Composition / Avant-Garde

It was 1967, the summer of love, and the young radicals were huddled together experimenting, sweating in a tiny airless room. Gibberish, scat, sighs, whispers, as well as more refined musical tones, were coming from their vocal cords. For this was not Haight-Ashbury but Urbana, Illinois, and the New Music Choral Ensemble (NMCE) was merely exploring the boundaries of music. Instigated by Kenneth Gaburo, pioneer of electronic tape music and compositional linguistics at the University of Illinois, …

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…

Three works for viola and tape or electronics played by Vincent Royer: Luc Ferrari's Ephémère in a 2012 version by Brunhild Ferrari, her Le Piano Englouti, and Royer's live improvisation on Ferrari's Ce qu'a vu le Cers.

This suite of choreographic studies was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and is designed to teach contemporary dance techniques of different styles. We deliberately avoid offering suggestions for exercises, leaving the teachers complete freedom of creation and improvisation. - Alina Piechowska

KRAFFT for orchestra was composed in 2016 as a commission of the French State, and was premiered in Paris and Marseille, France. The composition has a similar kind of metric structure as String Quartet No.3: all instruments play in rhythmic unison throughout. KRAFFT is an ironic-onomatopoetic wrong spelling of the German term "Kraft", meaning "power" or "force". The listener should feel exposed to a sonic undertow. The notion of huge power and force is often connected to the existence of clandes…

**Hardcover edition**In the late 1950s, avant-garde musicians were exploring new ways of expressing their experimental compositions in writing. Searching for a universal language that would reach far beyond music, they no longer considered the traditional system of musical notation as sufficient. By progressing into electronic music, as well as by linking music and performance, they blurred the boundaries between different genres and inevitably changed the notation of music. Karlheinz Stockhause…

Four chamber works by Gerald Eckert from 2006 to 2015, for piccolos and percussion, voices, flute and cello, and violin and contrabass clarinet with electronics, played by Ensemble L'art pour l'art, Auditivvokal and Ensemble Reflexion K.

**200 copies** "This is a study version composed in the studio from a single recording of a violin glissando. It was never intended to be performed live. The final version for 7 violins was the result of this study.""A single recording of the violin glissando of Johnny Chang has been turned into a multi-track recording. Here one violin becomes sixteen. Peter Ablinger’s Augmented Study Serie is focused on 'tension between redundancy of material and complexity of experience'. Because this work is …

**Edition of 500. 180 gram vinyl** Fantôme Phonographique present a reissue of Serenata I/Sonatine/Canteyodjaya/Zeitmasze, originally released in 1958. The avant-garde composer and conductor Pierre Boulez was a titan of post-war experimental classical music. Born in the small cheesemaking town of Montrbrison in central France in 1925, Boulez studied at the Paris Conservatoire with the composer and organist Charles Messiaen and received private tuition from pianist Andrée Vaurabourg; after moving…

Charisma X, a 2008 documentary film by Efi Xirou on the life and work of Iannis Xenakis, from childhood to his last work Omega, with archive footage, interviews and performances of his music by Sylvio Gualda, Benny Sluchin and others.

Scelsi Edition volume 2: three rarely recorded orchestral works, Hymnos, Hurqualia and Konx-Om-Pax, played by the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic under Juan Pablo Izquierdo, with selections from Canti del Capricorno sung by Pauline Vaillancourt and Douglas Ahlstedt.

Morton Feldman's Trio for violin, cello and piano, lasting one hour, 45 minutes, in a recording with Aki Takahashi, Marc Sabat and Rohan de Saram, two of whom worked closely with the composer.

John Cage's choral music, Hymns and Variations (1979) and Four² (1990), with the number pieces Five (1988) and Four⁶ (1992), sung by the Latvian Radio Choir under Sigvards Kļava, recorded in Riga between 2007 and 2020.

Volume 10 of the Brahms Trio's History of the Russian Piano Trio on Naxos: Roslavets's Piano Trio No. 4 (1927) and Shostakovich's Piano Trios Nos. 1 and 2, recorded at the Moscow Conservatory's Large Hall between 2017 and 2024.

Cage's First Construction (In Metal), Ginastera's Cantata para América mágica (Signe Asmussen), Harrison's Violin Concerto with percussion (Niklas Walentin) and Varèse's Ionisation, by Percurama under Jean Thorel, Copenhagen 2009-2015.

Roslavets's two cello sonatas (1921, 1922), Meditation, Dances of the White Maidens and the Viola Sonata of 1926 in a cello transcription, played by Lachezar Kostov (cello) and Viktor Valkov (piano), recorded in New York in October 2008.

Volume 1 of John Cage's complete works for flute: Ryoanji, Two, Three Pieces for Flute Duet and Music for Two, played by Katrin Zenz with Maxim Mankovski, Ludovic Frochot, Uwe Grodd and Chara Iacovidou, recorded in Athens in 2013.

