Composition / All styles

Duo Gazzana (Natascia Gazzana, violin; Raffaella Gazzana, piano) play Schnittke, Poulenc, Silvestrov, Walton and Dallapiccola, recorded in June 2013 at the Auditorio Radiotelevisione svizzera, Lugano, produced by Manfred Eicher.

The Hilliard Ensemble sings Roger Marsh's Il Cor Tristo, a 2008 setting of cantos from Dante's Inferno, framed by Petrarch madrigals by Bernardo Pisano and Jacques Arcadelt. Recorded in November 2012 at Propstei St. Gerold.

First album by the trio Tre Voci (Kim Kashkashian, viola; Marina Piccinini, flute; Sivan Magen, harp): Takemitsu, Debussy's Sonata for flute, viola and harp and Gubaidulina, recorded in April 2013 in Lugano.

Two pieces by Dumitrescu: "Au Dela de Movemur" (for orchestra & strings) & "Monades (Gamma & Epsilon)" (for 6 monocords, crystals & metallic objects). Avram is a young Rumanian composer, and of similar interest, with 3 pieces: "Ekagrata" (for orchestra), "Signum Geminai" (for ensemble and tape) & "Zodiaque III" (for prepared piano, percussion and tape).

GALAXY ( acousmatic music for gongs, harryphones, metallic plaques and percussions ) & MOVEMUR ET SUMUS for 2 cellos 2 double basses. ( HYPERION Ensemble ) & RELIEFS for piano and orchestra (Alexandrina ZORLEANU) & ALTERNANCES for string quartet & BAS-RELIEFS for large orchestra

Kate Moore's music for one, two, four and multiple pianos, all played by Saskia Lankhoorn, recorded in April 2013 at the Auditorio Radiotelevisione svizzera, Lugano, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

PIERRES SACREES ( acousmatic music ) & HARRYPHONIES - alpha ( with Fernando GRILLO & HYPERION Ensemble /Cond.; Iancu Dumitrescu ) & ìGRANDE OURSEì chamber ensemble and tape ( Hyperion Ensemble/ Cond. Iancu Dumitrescu ) & HARRYPHONIES - epsilon, Large orchestra and soloists: Fernando GRILLO, Barry WEBB, Melvin POORE, ConductorS Iosif CONTA & Iancu DUMITRESCU - Romanian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra

Medium III" for double bass (1983), "Cogito / Trompe L'Oeil" for prepared piano, two double basses, Javanese gongs, crystals & metallic objects (1982), "Aulodie Mioritica (gamma)" for double bass and orchestra (1984), "Perspectives au Movemur" for string quartet (1978), "Apogeum" for 22 wind instruments & 3 percussion groups (1972).Fernando Grillo (double bass), Ion Ghita (double bass), Iancu Dumitrescu (prepared piano), Costin Petrescu (Javanese gong), Cristian Valeanu (metallic objects), Horia…

Japanese pianist Momo Kodama plays Ravel's Miroirs, Takemitsu's Rain Tree Sketch (1982) and Messiaen's La fauvette des jardins (1970), recorded in September 2012 at the Historischer Reitstadel, Neumarkt.

Myung Whun Chung's first solo piano recording: ten short pieces by Debussy, Chopin, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Schumann and Mozart, recorded in July 2013 at the Teatro La Fenice, Venice.

Erkki-Sven Tüür's Piano Concerto (2006), with soloist Laura Mikkola, and Seventh Symphony 'Pietas' (2009), with the NDR Choir, played by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Järvi, recorded in Frankfurt in June 2009 and June 2010.

Galina Ustvolskaya's Trio (1949), Violin Sonata (1952) and Duet (1964), played by violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, pianist Markus Hinterhäuser and clarinettist Reto Bieri, recorded in March 2013 at the RSI Auditorio in Lugano.

Six works by Estonian composer Tõnu Kõrvits, three of them based on songs by Veljo Tormis, with cellist Anja Lechner, singer Kadri Voorand, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under Tõnu Kaljuste, recorded February 2013 in Tallinn.

One of the key figures in electronic music development, though better known as an inventor, Le Caine did make pieces and some of the best are collected here. Some humorous and plunderphonic (happy birthday made from the scream in Berg's Lulu), some informative - demonstrations by Le Caine of his instruments and some just very entertaining or ear-turning. Echoes of Raymond Scott.

Slow movements and miniatures by Beethoven, Bach, Ligeti, Kurtág, Schnittke and Knaifel played by the Keller Quartett, with Alexei Lubimov in the Schnittke; recorded 1995-2012 in Vienna, Eichstätt and Zürich and compiled with producer Manfred Eicher.

Four works for soloists and string orchestra by Tigran Mansurian (1978-2012), with Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin), Anja Lechner (cello) and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta led by Candida Thompson. Recorded October 2012 at the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Amsterdam.

Three works by Victor Kissine: the piano concerto Between Two Waves, the Duo (after Osip Mandelstam) for viola and cello, and Barcarola for violin, strings and percussion, with Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica. Recorded live at the Lockenhaus Festival in July 2011.

Konstantia Gourzi's chamber music: piano pieces, two string quartets and two works for piano quintet, played by pianist Lorenda Ramou and Ensemble Coriolis. Recorded July 2012 at the Himmelfahrtskirche, Munich, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Six sets of a cappella sacred songs, psalms and prayers by Valentin Silvestrov (2006-2008), sung by the Kyiv Chamber Choir under Mykola Hobdych, recorded in 2008 at St Michael's Cathedral, Kyiv.

Russian pianist Anna Gourari's ECM debut: Bach chorale preludes, the Chaconne and a prelude in transcriptions by Busoni and Siloti, with Gubaidulina's Chaconne and Hindemith's Suite 1922, recorded in May 2011 at the Reitstadel, Neumarkt.

