Composition / All styles

John Cage's Freeman Etudes, Books 1 and 2 (the first sixteen etudes for solo violin), played by Irvine Arditti at blistering speed under the composer's supervision.

Debut recital by Argentinean pianist Haydée Schvartz with piano works by Pärt, Berio, Scelsi, Kagel, Cage, Gandini and Valverde, including first recordings of Berio's Brin and Leaf and Cage's Perpetual Tango.

Margaret Leng Tan's second recording, on piano: Cage's Primitive and In the Name of the Holocaust (first recordings), Hovhaness, Crumb, Satoh's Cosmic Womb for two pianos with digital delay, and Ge Gan-ru's Gu Yue. Released in 1988.

One  could  take Wolfram Schurig's Ultima  Thule  for  five  ensembles,  a  work  whose  mere  instrumentation  in-vokes  that  utopian  place  which,  according  to  the composer, should automatically be the goal of any authentic  artistic  activity,  as  a  motto  for  Wolfram Schurig‘s  entire  compositional œuvre.  In  ancient Greece,  the  name  Thule  referred  to  the  northern-most part of the world, whose accessibility and actual existence, however, remained uncertain. Since Virgil,  th…

Starting with his music of the 1960s and early 1970s, with works such as For 1, 2 or 3 People (1964), the Prose Collection (1968–71), and Changing the System (1974), Christian Wolff (b. 1934) quietly re-invented chamber music. He created music in which the activities of the performers— timing, cueing, assembling and selecting materials—were foregrounded. Although to some extent these activities were always a part of classical music, Wolff opened them up for creative decision-making by the musici…

With each composition, Annesley Black embarks courageously on a new experiment with an open future; while at the beginning of the compositional process the material can still mean many things, it gradually ceases to do so. And at some point, all ambiguities are cleared up: the piece stands. The paths that have led to this point are ultimately paradoxical: they are “immensely labyrinthine and completely logical at the same time” (Black). In their own unique way, the pieces gathered on this CD pre…

* 2021 stock * Acousmatic events dispense with performers. There are no musicians, even at public concerts. The audience is able to follow what is emanating from the loudspeakers with eyes closed and still not miss anything. What it hears is composed, and demands the same attention as any other kind of music listened to on a stereo system or via headphones. It is worth remarking this fact because so many people are no longer able to hear things without seeing something as well in video clips or …

*2020 stock* Unlike my earlier freetonal and 12-tone works, my music since 1981 has been characterized by the use of repetition, and since 2004 by generally soft dynamics. While often termed "minimalist" or "postminimalist," I have come to prefer the term "focused music," as my works tend to concentrate on very specific, and often a limited number of, music elements. Typically, there is but a single dynamic level specified, and sometimes not even that. I like to provide a good deal of freedom fo…

*2020 stock* The double CD Improvisaciones is an homage to the Iberian baroque organ. Germán Valverde Usano’s music reminds one of the rich music tradition of the autonomous community of Castile and León as well as its rich cultural heritage with over 100 conserved Iberian baroque organs. The recordings took place in 2016 in San Agustín in Capillas not far from the capital city Palencia (Spain). Germán Valverde Usano’s passion for the Iberian organ as well as his extraordinary musical talent are…

*2020 stock* To be within the sound - not to expect anything - no beautiful moments - no big emotions - no artfulness- but to follow, from note to note, a sound that carries the music, a sound within the sound: it changes slowly at a tempo that suggests a movement at a great distance, one that might leave our gravitational field, in which gravity is reduced and which is not even always recognized because of its slowness. This "sound-space", which touches the cosmos but is at the same time percep…

* 2021 Stock * Philosophical writings from antiquity have frequently underlaid Zimmermann’s work of recent years, particularly in relation to notions of time an ‘harmonia’ [...] Another recurrent theme in later works is that of the ‘broken unison’ (both melodic and rhythmic), which clearly has an allegorical/social dimension as well as a musical one [...] The isolated performance of single of his pieces emphasises their ‘otherness’ in relation to the main trends in new German music, whereas the …

