★Reiger Records Reeks

Building upon the ground of their previous “Infra”, “Scanning”, and “Tektra” collections, Reiger Records Reeks continues its dedication to Roland Kayn’s monumental back catalog, delivering “Elektroakustische Projekte & Makro”, a towering 5CD box set reissuing two of the composer’s most important bodies of work for the very first time since their respective original releases in 1977 and 1981. Fully remastered from the original analog tapes by none other than Jim O’Rourke - allowing a number of th…

One of the titanic cybernetic works Kayn issued on Colosseum, Infra (1978-79) returns across three CDs and an extensive booklet: Isotrope, Nastie, the two Formantes, the two Randoms and Apeiron. Mastered by Jim O'Rourke from the tapes held in the Lydia and Roland Kayn Archive.

Recorded in 1982-83 and heard in public barely once, Scanning is the largest of Kayn's cybernetic works: ten CDs, ten hours, twenty-four moments moving between shimmering harmonic ambience and raw droning distance. Remastered by Jim O'Rourke from the original recordings.

Kayn's landmark of the early 1980s, out of print for decades, restored across five CDs. Jim O'Rourke mastered it from the original tapes in the Lydia and Roland Kayn Archive, following the composer's own directions on crossfades and edits and restoring almost five minutes never issued digitally.

Fifteen titles on twenty-nine discs: every CD Roland Kayn issued on his own Reiger Records Reeks between 1995 and 2006, from the three Kybernetische Musik volumes and the ten Electronic Symphonies to the late Multiplex Sound-Art sets and the orchestral and keyboard works. Specially priced.

The first instalment of the ten Electronic Symphonies: Symphony I (1966-96), II (1970-96) and III (1971-97), with Equivalence Sonore II and III from 1995. Pieces concreted in real time by a complex autonomous electronic system, a process Kayn documented rather than composed.

Electronic Symphony IV (1988-96) unfolds over four sections across two discs, joined by Frottage and Minimax, both from 1996. Sound generated in real time by an autonomous electronic system: since the process cannot be retraced, the recording itself stands in for the score.

Electronic Symphony V (1977-97) in two sections, one per disc, each paired with one of the Emissioni Trasformati of 1996. Twenty years of revision folded into music that a complex autonomous electronic system concreted in real time, beyond any traceable authorship.

Electronic Symphony VI (1982-97) on the first disc, Symphony VII (1984-98) and Frottage II (1996) on the second. Two of the longest gestations in the cycle, worked over fifteen years and left to a self-regulating electronic system to concrete in real time.

The close of the cycle: Electronic Symphony VIII (1978-98) and the single-year Symphony IX (1999) on the first disc, Symphony X (1982-99) in two sections on the second. Thirty years of Kayn's generative studio work arriving at its last and largest statements.

The first volume of Kayn's cybernetic works: Ready-Made I and II (1982) on one disc, Collage and Decollage (1984) on the other. Four long pieces that arise, in the composer's words, from the interplay of merged control loops setting a process into motion.

The second volume of Kayn's cybernetic works, a single CD holding two long pieces: Assemblage (1984) and Refractions (1995). Music not composed and practised but set going, arising from merged control loops and feedback in a system that can be entirely autonomous.

The third volume, six pieces from 1986 to 1996 across two discs: Cybernetic Serendipity, Transfluxion and Syntropie on the first, An Artificial Acoustic Environment, Syzygy Dynamical Units and Equivalence Sonor I on the second. A decade of self-regulating systems at work.

Two long pieces from the turn of the millennium, Gärten Der Lüste (1999-2000) and L'Innominata (2000), each in two sections, with the early Cybernetics II (1969) set between them on the first disc. Thirty years of Kayn's electronic practice in a single pairing.

Invisible Music (2003) spread over three parts across two discs, followed by Hommage a K. R. H. Sonderborg from the same year. Late Kayn, sound with no visible source, left to a self-regulating electronic system to unfold at its own pace.

Two long pieces from 2004: Etoile du Nord in two parts on the first disc, Ghyress für Ilse-Emily Kayn on the second, named for the daughter who would later reawaken her father's label. Among the last titles Kayn issued on Reiger Records Reeks himself.

Issued under Kayn's Multiplex Sound-Art heading: Requiem pour Patrice Lumumba (2002) and Interations (2003) on the first disc, the four-section Composizione AD (2002) and Prismes Reflectes (2002) on the second. Among the most recent pieces the composer completed.

Also under Kayn's Multiplex Sound-Art heading: Ultra (2001) and Redundancy TR (2003) on the first disc, the three-section Megaphonie (2001) on the second. Three of the last pieces Roland Kayn completed and released on his own label.

Kayn before the machines: orchestral scores from 1957 to 1966 on the first disc, Sequenzen, Aggregate, Vectors I and II, Signals; ensemble works to 1974 on the second, including Phasen for speech sounds and four percussion groups. Premiered at Darmstadt, Venice, Warsaw and Hamburg.

Kayn's earliest keyboard music in historical recordings: Fünf Kleine Klavierstücke (1952), Divertimento (1955), Quanten (1956) and Fractals (1994) on the first disc; on the second the studio Quanten and Diffusions (1965) for one to four electronic organs, from Sonology in Utrecht.