Part of flutist Claire Chase's project to commission a modern body of work for the instrument, this 4-CD set features 17 works by 15 composers, including the multi-part album-long composition "Pan" by Brazilian-born Marcos Balter, with works for the entire flute family from piccolo to contrabass flute; participants include Tyshawn Sorey, Vijay Iyer, Pauline Oliveros, &c.

The UK ensemble Apartment House commissioned this work from composer & experimenter Jim O'Rourke based on their performance of other O'Rourke works, here interpreting a new graphic score designed like a sonic mobile, creating a minimal yet episodic piece of flexible interpretation as the performers whistle, hum and quietly sing in combination with bowed harmonics.

A large work by the Western Australian composer Josten Myburgh, using harmonies taken from the music of Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe blended with environmental field recordings, performed by Josten Myburgh on sax & electronics, Jet Kye Chong on percussion, Jameson Feakes on guitar, Djuna Lee on bass, Stuart James on piano & electronics, and Kirsten Smith on flutes.

The second of a five-volume compilation series curated by Nick Vander, a testament to the incredible musical range of the guitar and the imaginative possibility of guitarists around the world, with tracks from David Stackenäs, Jessica Ackerley, Jorge Espinal, Usui Yasuhiro, Scott Fields, Sebastian Sequoiah.Grayson, Sam Shalabi, Shinobu Nemoto and Nyctalllz.

A beautifully hypnotic album of wind music, especially on the Pan-Ney, an instrument developed by Berlin composer Werner Durand, along with electronics and a piece using the talking drum as performed by Marika Falk, presenting early works from the 1990s that bridge both improvisation and composition with an embraceable sound that reveals underlying complexity.

Each side of these 2 LPs is take from one of four installations by Marina Rosendfeld in Frankfurt, Donaueschingen, and NYC, presenting the installation Deathstar; a piano performance within the Deathstar; a re-notation in the form of a concerto for piano and chamber orchestra; and the orchestration's reduction to something like chamber music.

Two compositions by John Zorn for solo cello and two works for cello and rhythm section, performed by cellists Jay Campbell (JACK Quartet) and Michael Nicolas (Brooklyn Rider, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)), with drummer Ches Smith and bassist Jorge Roeder taking the rhythm chairs; exciting and innovative compositions in virtuoso performances.

A suite of short pieces for solo piano subtitled "Images and Impressions for Piano", composed by John Zorn and performed by frequent Zorn interpreter Stephen Gosling, the works inspired by the sketches of English painter J.M.W. Turner, embracing influences including Ligeti, Scriabin, Bach, Glass, Debussy, Bartok, Berio, Feldman, Xenakis, Schoenberg &c.

Bass clarinetist Chris Cundy, uses the studio as a performance tool for accompaniment along with pre-recorded tapes, as he contrasts two different composers--Cornelius Cardew & Ton de Leeuw and their compositions titled "Mountains", alongside a Cardew graphic score piece, and 2 work for 5 bass clarinets, from Thanos Chrysakis and John Cage, the latter from his Numbers series.

The 4th album on Another Timbre from a series of pieces by composer Antoine Beuger, each acknowledging a cultural or intellectual figure, here titled for philosopher, musicologist, educator and one-time member of the French Resistance, Vladimir Jankélévitch, represented by Beuger in a large dramatic work performed by the Apartment House sextet.

Part of Another Timbre's Quarantine Commissions, Australian composer and artist in residence with HIAP (Helsinki International Artist Program) composed these beautifully contemplative and brooding works for cellos, electronics & voice during the 2020 pandemic, including a reworked version of her pieces on the erstwhile AMPLIFY 2020: Quarantine Festival.

Three minimal works for small ensemble incorporating electronics by Australian-born, UK-resident composer Newton Armstrong: 2 performed by the London-based Plus-Minus Ensemble directed by Mark Knoop as an acoustic quartet configuration and one as an electroacoustic quartet; and a solo work for multiple cello layers and resonance performed by Séverine Ballon.