The work of LA based music-maker John Krausbauer has so much to do with minimalism as with trance music as with soundart experimentation and "performance based" sound forms. And where, as he himself states, the "Trance-Psychedelia is the aim and goal". Firmly rooted in the 60s/70s Minimalist movement of LaMonte Young and The Theater of Eternal Music, as well as the trajectory out of that...(with the likes of Conrad, Flynt, Wada, Palestine, Chatham; Oliveros, Radigue etc etc), "beats" also touch …

From early beginnings to the present: The composer Bruno Strobl began his studies in composition comparatively late. First came his degree as a classroom teacher, the profession in which he worked until retirement, guiding countless pupils towards music, including contemporary art mu-sic. His own interest in electroacoustic music was triggered during his studies in the 1980s, and one of his early pieces for tape, Hiatus, can be heard on this CD. The Latin “hiatus” means gap, and the basis of thi…

Bruno Strobl has a soft spot for sounds – for decades, he has been tinkering with them, changing them, playing with them. In the past by means of analog sound processing machines, for a long time by computer software and electronic instruments. Mostly, however, it is an analog sound that he takes as a starting point. Three sound generators are the core of his interest for the pieces collected on this CD. Three working tools moreover: a circular saw of the craftsman, four old water mills of the L…

*In process of  stocking* The score for ‘Truth, exercise for a listener’ comprises a catalogue of options for a musical performer. In four parts each focusing on a different facet of our faculty to listen, it offers open ended material for the performer to deal with; sounding actions, silent actions, still actions, moving actions, interpretative actions. All can be selected, combined, omitted or extended at will. Multiple exercises can happen simultaneously. In a general sense the piece is an at…

Snare Drum + is the latest piece by legend composer/guitarist Taku Sugimoto in 2021, containing some variations of his snare drum solo piece which was written in 2011. In Snare Drum +, three or more additional performers try to follow the sound of snare drum as immediately as possible with percussion instruments or objects which decay quickly, while walking around the snare drum. In the recordings, different walking routes were used for each take.

I put my music into the space. I don’t want to send any messages, I think of nothing and I don’t want to purport any meanings. The listeners hear what they hear and behave to the music as they feel. Austrian composer, Klaus Lang, describes himself as observer of tones. As stated himself, his roots belong to Gregorian tradition and his music definitely represents abstract way of perceiving it.  Though abstraction (of form and content), he is interested in clarity and truth. His work includes piec…

2CD collection which re-releases two previous Sub Rosa CDs Tre Canti Popolari (SR 051CD, 1992) and Due Componimenti Impetuosi (SR 063CD, 1995), now remastered and with a new design. This is the vocal and piano music of visionary Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988). Performed by: Marianne Pousseur, Lucy Grauman, Vincent Bouchot, Paul Gerimon, Georg Alexander Van Dam, Jean-Paul Dessy, Jean-Luc Fafchamps, and Johan Bossers. Scelsi will always be known as an atypical composer. Throug…

Could you imagine music as a geyser? Erupting violently, waiting on tense standby, forever renewing itself... Or, just the contrary, as a sigh? An operatic sospiri, inhaling and exhaling, a tangible, rhythmic fluctuation... Or as walking with your eyes closed with full alertness to the sounds of unknown origin? That’s what Marcin Stańczyk’s music is like.The milestone of his career turned out to be the composition Sighs (2008–10, rev. 2012) for chamber- or symphonic orchestra. It got him the pre…

** In process of stocking ** Kairos presents Parametrical Counterpoint by José Luis Hurtado. Composer José Luis Hurtado’s music has been performed across continents by ensembles and soloists such as the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, JACK Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, the Callithumpian Consort, CEPROMUSIC Ensemble, Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, Quatuor Molinari, Émile Girard -Charest, Lora Kmieliauskaite, Tony Arnold, Garth Knox, Claire Chase, Le Nouvel En…

