pondfloorsample was specifically designed as a stereo audio piece enabling Montgomery to reach a larger audience."His work always begins …
Solo piano concert by Abdullah Ibrahim (then Dollar Brand), recorded live in October 1969 at the Jazzhus Montmartre, Copenhagen. First issued by Spectator in 1970, then on JAPO (60002) in 1973.
Keith Jarrett's composition Ritual for solo piano, played by Dennis Russell Davies. Recorded in June 1977 at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg, produced by Manfred Eicher, released as ECM 1112 in 1982.
Gary Burton Quartet (Burton, Mick Goodrick, Steve Swallow, Ted Seibs) with members of the NDR Symphony Orchestra, playing music by Michael Gibbs, who conducts. Recorded in Hamburg in December 1973, produced by Manfred Eicher, ECM 1040 (1974).
Purcor (Songs For Saxophone And Piano) is the 2010 ECM duo album of Trygve Seim (tenor and soprano saxophones) and Andreas Utnem (piano, harmonium), recorded in May 2008 at Tøyen Kirke, Oslo, produced by Manfred Eicher.
What Exit is Mark Feldman's first ECM album as a leader, eight of his compositions played with John Taylor (piano), Anders Jormin (double bass) and Tom Rainey (drums), recorded in 2005 at Avatar Studios, New York, produced by Manfred Eicher.
This is the first proper re-release of two legendary recordings by the innovative Gamelan Son of Lion. This New York performance group has counted as its founding members Fluxus pioneer Phillip Corner, electronics composer Daniel Goode (Tzadik), and core member Barbara Benary. Equally inspired by the resonant decaying sounds of New York school composers like Morton Feldman, the stunning pacific gamelan music of its namesake & the wild antics of Fluxus, their sound is trancelike and beautifully i…
Compass is Susanne Abbuehl's second ECM album, with Wolfert Brederode (piano), Christof May (clarinets), Lucas Niggli (drums, percussion) and guest Michel Portal (clarinet), recorded at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, in 2003 and 2004 and produced by Manfred Eicher.
Easy Living is Enrico Rava's 2004 ECM album with his Italian quintet: Gianluca Petrella (trombone), Stefano Bollani (piano), Rosario Bonaccorso (double bass) and Roberto Gatto (drums), recorded in June 2003 at Artesuono Recording Studio, Udine, produced by Manfred Eicher.
Different Rivers is Trygve Seim's 2000 ECM debut as a leader, for a thirteen-piece, mostly wind ensemble with Arve Henriksen, Sidsel Endresen and others, recorded at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, between December 1998 and December 1999.
First album by the trio of Vassilis Tsabropoulos (piano), Arild Andersen (double bass) and John Marshall (drums), Tsabropoulos's ECM debut, with nine original pieces. Recorded October 1999 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, produced by Manfred Eicher. First released in 2000 as ECM 1728.
Fourth and last ECM album by the Peter Erskine Trio, with Erskine (drums), John Taylor (piano) and Palle Danielsson (double bass), recorded July 1997 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, and produced by Manfred Eicher. First released in 1999 as ECM 1657.
The complete first set played by Keith Jarrett (piano), Gary Peacock (double bass) and Jack DeJohnette (drums) at the Blue Note, New York, on 4 June 1994: Autumn Leaves, Days of Wine and Roses, Bop-Be, You Don't Know What Love Is / Muezzin and When I Fall In Love.
From 1978, the earliest group recordings by Fushitsusha yet to be released. A vital document for understanding the Japanese underground and the truest, most exciting rock group of the contemporary era. Now here's something unexpected and utterly fascinating. The earliest years of Fushitsusha have long been shrouded in mystery, palely illumined by only the dimmest of rumours and half-facts. As a live entity the group seems to have begun sometime in 1978 (also the year that Friction, Japan's first…
Album by Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem with Richard Galliano (accordion), François Couturier (piano, synthesizer), Palle Danielsson (double bass), Jon Christensen (drums) and others, recorded September 1994 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo. First released by ECM in 1995.
Solo album by Stephan Micus, recorded January-February 1992 at MCM Studios, in seven parts for steel drum, voice, dilruba, suling, kortholt, nay and sinding, all played and sung by Micus. First released by ECM in 1992 as ECM 1486.