The UK Apartment House ensemble perform four chamber works or lyrical ballads of slowly meandering melody, referenced as slow dances, by Toronto composer Martin Arnold: "Lutra" for solo cello & humming; "Stain Ballad" for a sextet of strings, piano, reed organ & percussion; "Trousers" for violin & cello; and "Slip" for cello, violin, bass clarinet & piano.

Five fascinating works by the Belgian composer Maya Verlaak, realized by Apartment House and soloists Sarah Saviet & Mark Knoop, experimental compositions including a work of personal reflection based on "Alouette"; a conceptual game piece; a composition layering pre-recorded segments of "Greensleaves"; and two interactive acoustic & computer pieces.

Active in the modern creative music scene around Germany and The Netherlands, drummer/percussionist Hendrik Eichler explores a variety of "Dimensions" and "Transcendence" in solo percussive playing, using traditional and extended techniques, from highly active to deeply introspective moods, assisted at time through digital technology.

Two compositions for two pianos by Jürg Frey and performed Reinier van Houdt abd Dante Boon: "Entre les deux l"instant" (2017/2018) where pianist interchange playing "Melody" and note(s) from a "List of Sounds" with flexibility in performance; and "toucher l"air" (2019) where two pianists play each part at the same time with subtle similarities but in different tempos.

Eight melodically structured song pieces from French composer and pianist Melaine Dalibert, his fifth album, presenting an embraceable and heartfelt set of compositions quite different from his typical algorithmic approach to writing, conceived by David Sylvian and recorded with outstanding fidelity on a Steinway at the chapel of the Rennes Conservatory.

Three piano works by Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi: 'Suite No.9 "Ttai"' (1953); 'Quattro illustrazioni' (1953); and 'Un Adieu' (1978/1988); performed live in Tel Aviv by Israeli pianist Shira Legmann, who found these pieces particularly fascinating as she studied Scelsi's oeuvre, impressed by his compositional method of notating improvisations to create finished pieces.

Performing on Tanpura & tuba, composer Eyvind Kang explores a wealth of Asian instruments in a series of beautiful pieces investigating and elucidating the properties of each, culminating in the Korean instrument Ajaeng, used historically as a court instrument, here used in a more introspective and meditative role through well developed and recorded compositions.

Two works of tension, timing and dramatic presentation, one performed by the Bearthoven trio of piano, bass and percussion, repeating polyrhythmic contrapuntal figures; and one performed by the Bent Duo of David Friend and Bill Solomon using vibraphones and piano, drawing on harmonic dissonance to create sonic interference that draws attention to Hennie's composition.

As though an elegy for the departed pianist and composer, Keith Tippett does not perform on this work, which was commissioned for the 2004 Norwich and Norfolk Festival, but conducts an ensemble that includes Julie Tippetts on voice, a saxophone octet that includes long-time collaborator Paul Dunmall, and the polyphonic choir of the BBC Singers; an exquisite and stirring work.

Composed using the computer program TTM (Textural Transformation Machine) and developed by Friedl to sculpt multiple random processes where all instruments play in rhythmic unison throughout, KRAFFT was composed in 2016 as a commission of the French State, referencing "power" or "force" as regards the sense of unknown rules controlling the world around us.

Two hauntingly beautiful works in microtonal composer and violist Catherine Lamb's "Prisma Interius" series, the first a duo with violinist Johnny Change and Xavier Lopez on the "secondary rainbow synthesizer", which channels the sound outside of the performance space as a generator of ambient sound; then a sextet of strings and winds with two secondary rainbow synthesizers.

Composer Andrew Lafkas' large ensemble piece with performers including C. Spencer Yah, Ron Stabinsky, Barry Weisblat, Sean Meehan, Ben Owen, &c. is a meditative work intended for live performance, this album the 2nd of 3 performances, a brooding and resonant rendering of rich and subtle detail that evolves over 70 minutes, carrying its listeners in a profound revery.

The third in a series of pieces inspired by ideas in the history of music theory, from composer Marc Sabat and inspired by Renaissance Italian Composer/Theorist Gioseffo Zarlino, performed in a 9-piece ensemble that cycles through voices, strings, harp, and flute, with instruments entering cycles at midpoints of prior loops to create weaving and graceful intersections.

