Ensemble Music Vol.2
Recorded after performances at New York's prestigious 92nd Street Y in 1996 with the participation of the composer, Ensemble Music 2 is the follow up to the initial, critically acclaimed and best selling volume of Iannis Xenakis' Ensemble Works on Mode. This disc contains the first recording of Xenakis' memorial work A la Mémoire de Witold Lutoslawski, to the great Polish composer. A literal monument in sound, comprised of massive blocks of brass arranged as a dirge-like fanfare. Composed in 199…
Ensemble Music Vol.1
Iannis Xenakis' oeuvre is unique in modern music--it is music of great visceral power, energy and sheer sound. Music from another world. Music that grabs the listener, riveting his attention. Conductor Charles Zachary Bornstein is a Xenakis specialist. Bornstein learned that of the 700 to 800 performances of Xenakis' music worldwide each year, only a handful were in America. He formed New York's ST-X Ensemble (named after Xenakis' series of ST- compositions from the 1960s) in 1994 to fill the vo…
Percussion Works
Performed by the percussion ensemble red fish blue fish, directed by Steven Schick. "The first complete set of Xenakis' percussion ensemble, percussion duos, and solo percussion works. As Steven Schick states in his comprehensive essay accompanying this set, Xenakis was the 'progenitor of modern percussion music.' Of course, Iannis Xenakis did not create percussion music, his first major contribution to the percussion repertory came more than three decades after the American percussion revolutio…
in Tokyio
Implosive Eternity -- computer assisted music; 'Abysses Latents -- for voice, tenor saxophone and percussion; 'Bolids & Contemplations (III) -- computer assisted music; 'La Legende D'Icaire' -- for bass clarinet, ensemble and computer assisted sounds; 'Penumbra' -- for saxophone solo. Performed by: Keiko Hatanaka, Robert Reigle, Gustavo Aguilar, Tim Hodgkinson, Hyperion Ensemble
Soleil Explosant
First CD in a while from the Romanian composers Dumitrescu and Avram (potenially associated with the European "spectralism" contingent, what The Wire referred to as "the altered harmonic dimensions and numinous sonorities of the European avant garde composition movement"). Iancu Dumitrescu: "Remote Pulsar (I)" (computer assisted music), "Movemur (III)" (spectral music for viola solo, performed by: Cornelia Petroiu), and "Numerologie Sect*te (I)" (computer assisted music). Ana-Maria Avram : "Inca…
monades
Two pieces by Dumitrescu: "Au Dela de Movemur" (for orchestra & strings) & "Monades (Gamma & Epsilon)" (for 6 monocords, crystals & metallic objects). Avram is a young Rumanian composer, and of similar interest, with 3 pieces: "Ekagrata" (for orchestra), "Signum Geminai" (for ensemble and tape) & "Zodiaque III" (for prepared piano, percussion and tape).
galaxy
GALAXY ( acousmatic music for gongs, harryphones, metallic plaques and percussions ) & MOVEMUR ET SUMUS for 2 cellos 2 double basses. ( HYPERION Ensemble ) & RELIEFS for piano and orchestra (Alexandrina ZORLEANU) & ALTERNANCES for string quartet & BAS-RELIEFS for large orchestra
s/t
PIERRES SACREES ( acousmatic music ) & HARRYPHONIES - alpha ( with Fernando GRILLO & HYPERION Ensemble /Cond.; Iancu Dumitrescu ) & ìGRANDE OURSEì chamber ensemble and tape ( Hyperion Ensemble/ Cond. Iancu Dumitrescu ) & HARRYPHONIES - epsilon, Large orchestra and soloists: Fernando GRILLO, Barry WEBB, Melvin POORE, ConductorS Iosif CONTA & Iancu DUMITRESCU - Romanian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra
Medium III
Medium III" for double bass (1983), "Cogito / Trompe L'Oeil" for prepared piano, two double basses, Javanese gongs, crystals & metallic objects (1982), "Aulodie Mioritica (gamma)" for double bass and orchestra (1984), "Perspectives au Movemur" for string quartet (1978), "Apogeum" for 22 wind instruments & 3 percussion groups (1972).Fernando Grillo (double bass), Ion Ghita (double bass), Iancu Dumitrescu (prepared piano), Costin Petrescu (Javanese gong), Cristian Valeanu (metallic objects), Horia…
Compositions demonstrations 1946-1974
One of the key figures in electronic music development, though better known as an inventor, Le Caine did make pieces and some of the best are collected here. Some humorous and plunderphonic (happy birthday made from the scream in Berg's Lulu), some informative - demonstrations by Le Caine of his instruments and some just very entertaining or ear-turning. Echoes of Raymond Scott.