Chamber works and songs by Harrison Birtwistle (1998-2011): two sets of Lorine Niedecker settings, the Trio and Bogenstrich, played by Till Fellner, Lisa Batiashvili, Adrian Brendel, Amy Freston and Roderick Williams, recorded at the Herkulessaal, Munich.

Henry Purcell's twelve Fantazias in three and four parts (1680), played by the John Holloway Ensemble (violin, two violas, cello), recorded in March 2015 at Radiostudio DRS, Zürich, and released by ECM New Series in 2023.

Hungarian pianist Dénes Várjon's first solo ECM New Series album: Berg's Piano Sonata op. 1, Janáček's In the mists and Liszt's Sonata in B minor, recorded in April 2011 at the RSI Auditorio in Lugano and produced by Manfred Eicher.

Five works by Estonian composer Helena Tulve, with soprano Arianna Savall, Vox Clamantis, Ensemble Hortus Musicus and the NYYD Quartet under Jaan-Eik Tulve and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra under Olari Elts, recorded in Tallinn in 2009 and 2010.

Kim Kashkashian plays György Kurtág's Signs, Games and Messages for solo viola (nineteen pieces) and György Ligeti's Sonata for viola solo (1991-94), recorded in May 2011 at Propstei St. Gerold and produced by Manfred Eicher.

First portrait album of Dobrinka Tabakova: the Cello Concerto, Suite in Old Style, Insight, Frozen River Flows and Such Different Paths, with Maxim Rysanov, Kristina Blaumane, Janine Jansen and the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, recorded in Vilnius and Berlin.

Debut album of the Italian sisters Natascia (violin) and Raffaella Gazzana (piano), playing Takemitsu's Distance de fée, Hindemith's Sonata in E, Janáček's Sonata and Silvestrov's Five Pieces, recorded in March 2011 at the RSI Auditorio in Lugano.

This Romanian-born composer is noted for having developed the technique of 'spectral composition' during the 1960s. According to the man himself, this is defined as a "variable distribution of the spectral energy, synthesis of the global sound sources, micro- and macro-form as sound-process, four simultaneous layers of perception and of speed, and spectral scordaturae, i.e. rows of unequal intervals corresponding to harmonic scales." If you're any the wiser as to what he's on about do drop us a …

String Quartet No 4, opus 33 (1976-87). Performed by the Arditti String Quartet. "infinite to be cannot be infinite, infinite anti-be could be infinite" (for nine string quartets or a string quartet surrounded by an imaginary 128 string-"viola da gamba"). "Among contemporary composers, Horatiu Radulescu is one who has something essential to express about the enigma of time: multi-layered lines of events, their structuring, perception and potential for poetic-religious message are -- together wit…

**Restock of a rare, must-have record for contemporary music lovers. Comes with 4-page 12" booklet ** Great dense orchestral scraping and bowing from 1982 & 1983 by Romanian composer Horatiu Radulescu (1942-2008), among the great masters of Spectralism and subharmonics. This absorbing LP includes two groundbreaking works centered around the 'Sound Icons' - pianos standing on their sides, played with bows between the strings. On side A is the hypnotic, otherworldly Clepsydra for 16 Sound Icons (E…

Eight choral works by Arvo Pärt, led by the 24-minute Adam's Lament, sung and played by Latvian and Estonian choirs and string orchestras under Tõnu Kaljuste, recorded at Niguliste Church, Tallinn, in 2007 and 2011.

Heinz Holliger's Machaut-Transkriptionen (2001-2009) for four voices and three violas, alternating with Machaut originals, sung by The Hilliard Ensemble with violists Geneviève Strosser, Jürg Dähler and Muriel Cantoreggi, recorded November 2010 in Zürich.

Eleni Karaindrou's stage cantata on an anonymous 18th century verse drama from Chios, with violist Kim Kashkashian, mezzo Irini Karagianni, baritone Tassis Christoyannopoulos, ERT Choir, Camerata Orchestra under Alexandros Myrat, recorded live at the Athens Megaron, November 2010.

Live recording of Eleni Karaindrou's theatre and film music with guests Kim Kashkashian (viola) and Jan Garbarek (tenor saxophone), oboist Vangelis Christopoulos and the Camerata Orchestra under Alexandros Myrat, Megaron, Athens, 19 November 2010.

Hildegard of Bingen's sung morality play Ordo Virtutum (c. 1150) in a free, contemporary-minded arrangement by Dietburg Spohr for the Ensemble Belcanto, recorded October 2010 at the Festeburgkirche, Frankfurt am Main.

Audio edition of Heiner Goebbels' music-theatre installation for five mechanised pianos, archival voices and texts after Adalbert Stifter, recorded 20-21 October 2007 at the Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg.

Valery Afanassiev plays Schubert's six Moments musicaux D. 780 and the Piano Sonata in D major D. 850. Recorded September 2010 at the Auditorio Radiotelevisione svizzera, Lugano, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Gidon Kremer (violin), Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė (cello) and Khatia Buniatishvili (piano) play Victor Kissine's Zerkalo (2009), dedicated to them, and Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio op. 50. Recorded August 2010, Himmelfahrtskirche Sendling, Munich.

Chamber and vocal works by Heinz Holliger: Puneigä (soprano Sylvia Nopper), Induuchlen (countertenor Kai Wessel, horn Olivier Darbellay), Toronto-Exercises and Ma'mounia, with the Swiss Chamber Soloists under Holliger. Recorded 2006-2010.

The Keller Quartett plays György Ligeti's String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2 with the Molto adagio from Samuel Barber's String Quartet op. 11 between them. Recorded June 2007 and October 2011 at Radio Studio DRS, Zürich.