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Volume 2: Electronics Works
Multi-channel electronic works in Surround Sound. Morton Subotnick was a phenomenon in the late '60s, the first composer to write substantial works for synthesizer that had a wide audience. He has been mentor to generations of composers, and his influence is so pervasive that it would be impossible to trace completely - the electronica movement, for one, reveres him. This release brings together two of his classic analog electronic works which were previously only available on LP.
The DVD includ…
From Zero
Four films on JOHN CAGE by Frank Scheffer and Andrew Culver. Mode celebrates its 20th Anniversary in 2004 with the release of a major film on John Cage by renowned Dutch director Frank Scheffer in collaboration with Cage's long-time associate Andrew Culver. The group of films, entitled From Zero, are:* 19 QUESTIONS: Cage answers 19 questions on a variety of subjects, using chance operations to determine the duration of his colorful and often witty answers. A unique opportunity to view the Cagean…
Labyrinthe de Minotaur
** 2021 Stock ** French composer Alain Bancquart (b.1934) is one of the leading composers of microtonal music in Europe. Labyrinthe du Minotaur explores the myth of the Minotaur and the labyrinthe. This large scale piece constantly delves into microtonal and harmonic relationships together with a lyrical polyphony. It is based on texts by his wife, author Marie-Claire Bancquart. The unusual instrumental ensemble incorporates (in addition to the above musicians): pianos in quarter- and sixteenth-…
Music For High Winds
Clarinetist Carol Robinson had the unique opportunity to work directly with Giacinto Scelsi on his music: "I discovered this music in 1981. Captivated, I began including pieces in concerts the following year. A friend of the composer who attended a concert gave him a recording of my performance. As a result, Scelsi invited me to Rome. In his apartment overlooking the Roman forum... On numerous occasions we worked in detail on all his music for clarinet, an instrument particularly important…
Volume 1: Chansons Pour Le Corps
With recent releases on John Zorn's Tzadik label among others, Luc Ferrari is enjoying a well deserved renaissance. After studies with Messiaen and formative visits to Darmstadt in the '50s, Ferrari (born Paris, 1929), with Pierre Schaeffer, was one of the co-founders of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales in 1959. In the sixties he worked with the Ensemble Instrumental de Musique Contemporaine de Paris and made the first French television documentaries on new music, between 1964-69, he ta…
The Art of the Curved Bow, Vol. 1
The Curved Bow, or BACH Bow, gives string-players the unique ability to play up to all four strings simultaneously — an impossibility with today's bow. Some believe that the curved bow was used during Bach's time, in the 20th century it was championed by the likes of Albert Schweitzer. It is a device with incredible potential for new and old repertoire, shedding new musical light on the works in which it is employed. Michael Bach has been playing with the curved bow for many years, continually d…
The Piano Works 2 - Sonatas And Interludes For Prepared Piano
The Sonatas and Interludes enjoy a well deserved reputation as a masterwork and as a repertoire piece. But this is not a masterwork in the sense of other keyboard masterworks: Bach's Goldbergs, Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, Ives' Concord Sonata.
John Cage's masterwork is quite different -- a big piece with a quiet voice. The prepared piano operates entirely by muting: by attaching objects to the strings of the piano. Cage alters their sounds in various ways, turning the piano into a percussio…
The Great Works For Voice
Mode's reissue of Christine Schadeberg's 1995 recital of vocal music by Luciano Berio is a welcome addition to the catalog. While her performances don't make the listener forget the individuality and panache of Cathy Berberian, for whom most of these pieces were written, Schadeberg more than holds her own in her technical and expressive mastery of the music. Her voice is not large, but is remarkably flexible and secure, and her tone is pure. These performances are models of precision and clarity…
Freeman Etudes, Books Three And Four
This CD presents the first recording of the second half of John Cage's Freeman Etudes for violin. Those familiar with the previously-released volume of this work will already know what to expect: the bewildering complexity of the Etudes and the astonishing virtuosity of Irvine Arditti's performance.