Volume 3 of John Cage's complete works for two keyboards: Winter Music (1956-57), Two2 (1989) and Experiences No. 1 (1945), played by the Pestova/Meyer Piano Duo, recorded in Luxembourg on 17 June 2013.

Henry Cowell's Piano Pieces, Quartet for flute, oboe, cello and harpsichord, Three Anti-Modernist Songs, Suite for violin and piano, Polyphonica and Irish Suite, played by Continuum under Cheryl Seltzer and Joel Sachs, recorded in New York in April 1990.

Nikolai Roslavets's Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 (1913), 4 and 6 and the Three Dances, played by Solomia Soroka (violin) and Arthur Greene (piano), recorded at Goshen College, Indiana, in December 2005.

John Cage's Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano (1946-48), the complete cycle of sixteen sonatas and four interludes, played by Boris Berman, recorded in Newmarket, Canada, in July 1998.

The surviving solo piano music of Nikolay Roslavets, 1914 to 1923, Sonatas Nos. 1, 2 and 5, études, preludes, poems and first recordings of several pieces, played by Olga Andryushchenko, recorded in Moscow in 2016.

String quartets by Michael Jarrell (Zeitfragment), Conlon Nancarrow (String Quartet No. 3, 1988) and Rolf Riehm (Tempo strozzato, 1978), played by the Asasello-Quartett, recorded at Deutschlandfunk, Cologne, in February 2013.

Frank Reinecke, solo double bass, plays Mark Andre's iv 18 (recorded 2023), Nikolaus Brass's Flucht (2012) and Stockhausen's In Freundschaft (live, 2020), recorded in Munich for the musica viva series of Bavarian Radio.

200 copies. Light blue vinyl. Including an original insert that functions as Obi, with liner notes by Bradford Bailey and James Rushford.Fortunale is a string quartet by Marco Baldini, composed between 2024 and 2025 and recorded by Quartetto Maurice with Manuel Volpe at Okum Studio in Rivoli, near Turin, in October 2025. It began as a duo for violin and viola and found its final form as a quartet.The title is an archaic Italian word for an event brought about by chance, long used for a violent s…

Two beautiful vocal pieces from the mid-1970's performed by Swingle II conducted by the composer himself, released on Decca's "Headline" contemporary music series in 1976. With booklet.

Two post-serialist compositions from the late 1950's, respectively for two pianos and for soprano and nine instruments, released in La Musica Moderna record magazine nr.99. No booklet.

The American composer's beautifully evocative quartet from 1950 backed with the Polish composer's 1964 semi.aleatoinc masterwork performed by the LaSalle Quartet and released by Orbis in 1976.

2000 CD re-issue on Ambersand of the 17th album on Cramps' superlative "Nova musicha" experimental music series released in 1977, with piano pieces performed by the composer himself recorded live in 1976.

2017 CD-only album on Quiet World in an edition of 150 copies with experimental music for resonant metal instruments by the American avant-garde musician and Fluxus artist.

2018 double CD-only album on Where Is The Zeitgeist? with an instrumental piece combining a graphic-score with free improvisation by the American avant-garde musician and Fluxus artist.

Original 1971 edition on Unicorn of the dark avent-garde musical theatre piece performed by The Fires Of London.

Orchestral (plus tape) and chamber music compostions from the 1960's and 70's by the Austrian avant-garde composer and founder of Austria's first electronic music studio, released on Preiser in 1978 and never re-issued on either CD or LP.

Two of the composer's most beautiful and beloved immersive compositions from the early 1970's, respectively for chorus, viola and percussion, and for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion, released on Columbia Odyssey's "Modern American Music Series" in 1976. Essential.

1992 CD-only release on Hat Art of a haunting performance of the 1987 micro-tonal masterpiece by the Ensemble Modern conducted by Arturo Tamayo.

Two avant-garde/dodecaphonic compositions from the 1960's respectively for tenor, choir, 11 instrumentalists and organ and for two pianos and orchestra, released on Wergo's great "Studio Reihe Neuer Musik" experimental music series in the 1970's. With insert.

2018 CD-only release on Hat Art of a solo avant-garde percussion piece by Swiss drummer and composer, performed by the composer himself.

Still sealed copy of the sole edition of the 1981 album on CP² Recordings with three seductive avant-garde compositions from the 1970's by the experimental Japanese composer respectively for small ensemble, for solo piano and for 25 cowbells and gong. Never re-issued on either CD or LP.

Three pieces respectively for orchestra, ensemble and piano compositions from 1977 to 1982 released on Harmonia Mundi's "Evénement / Musique française d'aujourd'hui" series in 1984.

Late 1970's re-issue on Wergo's "Große Interpreten neuer Musik" series of the 1969 album of masterful interpretations by the German virtuoso of landmark avant-garde compositions for cello solo or cello and orchestra spanning from 1914 to 1966.