The quartet of Sergio Armaroli (vibraphone), Martina Brodbeck (cello), Francesca Gemmo (piano), and Fritz Hauser (drums & percussion), also heard in free improvisational duos and trios, perform Armaroli's "Structuring the Silence", aiming to extend the performers' improvisational freedom using time and space through broad compositional instructions.

Since 2014 the collective [SNDNG STTNS] has explored theatrical situations between musictheatre, staging and composition with live music, instruments, recordings, samples, speach and live editing, this work featuring cellist Guilherme Rodrigues bridges the art of the brazilian "violeros" with contemporary music, acoustic and electronic composition and improvisation.

Four trios perform selections from composer and reedist Phillip Greenlief's BARBEDWIRE - 37 Graphic Scores For Trio, featuring John Bischoff, Kyle Bruckmann, Mark Clifford, Evelyn Davis, Tim Decillis, Gabby Fluke Mogul, Jane Rigler, and Tim Perkis, each composition a unique sonic sculpture, creating a diverse set of unique recordings realized by consummate performers.

Austrian composer Peter Ablinger wrote this study, which is not intended for live performance, using a violin performing a slow glissando over one octave, here performed by violinist Johnny Chang, the recording then composed in the studio as a proportion canon, virtually layering 16 violins in a study displaying the harmonic interactions of that single glissando.

Part of the opera tetralogy Now Eleanor's Idea that Ashley wrote in the early 1990s and performed by his ensemble, the "band" who interpreted his work for 20 years, from 1992 through 2012; this recording is from a live performance in Hebbel Theater, Berlin in 1995, the opera following the life of his characters in parallel to universal issues we all face.

Jessica Pavones String Ensemble with Pavone and Abby Swidler on violas, and Erica Dicker and Angela Morris on violins, are recorded live at Firehouse 12 in a set of Pavone compositions combining traditional notation and improvisation, with a focus on sustained collaborative playing and the application of ideas exploring the healing potential of sonic vibrations.

Jessica Pavones String Ensemble with Pavone and Abby Swidler on violas, and Erica Dicker and Angela Morris on violins, are recorded live at Firehouse 12 in a set of Pavone compositions combining traditional notation and improvisation, with a focus on sustained collaborative playing and the application of ideas exploring the healing potential of sonic vibrations.

A fascinating 2-CD retrospective of the solo piano and computer work from 1990 to 2016 of San Francisco Bay Area experimental composer Chris Brown, whose work focuses on evolving paradigms of human-machine interaction through live signal processing, generative polyrhythmic textures, and a cohabitation of both formal control and indeterminacy.

Composer Alvin Lucier is heard in two extended works: "Vespers" (1969) using the Environ-Ears Recording System, an acoustical labyrinth and microphone assembly duplicating the localization and noise-reducing functions of the human ear; and "Chambers" (1968) exploring the relationship between our perception of the source of a sound and its relation to space.

UK composer Oliver Leith presents a work in 8 movements for piano, keys and percussion performed by Siwan Rhys (keys) and George Barton, an invocation of everyday life through a personal and often idiosyncratic orchestration reflective of personal ritual & habits; our good and our irrational, often contradictory impetus, portrayed through quirky and embraceable episodes.

Microtonal composer Kraig Grady in a work for specially adapted brass instruments (Kris Tiner, trumpets; Subhraag Singh-saxophones; Emmett Kim Narushima-trombones) and organ (Terumi Narushima) using a the Meta-Slendro tuning, an obscure 17-tone scale, to create an expansive and organic work assembled from recordings of each musician playing meditations on single notes.

With 20 years of performance history, the "Eventless Plot" trio of Thessaloniki, Greece — Vasilis Liolios (Psaltery, percussion, electronics), Yiannis Tsirikoglou (electronics) and Arias Gatas (piano, percussion, electronics) — present three chamber works, performed with other other Greek instrumentalists; extraordinary works of embracing creativity and depth.

A live recording using the natural resonance of Pfarrkirche, Lockenhaus during the 2018 Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus from avant vocalist and improviser Maja S. K. Ratkje, using layers of voice processed by software created by Øyvind Brandtsegg, plus sung parts from the Norwegian traditional "Hanen sten på stabburshella" and the American traditional "Mining for Gold".

