Ghosts
This is the extraordinary sequence of composers selected by Marino Formenti for his solo piano cycle Kurtág’s Ghosts, which examines how major composers from the fourteenth to the twentieth century have influenced the Hungarian composer György Kurtág…
Kafka-Fragments
A wonderful CD, recorded under Kurtag's supervision: the hour-long Kafka Fragments, completed in 1986, is his biggest work to date: it's a characteristic cycle of 40 tiny movements, scored for soprano voice and violin, that adds up to something far g…
Works for Soprano
Kurtág's attachment to speech is also to be sensed in the works from this first period of maturity, something which emerged more concretely in this CD maily cenetered around the Russian language, which he learned especially in order to read Dostoevsk…
Works
An amazing introduction to Kurtag's complex work, this cd Gyorgy Kurtag is a modern master of the musical miniature, this 66-minute disc, containing six works, is split into nearly forty tracks, absolutely essential!
Alpenglühen
Is there an 'Austrian identity' in contemporary music? The ensemble Intégrales, intent on securing evidence, commissioned five original, or even out-of-the-ordinary, composers to come up with made-to-measure outfits for the ensemble. And lo and behol…
Prometeo, Tragedia dell\'ascolto
One of the most significant musical works of the twentieth century is now available in an archive-quality recording. Only now, using surround-sound technology can the twenty-six channels be balanced out and distributed, spatially and dynamically, wit…
Quando Stanno Morendo
Works of art are often triggered by private events. Sarà dolce tacere (1960), for example, was written on the occasion of the 40th birthday of Bruno Maderna, Nono's (former) teacher and close friend; and also in 1960 Nono wrote Ha venido for his daug…
Variazioni canoniche sulla serie dell\' op. 41 di Arnold Schoenb
"All my works always start out from a human incentive: an event, an experience, a text in our lives leads to my instinct and my conscience and wants me to bear witness, as a musician and as a man." This is how Nono, in 1960, described his motivation …
Canti Del Capricorno
Original copy, the title of Scelsi's song cycle possibly refers to the fact that the sign of the Capricorn corresponds with an area of the Earth stretching from India to South America and includes, most significantly, the Amazon. The Amazon, as Scels…
Natura renovatur
Giacinto Scelsi (1905-88) has featured prominently in my music writing life for a decade and a half, ever since I wrote Discovering Scelsi on my first computer for Piano Journal (Oct. 1986), one of the first UK articles about this fascinating and …
Complete Works for Flûte and Clarinet
The Complete Works for Flute and Clarinet: In both original works and transcriptions, the Ebony Duo explores Scelsi’s use of special sound colors and his coloring of sound. Transcriptions especially prepared by the clarinetist (and pianist) Michael R…
Suite N° 10 \"Ka\" / Suite N° 9 \"Ttai\"
Scelsi's works usually originated as transcribed improvisations; therefore they are never based on superficialities of form or compositional technique but always directly reveal the core of their message. Pianist Marianne Schroeder reports that Scels…
Quattro illustrazioni / Suite N° 8 \"Bot-Ba\" / Cinque incantesi
Crazy about the sound: the composer as a medium fHis bizarre way of composing earned Giacinto Scelsi not only fame and respect; he was also mockingly accused of dilettantism. Scelsi regarded himself not as a composer in the traditional sense, i.e. on…
Flying White
'String Quartet No. 2' mind rock (2000) for Richard Long. 'String Quartet No. 4' flying white (2003) for Brice Marden. Binaural recording. 'String Quartet No. 5' poids de l'ombre (2004) for Stéphane Brunner. 'String Quartet No. 3' mond see (2001) for…
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…
Steve Reich: Tehillim The Desert Music
Two Reich masterpieces, definitively recorded, featuring a crystalline, high-energy Tehillim with the ONLY RECORDING of the newly revised version of The Desert Music. A must for Reich fans. For freshness and focus, the new recording of Tehillim surpa…
Hommage Au Sauvage - A Portrait
This portrait of renowned composer Henri Pousseur arrives just days after his death at the hands of bronchial pneumonia, aged 79. The documentary goes some way towards conveying Pousseur's warmth and openness as well as giving some impression of the …
A Nonesuch Retrospective
Philip Glass is one of America's best-known living composers, with a career that spans more than four decades and includes chamber music, symphonies, operas, concerti, film scores, and music for dance. On September 30, Nonesuch Records, which has had…
Patterns In A Chromatic Field
Performed by: Charles Curtis (cellos), Aleck Karis (piano); recorded 2003. The definitive recording of one of Morton Feldman's most important and challenging pieces, played at the composer's marked tempos, and taking all the notated repeats. Fitting …
The Illuminated
The music of Xela is not easily described. The alias of Type Records main-man John Twells, he has over the last decade moved through a dense fog of musical styles from abstract electronics to rusty soundscapes. In recent years his output has allied i…