Makrokosmos Volume I, whose title reflects Crumb’s admiration for Bartók’s piano series Mikrokosmos, contains 12 pieces, grouped into three parts of four each, and Crumb associates each piece with a sign of the zodiac. This is paired with Volume II, which is similarly structured, after the fashion of Debussy’s twenty-four Préludes. Volumes I and II are filled with references to the history of humankind, myths, Christianity, paganism, occultism, literary works, and the composer’s own mental pictu…

** In process of stocking ** Salvatore Sciarrino, speaking of his own art, refers to fascinating encounters and movements in Sicilian civilisation, recollections of cultures, layered one upon the other over the centuries in the land of Empedocles. His music is molten lava and basalt, music so taut and eminently dramatic, with incipient violence, yet the volcanic eruption perceived from a distance seems muffled. The music casts light, if not on absence, at least on the creation of a remote univer…

**200 copies limited edition** Live recording from Dirk Serries’ Tonus project, which explores long-form, minimal, graphic score pieces.

**2021 stock** Italian pianist Arturo Stàlteri's Cool August Moon is an album based on Brian Eno's music. Stàlteri (helped by Arlo Bigazzi on some tracks) rearranged Eno's compositions to make a work of his own. The Italian musician imposed his conception of the music over Eno's original pieces. For this project, he played accompanied by a chamber orchestra, putting aside most electric instruments appearing on Eno's pieces. And, although the tunes he covers are from different albums, Cool August…

Thirteen first recordings of early Feldman works from 1950 to 1953, including Intersection for magnetic tape, the Music for Jackson Pollock film score with Pollock's narration, Nature Pieces and Variations, played by pianist Philipp Vandré and the Turfan Ensemble.

Saturations is a composition by Danish multidisciplinary artist Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard, and features a clarinet choir consisting of 19(!) clarinet players. Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard (b. 1979) considers his work to be a basic research in realities working within the domains of imaginary & physical sound as well as other non-sonic media, and since 2012 Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard has experimented with creating music that lets the instruments transcend their inherent sonic norms and reappear in another for…

'Subaerial' is the latest and most sophisticated transmission from the long musical partnership of cellist Lucy Railton and keyboardist Kit Downes, a collaborative history that stretches back thirteen years. From the beginning, the pair bridged musical worlds, with the former emerging from classical and contemporary music and the latter steeped in jazz tradition.

The Swiss composer, sound and video artist Jannik Giger lifts the veils and creates access to the usually rather hidden, private worlds of music making on this album Krypta. The rage, teachings, interjections and body sounds of the mostly already deceased world-famous conductors are embedded like relics in the morbid-ritual accompaniment of the fictional orchestra.Can the ex-patriarchs one day be resurrected? At least they are brought to speak in a new way in their own requiem, come to unusually…

Friedrich Cerha, whose monumental Spiegel cycle and his completion of Alban Berg'’s Lulu have secured him a place amongst the most eminent composers of our time, celebrated his 95th birthday on 17 February 2021. This album presents two of his lesser known very typical Viennese works, featuring chansonnier HK Gruber. While somehow in the tradition of the local music played at the Heurigen, both pieces dig deep into the musical and spiritual soul of Vienna’s folk and art music. This extraordinary …

"This album is the result of years of work and friendship with the composer. It started with De Profundis, a piece which has had a deep impact on me as a musician and a person, and ended with it. Frederic attended many of my performances of the piece, the last one during our last public concert together in early 2020 in Brussels. In the meantime, he wrote Dear Diary (2014) and America: A Poem (2020) for me which were both premiered at ARS MUSICA festival. I am very happy to present these pieces …