Vocal performer & musician Jaap Blonk presents a rendering of French dramatist, poet and theatre director Antonin Artaud's "Pour en Finir avec le Jugement de Dieu" (To Have Done With the Judgment of God), a work shelved by the French Radio in 1948 without broadcast as 'too scatological, political, anti-religious, random, and cacophonous through xylophonic and percussive sounds'.

Back in Stock: Recollection GRM assembles Greek experimental composer Iannis Xenakis' works for Groupe de Recherches Musicales circa 1957-1962: "Concret PH" (1958); "Orient-Occident" (1960); "Diamorphoses" (1957-58); "Bohor" (1962).

Fall 2020 issue of Canada's finest new music magazine, focusing on guitars--hollow, heavy, bowed, cracked, pedalled, flung, trusty companions & feedback demons; Plus articles on Casey Koyczan, Susan Alcorn, Amy Brandon, Aidan Baker, Eliza Kavtion, C. Diab, Markus Lake, Catherine Debard, Cloud Chamber, &c; and an 11-track CD with music from the aforementioned.

The second of four connected solo piano works by Morton Feldman, Triadic Memories is about that reality, the acoustic space created by the piano's strings and soundboard, as Feldman attempted to expand the temporal frame of his music, heard here in Judith Wegmann's 2019 recording, where thThe second of four connected solo piano works by Morton Feldman, Triadic Memories is about the acoustic space created by the piano's strings and soundboard, as Feldman worked to expand the temporal frame of his music, heard her in Judith Wegmann's 2019 studio recording where that space is revealed by a magnificent Bosendorfer 280VC piano.at space is revealed by a magnificent Bosendorfer 280VC piano.

Pieces written for the Ever Present Orchestra, a 13-piece ensemble formed in 2016 exclusively to perform composer Alvin Lucier's works, with a core of 4 guitarists, 3 saxophones, 4 violins and piano, here presenting Lucier's continuing exploration of the behaviour of sound in physical space, blending electronic and acoustic sources with subtle tension and mystery.

Pieces written for the Ever Present Orchestra, a 13-piece ensemble formed in 2016 exclusively to perform composer Alvin Lucier's works, with a core of 4 guitarists, 3 saxophones, 4 violins and piano, here presenting Lucier's continuing exploration of the behaviour of sound in physical space, blending electronic and acoustic sources with subtle tension and mystery.

Previously unreleased 1990's recordings from Arnold Dreyblatt and his Orchestra of Excited Strings, including six pieces performed by three different iterations of the Orchestra; ensembles of modified percussion, string, and wind instruments; pieces using Dreyblatt's Dynamic Processing System; plus 2 pieces composed for the 10th anniversary of the Orchestra in Europe.

Collaborations between electronic artist Michel Banabila, 14 tracks in total along with 16 musicians of experimental electronic, compositional, and electronica forms, inspired by the Disquiet Junto project and with artists including Machinefabriek, Radboud Mens, violinist Oene van Geel and Mayana Golovchenko, each track revealing different aspects of Banabila's broad interests.

Architect John Körmeling and maverick musician Charlemagne Palestine collaborate on a whole new system of music, reworking the harpsichord to generate notes of Pythagorean ratios, Kormeling asking the visionary and idiosyncratic to composer create a set of recordings on the instrument that Palestine dubbed "The Frogischord".

Drawing from contemporary composers including Tom Johnson, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Adrian Democ, James Tenney, &c, this is the 3rd chapter of Italian flutist Manuel Zurria's project/research on "minimalisms" in contemporary music, taking an active interpretation of the classification over 16 informed and adventurous recordings.

Percussionist Steve Hubback's project Metal Moves presents the percussionist, composer and instrument maker's work, using drums, gongs, bells, cymbals and percussive sculptures in well-developed compositions, evoking mysterious environments that evolve into muscular displays of extraordinary power, a beautifully balanced album of uniquely voice solo percussion.

A work composed from field recordings of performances around Los Angeles during the winter of 2018-19, the Pisaura trio of Michael Pisaro, Amber Wolfe Rounds & Jarrod Fowler (Zizia) used astrological charts to determine patterns of composing, performing, recording, and producing music with celestial and terrestrial rhythms; a mysteriously detailed and almost reverent work in sound.

