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Cornelius Cardew

Cornelius Cardew (1936 - 1981) was an English avant-garde composer, and founder (with Howard Skempton and Michael Parsons) of the Scratch Orchestra, an experimental performing ensemble. He later rejected the avant-garde in favour of a politically motivated 'people's liberation music'. 

Cornelius Cardew (1936 - 1981) was an English avant-garde composer, and founder (with Howard Skempton and Michael Parsons) of the Scratch Orchestra, an experimental performing ensemble. He later rejected the avant-garde in favour of a politically motivated 'people's liberation music'. 

Member of: AMM
An Unintended Legacy
A beautiful 3-CD set with a hardcover book presenting 3 full concerts from 2015 & 2016 of the AMM trio configuration of John Tilbury (piano), Keith Rowe (guitar) and Eddie Prevost (percussion). The 70 page book, dedicated to saxophonist Lou Gare, inc…
Trinity
The amorphous unit that is AMM has been refining—and indeed redefining—a sound for as long as it's been in existence, and there's no reason to believe that the process this implies is likely to ever stop evolving. This does of course render John Butc…
Spanish Fighters
Recorded at the festival Neposlusno (Sound Disobedience) in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2012, the AMM duo of Eddie Prevost on percussion and John Tilbury on piano perform an extend improvisation of tension and dynamic, delicately balancing sound in a rich…
Place Sub. V.
Active since the mid-1960s, England's AMM have become an icon of the free improvisational movement. In the spring of 2004, due to personal and philosophical disagreements, Keith Rowe suspended his involvement with AMM, an association that went back t…
Two London Concerts
Restocked, reduced price. Two live recordings by master improvisers John Tilbury (piano) and Eddie Prevost (percussion) playing two emotional sets that are quiet at just the right times and allow for a balanced amount of white space, creating beautif…
Four Principles On Ireland And Other Pieces (1974)
Having worked closely with Karlheinz Stockhausen during the late 1950s, the Irish-born Cornelius Cardew became a major figure on the European avant-garde music scene over the following decade. However, by the early 1970s Cardew had become deeply i…
We Sing For The Future & Thamann Variations
Recorded in 2002 by American contemporary composer and pianist, Frederic Rzewski, We Sing For The Future & Thälmann Variations are two compositions from English composer Cornelius Cardew’s Marxist-influenced 'People’s Liberation M…
Cardew works 1960-70
2024 stock. Cornelius Cardew's music of the Sixties is arguably from his most creative and experimental period as a composer, beginning with Autumn 60 and ending with the last paragraphs of The Great Learning in 1970. This decade can be divided into …
Sounding Music
AMM's performance at the 2009 Freedom of the City Festival with AMM regular members Eddie Prevost and John Tilbury extended with John Butcher, Chritian Wolff and Ute Kanngiesser. "[...] Certainly in places this sounds like AMM through and through. Wh…
Treatise
Rare original edition, a few back in stock. ** 300 copies ** Cornelius Cardew's opus magnus Treatise is a 193 page graphic score written between 1963 and 1967 while he was performing with the improvisation group AMM. The score's graphic notation, wit…
Consciously
This compilation is a sort of 1970's alternative social history in song. An eclectic mixture of previously unreleased songs, with widely differing styles, performed by a diverse grouping of musicians. This all combines into a unique experience. Music…
It Had Been An Ordinary Enough Day In Pueblo, Colorado
For folks familiar with AMM, this one really doesn’t need much by way of introduction. However, as an entry point, it serves up (relatively) short digestible tracks that illustrate the organic genius of AMM. By the time they recorded this album, this…
We Only Want The Earth
2024 restock. Long out of print, subtitled "the Peoples' Liberation Music Tapes & other Songs", the tracks from this CD come from a rare collection of Cornelius Cardew's live recordings and studio sessions made between 1973-78. Plans to issue them on…
Treatise (Prague Version, 1967)
Featured work: "Treatise (Live Recording, Prague 1967)." Performed by: QUaX Ensemble (Petr Kotik, Director). "This performance of Cardew's monumental 193-page graphic score 'Treatise' was recorded live in Prague in 1967 by the Czech QUaX Ensemble, di…
The Great Learning / Two Poems
Cornelius Cardew's "The Great Learning," is a great example of his struggles to reconcile his innate musical aesthetics and his intellectual belief that the "avant-garde" was inherently elitist. Written for a mix of musicians & non-musicians, it is a…
The great learning
Long out of print, very rare nowadays - The Great Learning was one of British composer Cornelius Cardew's most important works, a series of seven "paragraphs" with text from the writings of Confucius and scored for generally large numbers of both tra…
Generative Themes
very rare, long out of print studio recording from 1982. This marks the recording debut of John Tilbury (piano) in the group, plus the now reunited core of Prévost and Keith Rowe (guitar, electronics). Absolutely stunning improvisational "noise" from…
The Inexhaustible Document
rare original LP, recorded live in London on 1/10/87. Prévost, Rowe, Tilbury, and Rohan de Saram (cello). The organic control of sound on this disc is spectacular; pretty much a must for serious listeners worldwide. One copy only available, new and u…
Combine And Laminates
long time deleted now, this recording is one of their finest. "Combine + Laminates" tends to seesaw between aggressive, noisy sections dominated by Prevost and softer drone-like territories with Tilbury's muffled piano tones in the foreground. Both a…
Silver Pyramid
Matchless Recordings presents an historic recording. Eddie Prévost's Silver Pyramid performed by Music Now Ensemble directed by Keith Rowe in London in 1969. Includes Cornelius Cardew, Lou Gare, Keith Rowe and others. The music is continuous. Time co…
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