Composition / Avant-Garde

Avant-garde pieces for two pianos composed between 1956 and 1976, performed by Alfons & Aloys Kontarsky and released on DGG in 1980. Promotional copy, with insert.

Avant-garde pieces for two pianos composed between 1956 and 1976, performed by Alfons & Aloys Kontarsky and released on DGG in 1980. With insert.

Three string quartets composed in the 1960's and unsurpassedly performed by the Lasalle Quartett, released on DGG's famed "Avantgarde" contemporary/electronic music series in 1970.

Massive 4LP box set self-released by Ensemble 13 performing several works from the 1970's and 80's by the prolific and influential composer.

Benchmark 5LP box set with the higly praised recordings by the London Sinfonietta conducted by David Atherton, released on Decca in 1974. With insert.

The epochal 1912 melodrama plus five other compositions performed by the London Sinfonietta conducted by David Atherton and released on Decca's Ace Of Diamonds in 1977.

Three compositions by the father of the Second Viennese School performed by the Ensemble Intercontemporain conducted by Pierre Boulez, Jessye Norman and John Shirley-Quirk, released by CBS Masterworks in 1982. With insert.

First edition on Wergo of "Version 1965" of the massive 1960's work for solo soprano, four mixed choirs, and thirteen instrumentalists (four trumpets, four trombones, three percussionists, and two electric keyboards) released on Wergo's great "Studio Reihe Neuer Musik" experimental music series in 1967.

1977 DGG LP with recent recordings of compositions form the early 1950's respectively for alto and chamber orchestra, violin and piano, orchestra, and piano and percussion. With insert.

Two landmark mid-1950's compositions by two of the 20th century most influential composers released in 1968 on Odyssey's "Music Of Our Time" contemporary music series directed by David Behrman.

2LP set in the distinctive Hat Art box released in 1984 with the distinguished pianist playing some Stockhausen's early piano pieces from the 1950's plus Braxton's 1982 composition. With postcard.

Four historical compositions for orchestra soanning from 1908 to 1930 performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Herbert von Karajan and released on DGG in 1974.

Four compositions by the most representative composers of the Second Viennese School performed by The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy, released on CBS' "Masterworks Portrait" series in 1983.

Two works by Luc Ferrari: Chansons pour le corps, for voice and ensemble, built on interviews with women, and the symphonic tale Et si tout entière maintenant for actress, tapes and orchestra. First release in Mode's Ferrari series.

Vincent Royer plays viola with tape and electronics in three Ferrari-related works: Luc Ferrari's Ephémère (1974) in a 2012 version by Brunhild Ferrari, her Le piano englouti, and Royer's improvisation on Ferrari's Ce qu'a vu le Cers.

1985 LP on Igloo's contemporary music serie "Rhombe" with Pousseur's 1982 piece in collaboration with Butor for 4 narrators, 4 vocal quartets, 4 choirs and 8 improvising musicians. With insert.

American edition on Candide's contemporary/electronic music series of the Erato LP presenting two superb colossal ear-splitting compositions for large orchestras performed by the Orchestre National De L'ORTF conducted by Charles Brück. With insert.

Italian version on La Voce Del Padrone's "Modern Classics" series of the 1969 EMI LP presenting four ground-breaking works for large ensembles composed between 1956 and 1965 and performed by the Ensemble Instrumental De Musique Contemporaine De Paris conducted by Konstantin Simonovitch. With insert.

Three powerful orchestral pieces from 1969/1971 performed by the New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Elgar Howarth and released on Decca's "Headline" contemporary music series in 1976. With booklet.

Seven pieces spanning from 1962 to 1980 for various combinations of strings (solo, trio, and duo with piano) masterfully recorded by members of the Arditti String Quartet in 1982. With insert.

1986 LP with four powerful works for ensemble recorded by the Xenakis Ensemble in the presence of the composer. With booklet.

1970 LP of jazz-tinged contemporary music for percussion performed by Vincent Gemignani and the Ensemble De Percussion De Paris.

*300 copies limited edition* Patience is the debut full-length album by Sante Fe-based artist Theodore Cale Schafer. Alternately murky and narcoleptic and bristling with grit and light, this collection of eight pieces is a delicate play of contrasts. Impressionistic settings unfurl with an unhurried gait, opening with the dream-like disorientation of "Gold Chain" in which a degraded location recording gives way to a soft web of treated piano motifs. Schafer's compositions are sumptuous yet unfus…

*300 copies limited edition* Students of Decay presents "Kaivajaiset" by Finnish composer Niko-Matti Ahti. Best known for his work alongside his partner Marja as Ahti & Ahti, Niko-Matti has been an active participant in the Finnish underground since the late 1990s. "Kaivajaiset" is his first solo recording and was originally conceived of as an installation. Part horspiel, part musique concrete, it is a piece of music that draws comparisons to the work of pioneering avant-garde composers such as …

Founding work of minimalism, Music with Changing Parts is a piece with free instrumentation. The musicians choose which part to play among the 8 staves of the score. At each indicated cue, the musicians can change part, which produces an abrupt change of instrumentation. While the music is based on a melodic material limited to a few notes that are repeated in patterns that expand or contract, the changes in orchestration refresh the listening  experience by producing sonic contrasts.  These tec…