A two-movement electroacoustic-orchestral composition from composer Olivia Block, the first side of the LP using heavily processed field recordings taken from orchestral rehearsals and various public locations, including museums and zoos; the 2nd a layered orchestral score performed by the Chicago Composers Orchestra and recorded over several years.

First performed in November 2019 at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and then at the Splitter Orchester festival in Berlin, this studio recording of Magnus Granberg's delicately complex and exquisitely dream-like composition features his Skogen ensemble, including Granberg, Rhodri Davies, Toshimaru Nakamura, Erik Carlsson, Petter Wastberg, &c.

Another Timbre's second CD of chamber works by the Paris-based Italian composer Giuliano d'Angiolini: Four pieces - ensemble works performed by Apartment House and the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, a duo for flute and piano, and a piece for solo piano played by the composer, all performed at the 2018 Angelica festival in Bologna Italy.

Four chamber pieces for strings, covering 5 decades of work by veteran German composer Ernstalbrecht Stiebler--each with his representative focus on concentration and quiet intensity--recorded in Bulgaria and performed by violinist Biliana Voutchkova, to whom two of the pieces are dedicated, with Michael Rauter (cello) and Nurit Stark (viola).

A beautiful, melancholic soundworld created by three musicians who have a rare rapport--Cyril Bondi on Indian harmonium, Pierre on Yves Martel on viola da Gamba, and Christoph Schiller on spinet--following their previous CDs tse and awire by moving on to new territory in 3 compositions allowing for freedom from each musician, two from Schiller and one from Bondi.

Belgian composer Pierre Gerard presents a work that examines what we see around us, and what sometimes remains invisible, in three dramatic minimal works of powerful tones and tension, silence and motion: the first is 'the mechanics', the second 'the structure of a rock on a high mountain', the third 'the distance between the elements in a small forest area'.

Four new commissioned works by Chris Cutler, Andzrej Karpinski, Nick Sudnik and Alessandro Monti performed on Futurist conceptualist Luigi Russolo's "Intonarumori", unique boxes capable of mechanically creating sounds including roars, thunderings, explosions, hissing, whistling, puffing, mumbling, muttering, gurgling, screeching, creaking, buzzing, crackling and scraping.

Architect John Körmeling and maverick musician Charlemagne Palestine collaborate on a whole new system of music, reworking the harpsichord to generate notes of Pythagorean ratios, Kormeling asking the visionary and idiosyncratic to composer create a set of recordings on the instrument that Palestine dubbed "The Frogischord".

A long-form ambient composition from Portuguese composer and electroacoustic performer Rafael Toral, combining piano (Joana Gama), harp (Angelica V. Salve), vibraphone (Luis Bittencourt), clavinet (Joana Baulho), Rhodes (Riccardo Dillon), and sinewaves (Rafael Toral) a generative piece that avoids repetition while creating a floating and vast sense of reverberant space.

Two massive drone works for organ and pre-recorded tracks commissioned by Musica Festival Strasbourg for organist Hampus Lindwall, with tapes by Emanuel Schmelzer-Ziringer, each piece titled anagrammatically (ie. Nagro = Organ) and recorded with the composer at the Manufacture d'orgues Thomas and Orgelbau Klais organ in the Collegiale Sainte-Waudru, in Mons, Belgium.

Mark Mothersbaugh records five compositions for the Player Piano Forte composed by Nandor Nevai, each an impossible performance for a human being, with each piece named for the number of hands theoretically performing, from "1 Hand" to "5 Hands", driving the Pianoforte into extreme territory of rapidity and complexity in a fascinating set of compositions.

Phill Niblock's "Baobob", a rich drone work on a massive scale, is realized by the German sound collective The Dorf (German for The Village) augmented as a 35-member orchestra, released in a 2-CD set alongside "Echoes", a compositions from Jan Klare in three parts recorded the same evening with the same large edition of The Dorf ensemble.

