Composition / All styles

Pianist Heather O'Donnell places short works by Charles Ives, including the first recording of London Bridge Is Fallen Down!, alongside first-recorded piano responses by Zimmermann, Finnissy, Tenney, Corbett and Schneller.

Xenakis Edition volume 10 and the first complete recording of Iannis Xenakis's string quartets, played by the JACK Quartet: Tetras, Tetora, ST/4-1,080262 and Ergma, the last quartet, released on CD and surround-sound DVD.

First recordings of four Piano Sonatas by Chris Newman (Nos. 1, 4, 6 and 10, composed 1982-2004), played by Michael Finnissy, a collaborator of the composer for over twenty-five years, in composer-supervised recordings.

First complete recording of Lou Harrison's reconstructed suites for just-intonation guitar and of the Ditone Set, played by John Schneider, with the first recording of Harrison's Handel homage for guitar and gamelan.

John Cage's Two2 (1989) for two pianos, a renga-based number piece built on time brackets, played in a 74-minute performance by Rob Haskins and Laurel Karlik Sheehan, from the Complete John Cage Edition.

First recording of John Cage's Three (1989) for three recorder players, with his early Solo with Obbligato Accompaniment of Two Voices in Canon (1933-34), performed by Trio Dolce. The Number Pieces 4.

Complete piano works by Roger Reynolds on two CDs, from Epigram and Evolution (1960) to The Angel of Death (1998-2001), played by Yuji Takahashi, Eric Huebner and Marilyn Nonken, with new recordings and remastered analog reissues.

Chamber works by Earle Brown from 1952 to 1999, from Folio and Four Systems to Tracer, with Christian Wolff and Joan La Barbara among the performers and the tape piece Octet in a new transfer.

Two CDs of virtuoso piano fantasies and transcriptions on operas by Puccini, Bellini, Verdi, Debussy, Berg, Bussotti and Volans, played by their arranger Yvar Mikhashoff.

Cellist Michael Bach plays J.S. Bach's Cello Suite No. 3 on the curved bow, with two works by Dieter Schnebel, Mit Diesen Händen with mezzo-soprano Mechthild Seitz and Fünf Inventionen, first in the Art of the Curved Bow series.

The first complete recording of William Russell's percussion ensemble works of the 1930s and 1940s, including Ogou Badagri, Three Cuban Pieces and a Trumpet Concerto, played by Essential Music. Released in 1993.

Stefan Wolpe's music from his Jerusalem years, 1934-38, including three world premiere recordings, played by ensemble recherche and the WDR Symphony Orchestra under Werner Herbers and Johannes Kalitzke.

John Luther Adams's Strange and Sacred Noise, a nine-movement work for percussion quartet, in the composer-supervised first recording by Percussion Group Cincinnati, with a 60-minute interview with the composer.

Chamber works by Walter Zimmermann from 1986-89 for piano, cello and piano, bass flute and piano, and violin and piano, played by the HCD Ensemble with cellist Michael Bach and violinist Peter Rundel.

** Edition of 300 ** Union Edition presents Pianosequenza Vol.1 by Panoram. Eleven excursions for reproducing pianos. Recorded in Los Angeles (CA) on Yamaha DC7X pianos. All music written, recorded and produced by Panoram.

** Edition of 100 hand-numbered copies. Notes by Jon Dale ** By the time I landed in Adelaide somewhere in the mid 1990s, to complete my secondary schooling and get the hell out of dodge – the tiny country hamlet that I’d been living in, in the northern parts of the Upper Hunter in New South Wales, at the foot of the Barrington Tops – I’d already been indoctrinated into a set of ideals through my reading, listening, and the questionable guidance of a few family members. Foremost was a kind of id…

** Edition of 100 hand-numbered copies. Notes by Jon Dale ** Discovering Music Of Transparent Means was one of the three or so genuine revelations from my fifteen years of living in Adelaide, Australia. I was in my twenties and had spent some time wondering why the city I was surviving hadn’t offered much in the way of genuinely engaging and affecting ‘experimental music’ (all terms used advisedly) during my tenure. I’d also somehow glommed onto the work of a number of American composers and pol…

Comes in a four panel case with 16 page booklet, designed by Sam Songailo ** Russian pianist Konstantin Shamray studied in Moscow at the Russian Gnessin Academy of Music with Professors Tatiana Zelikman and Vladimir Tropp, and the Hochschule fur Musik in Freiburg, Germany with Professor Tibor Szasz. In 2008, Konstantin won First Prize at the Sydney International Piano Competition. Konstantin has performed with the Russian National Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, O…

** 2021 Stock. Comes in a six panel case with 16 page booklet, designed by Sam Songailo ** One-composer records have somehow slipped out of fashion, but the chance to delve more deeply into the psyche of a single composer is a special indulgence for both performer and listener. Luke Altmann's music first graced our music stands in 2007, when we performed the slow and achingly beautiful ‘Prelude to New York’ at Manchester Lane in Melbourne. The piece’s honest conviction, simplicity and deep expre…

Chamber music by Mexican composer Hilda Paredes, 1998-2001, drawing on Mayan language and culture: works for string quartet, piano quintet, 21 musicians and vocal quartet, with the Arditti Quartet and Ensemble Modern.

Lou Harrison's Suite No. 2 for Strings, Suite for Symphonic Strings and Concerto for Pipa with String Orchestra, three first recordings in their categories, played by Wu Man and The New Professionals Orchestra, London, conducted by Rebecca Miller.

Composer-supervised first recordings of Joël-François Durand's music on the four elements: La terre et le feu for oboe and ensemble, Les raisons des forces mouvantes for organ, La mesure des choses III and Athanor for orchestra.