“Univers Parallèles presents us with two around twenty-minute slices of sparse piano wonderings and low-key sound making. It’s a release that shifts between just awakening drowsiness, and very creepy unease, with each track managing to create its own distinctive, and compelling atmosphere. The release appears as a CD/digital download on Slovenia-based Inexhaustible Editions, who are rapidly becoming one of my favourite labels. As they’ve been putting out some of the most worthy and interesting r…

Originally released in 2008 on CD and in a very limited vinyl edition, "The Malady Of Elegance" by Goldmund aka Keith Kenniff finally gets its long-deserved vinyl re-release, featuring a new artwork and remastered audio by Taylor Deupree.Taking cues from 'Corduroy Road' Keith Kenniff (aka Helios) again restricts himself to the piano in conjuring up his humble soundscapes and again we are pulled into a deep, meditative and filmic world as the notes glide to a slow, pensive meter. Keith's preceden…

**CD version** Bram De Looze is a Belgian pianist and composer whose distinct musical vision has found its way through both solo projects and collaborations. His unique technical skill and musical maturity have earned him considerable critical acclaim back home as his work spotlights his far-ranging interests – from traditional classical piano music, to solo improvisations that have often been compared to Keith Jarrett and Jason Moran.

Aleksandra Gryka is undoubtedly one of the most enigmatic and fascinating figures of the young generation of Polish composers. She does not comment on her works, does not give interviews, and does not provide critics with an insight into her scores (which even causes the occasional international scandal). She is also mysterious in her music: her works are like planets with their own atmosphere and laws. The narrative is usually torn, fragmentary and always incom plete, it leaves the listener uns…

Formed in 2017, J Pavone String Ensemble features Jessica Pavone and Abby Swidler on violas, and Erica Dicker and Angela Morris on violins. The group's latest release, Lost And Found, combines both traditional notation and improvisation, with a focus on sustained collaborative playing and the application of ideas exploring the healing potential of sonic vibrations. It was recorded at Firehouse 12 in New Haven, Connecticut. Speaking with The Wire's Philip Clark in November 2019, Pavone describes …

* In pocess of stocking * In Better Shape Than You Found Me is a one-hour piece jointly composed and realized by American composer/violist Jordan Dykstra and Dutch composer/musician Koen Nutters in the year 2020. Dykstra plays viola, pitch pipe, crotales, piano EBow, electronic programming, field recordings, and Nutters delivers the piano programming and field recordings. The two bring together their sounds and structures in very organic ways, merging into a single, intriguing sound world. Maste…

A somnambulant modern masterwork, Kali Malone’s 2017 debut full length album is made available again on vinyl some four years since its limited private press of just 100 copies.

If you ask a random group of people familiar with contemporary classical music to categorize the style or type of music that Daniel Goode (b. 1936) creates, you would probably receive as many answers as the number of people in that grouping: minimalist, gamelan, process, improvised, folk-based, solo, chamber, orchestral, spoken word, electro-acoustic, intermedia, graphic, and more.  This CD features two types of instrumental music: solo/small ensemble music and orchestral (or, to be more precise…

Black Truffle is pleased to announce Parampara Festival 13.3.1992, a stunning performance by Amelia Cuni captured live in Berlin almost thirty years ago. Milanese by birth and resident in Berlin for many years, Cuni lived in India for over a decade, studying the classical vocal style of dhrupad under masters of the form. Though perhaps known to many listeners primarily through her performances of the vocal music of John Cage and collaborations with Werner Durand and Terry Riley, she is recognise…

Why is there a harmonium (reed organ) at Ftarri? It all goes back to the Ftarri Festival held in Tokyo in November 2019. A quartet made up of Klaus Lang (harmonium), Johnny Chang (violin), Samuel Dunscombe (bass clarinet) and Michiko Ogawa (clarinet) was planned for the festival's final day, so Ogawa quickly purchased a used harmonium for Lang. As she lives in Berlin, Ogawa and Ftarri decided that the harmonium would be housed there temporarily and used in Ftarri concerts.Composer Masamichi Kino…