Exploring long tones and harmonic interactions of consonance & dissonance through a slowly rotating and patiently evolving series of tones with each of the players in the Tonus trio doubling on wind instruments, as performed by Dirk Serries on soprano melodica & accordion, Martina Verhoeven on concertina & cello, and Colin Webster on clarinet & alto saxophone.

Two solo installation works from Wandelweiser composer Jürg Frey--"Paysage d'échos" in Aarau, Switzerland, in 2009; and "Equilibre fragile" in in Aarau in 2014--plus Frey's "Streichtrio" performed by Angharad Davies (violin), Johnny Chang (viola) and Stefan Thut (cello); and a solo piano work, "Eyot", performed by Antonio Correa.

The first in a 3-part series of vinyl releases for Tod Dockstader's "Aerial 1-3", his major work of electronic drone environments developed over 15 years, using over 90 hours of shortwave radio sources, cross signals and fragments, creating vast atmospheric clouds from which emerge voices, mutated conversations and unexpected patterns; amazing!

Continuing Black Truffle's series documenting the recent work of legendary American experimental composer Alvin Lucier, the duo String Noise of violinists Conrad Harris & Pauline Harris Kim present three long-form compositions exploring acoustic phenomena, including echolocation ("Tapper"), inter-violin resonance ("In Love Song") and sustaining long tones ("Halo").

Conductor Sebastian Gottschick presents an additional selection of songs and chamber music works from composer Charles Edward Ives that reflect this broad range, 20 mostly brief and innovative works composed between 1898 and 1921, blurring the boundaries between genres through unusual motifs, themes, gestures and phrases that appear in new vocal and/or instrumental contexts.

Seven works composed in the 21st century by Sebastian Gottschick, who arranges and conducts the Ensemble Fur Neue Musick Zurich, configured as an ensemble with percussion, a sextet, a chamber ensemble with baritone and soprano, and performing himself solo on viola; sophisticated and modern works that employ complex tonality, timbre and playing techniques.

Spring 2020 issue of Canada's premiere new music magazine covering improvised, composed and experimental music, with reviews of recordings and live events and extensive articles, this issue featuring Anthony Pateras, Xuan Ye, sound artist April Aliermo and composer Lieke van der Voort; with a 15 track CD of work from those and other featured artists.

Translating to "Blueberries and cat bells", Finnish electronic composer Olli Aarni's sound world is quick paced and surprisingly dense considering an overall feeling of brightness, sounds flashing and swirling by in strange segments of acousmatic exhilaration, pausing form moments before seizing his listener once more with swift streams of alien soundscapes; brilliant.

A contemplative solo work of subtle nuance and laden atmospheres, slowly drifting through a virtual landscape of dampened details, from London composer and improviser Sarah Hughes, performing on zither, piano, Hammond organ, sine tones, white noise, electric harpsichord, and objects, using an eBow to draw sustained tones over which delicate progressions advance.

A NY collective of composers, performers & improvisers dedicated to adventurous music, Wet Ink Ensemble perform saxophonist Alex Mincek's "Glossolalia", an investigation into linguistics through fragmented language; and Sam Pluta's "Lines on Black" written for the individual members of the ensemble in rigorously notated scores, electro-acoustic improvisation, and fixed media composition.

French composer/musician Emmanuel Holterbach was invited to work with the Italian ensemble Blutwurst founded in 2011 by Marco Baldini (trumpet), Edoardo Ricci (reeds) and Daniela Fantechi (piano & accordion), creating this epic 45-minute work focused on tone and sound, in which dense clouds of sound swirl in varying shades from near silence to thunderous intensity.

2 CDs of works for violin, piano & vibraphone, composed and performed by two young American composers and members of the ensemble Ordinary Affects, who have recorded music by the Jurg Frey, Magnus Granberg, Michael Pisaro, Eva Maria Houben, &c.; the 1st disc presents the Feldman-esque work of JPA Falzone, while the 2nd contains an exquisite new work by Morgan Evans-Weiler.

Swiss prepared spinet player Christoph Schiller and Argentine guitarist-composer Tomás Cabado, whose work is found on the Wandelweiser label, met in Schiller's studio in Basel to perform compositions from both and to improvise, recording this wonderfully relaxed but compelling music that exists in the fertile grey area between composition and improvisation.