The first complete CD of music by New York composer Jason Eckardt: four first recordings, After Serra, Tangled Loops, A Glimpse Retraced and Polarities, played by Ensemble 21, saxophonist Taimur Sullivan and pianist Marilyn Nonken.

Alain Bancquart's large-scale microtonal cycle on the myth of the Minotaur, on texts by Marie-Claire Bancquart, recorded at its world premiere of the complete version at Radio France on 27 May 2000.

Four chamber works by Walter Zimmermann, Schatten der Ideen, Ursache und Vorwitz, Distentio and Shadows of Cold Mountain 3, played by Ensemble Recherche. The music reflects the influence of John Cage and Morton Feldman.

Three works by Peter Garland, Another Sunrise, Dreaming of Immortality in a Thatched Cottage and I Have Had to Learn the Simplest Things Last, for pianos, harpsichord, voices and percussion, with Aki Takahashi and Essential Music.

Christian Wolff's complete works for bass, played by Robert Black under the composer's supervision: Look She Said, Jasper (with violin), String Bass Exercise out of Bandiera Rossa, Dark as a Dungeon (with trombone) and Untitled for electric bass-guitar.

Mostly first recordings of Henry Cowell's music written for dance, many from unpublished manuscripts, including Atlantis, the Ritournelles from Marriage at the Eiffel Tower, Sound Form No. 1 and the Suite for Woodwind Quintet.

The debut recording of Israeli-born composer Chaya Czernowin: five chamber works from 1988 to 1996, including a string quartet and Afatsim for nonet, played by Sonor, the Arditti Quartet and Japanese and American soloists.

Twenty-eight miniatures by Howard Skempton from the 1970s to the 90s, for solo to quintet, performed by HCD Productions with soprano Sarah Leonard and the composer on accordion.

Hilda Paredes's chamber opera The Seventh Seed, on the Persephone legend to a libretto by Karen Whiteson, recorded with the Arditti Quartet and Steven Schick, plus two realizations of Permutaciones for solo violin played by Irvine Arditti.

*Includes 24-page booklet with photos and liner notes* Steve Reich's commercial success had ballooned after his prior release on ECM, Music for 18 Musicians, and this collection of three compositions, two new and one from 1967, was the follow-up. Music for a Large Ensemble is very much of a piece with the prior work, using extended melodic lines, a larger palette of sound colors, and key changes every several minutes. It's charming and pleasantly busy in an industrious way but really covers litt…

A 65-minute electroacoustic composition featuring Dafne Vicente-Sandoval, bassoon. NuDaf (2020) is the second longest piece in Phill Niblock's repertoire of recorded audio works. NuDaf is a departure from his previous pieces in that he makes extensive use of multiphonics and constructed the work with fewer tracks than usual, creating uniquely transparent and ephemeral textures. The piece is the result of a collaboration between Niblock and the stellar bassoonist Dafne Vicente-Sandoval. Her music…

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…

Osaka-born and New York-based pianist Erika Dohi is a multi-faceted artist with an eclectic musical background. From highly polished traditional classical to bold improvisation, she is a dynamic performer whose timeless style and unidiomatic technique sets her apart in contemporary NYC avant-garde circles. Dohi’s vast repertory is impressive, but what makes her truly such a barrier-defying artist is what lies ahead. I, Castorpollux, Dohi’s debut solo album, is a profound personal excavation set …

** Edition of 300 copies pressed on clear vinyl. Mastered by Veronica Vasicka ** A weight of history flows through Ann Margaret Hogan’s keys with a stark intimacy, beautifully illuminated by naturally effortless, quietly grand songwriting. It’s a direct continuation of the landscaped themes and atavism of 2020’s ‘Honeysuckle Burials’ and the ‘Reversing Into Tomorrow’ collaboration with Karl O’Connor, vividly capturing the slow passage of time in a way that has quite literally compelled us to sto…

Karlheinz Stockhausen – “Cosmic Pulses”  is the last electronic composition by Karlheinz Stockhausen, and it is number 93 in his catalog of works. It is the 13th "hour" of Stockhausen's originally-planned 24-part cycle Klang ("Sound") which is based on the 24 hours of the day.  This electronic work is composed of 24 layers of synthesizer-generated melodic material, with each layer having a different speed and pitch register.  The layers enter one by one, starting from the lowest/slowest layer, a…

* 2021 Stock * Packaged in two double CD cases suited in a card slipcase along with a 46 pages booklet that includes texts in german and english. Karlheinz Stockhausen – “Elektronische Musik Von Sirius” Realisation at the Studio for Electronic Music of the West German Radio in Cologne from July 1975 to March 1977 using an EMS Synthi 100 synthesizer.. "In connection with the composition ‘Sternklang’ I closely watched the star constellations in Kürten. From my study as well as from the kitchen my …

*2022 Stock.* Karlheinz Stockhausen – “Musik für Posaune und Euphonium (Music for Trombone and Euphonium)” In Freundschaft (Für Posaune) for trombone – Signale Zur Invasion (1992) for trombone, electronic music and sound projectionist – Kinntanz (1983 / 89) for euphonium, percussionist, synthesizer player and sound projectionist "Stockhausen’s birthday gift composition for Suzanne Stephens -  In Freundschaft - has been played by a number of soloists over the years, i.e., on different kinds of so…

*2022 Stock.* Karlheinz Stockhausen – “Synthi-Fou / Dienstags-Abschied ” "A double –CD like this one falls right into that crystal clarity, giving yet more insight into how his art is achieved, piece by piece, structurally – but as it is with human beings or a flower or an Earth sun rise, the result is much more and something else altogether than the sum of all the parts… and somewhere in that realm lies the real mystery; that elusive, vibrant core of beauty and truth which can’t be accounted fo…