Intimate rituals
This Romanian-born composer is noted for having developed the technique of 'spectral composition' during the 1960s. According to the man himself, this is defined as a "variable distribution of the spectral energy, synthesis of the global sound sources, micro- and macro-form as sound-process, four simultaneous layers of perception and of speed, and spectral scordaturae, i.e. rows of unequal intervals corresponding to harmonic scales." If you're any the wiser as to what he's on about do drop us a …
Streichquartett N°4 Opus 33
String Quartet No 4, opus 33 (1976-87). Performed by the Arditti String Quartet. "infinite to be cannot be infinite, infinite anti-be could be infinite" (for nine string quartets or a string quartet surrounded by an imaginary 128 string-"viola da gamba"). "Among contemporary composers, Horatiu Radulescu is one who has something essential to express about the enigma of time: multi-layered lines of events, their structuring, perception and potential for poetic-religious message are -- together wit…
Clepsydra, Astray
**Restock of a rare, must-have record for contemporary music lovers. Comes with 4-page 12" booklet ** Great dense orchestral scraping and bowing from 1982 & 1983 by Romanian composer Horatiu Radulescu (1942-2008), among the great masters of Spectralism and subharmonics. This absorbing LP includes two groundbreaking works centered around the 'Sound Icons' - pianos standing on their sides, played with bows between the strings. On side A is the hypnotic, otherworldly Clepsydra for 16 Sound Icons (E…
Improvisations
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…
Gottfried Michael Koenig
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…
Giacinto Scelsi
**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…
The Orchestral Works 2
"The first recording of his 32-minute grand cantata 'La Nascita del Verb.' Steeped in chromaticism, with hints of Scriabin and a sea of percussion, 'Nascita' boasts a vast double fugue (one of the most imposing in the history of music) and a forty-seven voice canon in twelve keys. This work, 'truly written in blood,' left Scelsi 'in a deplorable state, afterwards he stopped composing for several years. One of Giacinto Scelsi's infamous pieces are the 'Quattro Pezzi (su una nota sola).' Ear piece…
The piano works 3
Performed by Aki Takahashi, piano; 2005 recordings. "Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988) wrote one of the largest sets of piano music in the 20th century. Scelsi was a virtuoso pianist, and even his most experimental compositions in this genre show a marked pianistic conception. Largely ignored during much of his life, Scelsi was basically only 'discovered' in the 1980s. Though a recluse in his later years, there were some artists who worked with Scelsi and gained special insight into the spirit of his …
Music For High Winds
"Ixor" (1956, for clarinet), "Suite" (1953, for flute + clarinet), "Pwyll" (1954, for flute), "Tre Pezzi" (1954, for Eb clarinet), "Rucke di Guck (1957, for Piccolo + oboe), "Preghiera per un' ombra (1954, for clarinet), "Ko-Lho" (1966, for flute + clarinet), "Three Latin Prayers" (1970, for Eb and A clarinet). "This recording presents pieces for woodwind instruments played solo or in duo. The majority date from the 50's, when Scelsi abandoned his classical and 12-tone training to undertake a re…
Advance of the Fungi
Advance of the Fungi - (chamber works 1960-66) - Time on Time in Miracles for soprano, 2 horns, 2 trombones, piano, cello & percussion; Mod 3 for flute, percussion & contrabass; Holy Ghost Vacuum or America Faints for electric organ; Advance of the Fungi for male choir, 3 clarinets, 3 trombones, 2 horns, & 1 percussion; Two Worlds for soprano, flute, oboe, piano, percussion, violin, viola, cello & contrabass; Bestiary 1: Eingang for soprano, piano & 5 percussionists.