Unreleased material composed by Bernard Parmegiani in 1992

1998 release ** Music for recorder by Paul Hindemith, Harald Genzmer, Francis Poulenc, George Auric, Jacques Ibert, Walter Leigh, Gail Kubik, Ulrich Staeps, Benjamin Britten, Hans Poser, Ervin Henning, Konrad Boehmer, Marjo Tal. "In thinking of the recorder, one normally sets his or her sights upon the many composed musical works from the 16th and 17th centuries, when the instrument was accorded the status of an official court instrument, as well as being the choice for regional folk and ceremon…

Morgan Evans-Weiler (violin & electronics) and J.P.A. Falzone (prepared piano & celesta) present four beautifully reduced duets—music that is, as the label describes it, "as delicate as a feather, but also as tough as nails." This is the duo's third Another Timbre release, following the double album Chordioid (2020)—which the label calls "one of the hidden treasures in the Another Timbre catalogue"—and Ascending Music (2021). The duo's collaborative process involves jointly developing works that…

Bryn Harrison writes music that deliberately disorients. The British composer—obsessed with "time, memory, and cyclic structures"—follows Feldman's lead, creating perceptual labyrinths where past bleeds into present and nothing stays quite where you expect. Towards a slowing of the past, a 45-minute tour de force for two pianos and electronics, achieves disorientation through sheer density: a whirlwind of notes that somehow maintains "delicacy and deftness of touch." Mark Knoop and Roderick Chad…

Original 1972 LP of Christian Wolff's seminal chance compositions featuring David Tudor, David Behrman, Gordon Mumma, etc. on Wergo’s legendary Studio Reihe Neuer Musik series. Complete with insert.

First 1962 edition on Time Records' important Series 2000 (Cage, Stockhausen, Kagel, Berio, Wolff, etc.) of one of the most influential compositions on the American avant-garde by maverick composer Charles Ives, performed by Stockhausen's pianist of choice Aloys Kontarsky.

Trio improvisations with Sophie Agnel - piano, Bertrand Gauguet - alto & soprano saxophones and Andrea Neumann - piano frame, electronic devices

The legendary DG Avantgarde vinyl series (1968-1971) is turning 55! In order to celebrate this occasion, the series is now released on 21 CDs for the first time. The Avantgarde series serves as a historical document for a time of radical change in musical thinking and the breaking of artistic boundaries. The question "What is music?" confronted many of the composers and musicians involved in the series, and the anti-authoritarian spirit of the 1960s and 1970s was a palpable influence. Deutsche G…

Melbourne-born composer Anthony Pateras presents two substantial chamber works emerging from distinct contexts yet unified by his singular approach to electro-acoustic orchestration. Born to Macedonian immigrants in the late 1970s, Pateras has built a 25-year career spanning collaborations with John Zorn's Tzadik, Peter Rehberg's Editions Mego, and commissions from INA-GRM. Patterned Language (19 minutes) unfolds from a live performance at Melbourne's Church of All Nations in November 2022. Comm…

A double CD for one of the late monuments by Morton Feldman: Violin and String Quartet, a 140-minute work composed in 1985, two years before the American composer's death. A work of extreme maturity, in which Feldman pushes his aesthetics of duration and sonic rarefaction to their ultimate consequences, creating a suspended space-time where every sound acquires an almost physical presence. Apartment House – the London-based ensemble specialized in experimental and minimalist repertoire – offers …

*300 copies limited edition* Students of Decay presents "Kaivajaiset" by Finnish composer Niko-Matti Ahti. Best known for his work alongside his partner Marja as Ahti & Ahti, Niko-Matti has been an active participant in the Finnish underground since the late 1990s. "Kaivajaiset" is his first solo recording and was originally conceived of as an installation. Part horspiel, part musique concrete, it is a piece of music that draws comparisons to the work of pioneering avant-garde composers such as …

Evening Star, Vesper Bell by Magnus Granberg with Apartment House is a nearly hour-long meditation bridging composed structures and improvisational nuances. Drawing on remnants from Schubert and Cole Porter, the ensemble crafts an intricate tapestry of sound, embracing openness, patience, and detailed interplay. It is a work that rewards repeated, attentive listening and the discovery of subtle, shifting textures.

Neha is an album by Adrián Demoč featuring the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra and Ostrava New Orchestra. Each work extends beyond twenty-five minutes, exploring soft layers of orchestral sound, calmly repeating motifs, and silences that articulate the music’s emotional contour. The pieces are defined by their meditative atmosphere and gradual, unforced transformations.

Portrait of harpist-composer Anne LeBaron: two solo pieces for prepared and electric harp, excerpts from her blues-opera The E&O Line to a libretto by Thulani Davis, and two chamber works, one conducted by Leon Fleisher.

Erhard Grosskopf (b. 1934) is a Berlin-based composer of contemporary music who has been active since 1963. His works include chamber and orchestral as well as electronic music, and have been performed in the West German pavilion at Expo '70, by various radio orchestras, renowned string quartets, and avant-garde groups such as Gentle Fire or Agitation Free. A thread that runs through all of Grosskopf's works is the idea of composing not on a timescale but in a space. Grosskopf views himself as a…