Convinced that the later, more complex etudes were unplayable, Cage abandoned work on the Freeman Etudes in 1980, after completing the first sixteen and beginning the eighteenth Etude. It wasn't…
Freeman Etudes, Books One and Two
John Cage's Freeman Etudes are the modern equivalent of Paganini's virtuoso solo violin etudes. Each etude is completely notated down to the smallest detail, and the composer states "...are as intentionally as difficult as I can make them...So I think that this music, which is almost impossible, gives an instance of the practicality of the impossible." The detail and complexity of these etudes give them a unique and unusual spot in Cage's oeuvre.
These first two books (there are 8 etudes p…
New Piano Works From Europe And The Americas
A debut recital of incredibly varied and fascinating music from Argentinean pianist Haydée Schvartz. Her teachers include Roberto Brando, Dora Castro and Nikita Magaloff. Ms. Schvartz continued her studies in London with Maria Curcio and subsequently received a a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Buffalo, New York with Yvar Mikhashoff, where she won the Cameron Baird Competition in 1990. Mikhashoff brought Ms.Schvartz's incredibly sensitive pianism to our attention, and together they imag…
Music for Merce Cunningham
2008 repress, featuring a 24-bit Hi-Definition remaster; originally released in 1991. Volume 4 in the Music of Cage series. The first audio document between John Cage & Merce Cunningham. It includes a 55-minute piece called "Five Stone Wind" performed by David Tudor (live electronics), Takehisa Kosugi (amplified violin, live electronics, bamboo flute) and Michael Pugliese (clay pots and tapes) as well as a 19-minute version of the classic "Cartridge Music" (same 3 performers, "using phonograph c…
Sonic Encounters
The second recording from Margaret Leng-Tan, the "diva of the avant-garde", featuring works by three composers whom she specializes in: John Cage (USA), Somei Satoh (Japan) and Ge Gan-ru (China/USA). With Sonic Encounters: The New Piano, she explores the effect of Asian aestehtics on contemporary American composers and the influence of American composers on their Asian counterparts.The first recordings of two early works by Cage impart a hard-edged brilliance not usually associated with the prep…
Para Castukis
* 2021 Stock * Here at last is a chance to discover why people have been willing to pay a very steep price to hear Sandhy & Mandhy, the duo who were not a duo, the band who were not a band, creators of perhaps the rarest and most expensive album from Argentina. To tell the story of Sandhy & Mandhy, we have to go back to 1967, when Alberto Infusino (Sandhy) and Alberto Vanasco (Mandhy) began their musical partnership in the beat band The New Free Men. Like many bands of that time, Los Shaker’s an…
Sidewalk Talking
* 2021 Stock* I love this record. For me, it has a trace or two of Arthur Lee and Love at their best (‘Krishna Dov’ would not sound out of place on “Forever Changes,” for example), with dashes of maybe Terry Callier in some of the jazzier tunes. I also like that Hollins & Starr wrote a gentle tribute to one of my favorite old-time bluesmen, Mississippi John Hurt. At times this album is a gorgeous, ethereal blend of psychedelic folk and offbeat pop; but there are some funk and avant-garde moves t…
Il Killer
LP 180 Gram. A definite killer from the great Gianni Ferrio – one of his grooviest soundtracks ever, and a set that's filled with lots of mod 60s touches! There's a bit of electric sitar, psychedelia, cool bubbling Hammond, and even some jazzy horn parts that make for nice flourishes over the top – all changing up in cool and different ways from track to track. A 1969 co-production between Cinevic and Rai TV for a mini television series that was aired in 3 parts - April 17 to May 1, 1969 - direc…
Movies
Upon examining the eventful life of Can bassist Holger Czukay, one might conclude that this intrepid musician was a loner. His turbulent career exuded an enduring eccentricity governed by a boundless free spirit. Holger Czukay’s debut solo LP ‘Movies’ [1979] is, quite frankly as mad as a bag of squirrels, but super playful and cool as fuck with it. It’s his first record after striking out from Can, and he clearly had a lot of ideas brewing and ready to get out From the Afro-inflected lilt of t…