Mauricio Kagel

February 2023; similar to the trajectory the [CP 277 CD] set has taken, this set covering the entirety of the Electronic & Experimental Music as originally issued in 1969 on Discos Siglo Veinte, the "Private" Imprint of Argentinian critic Jacobo Romano has been on the books for ages (a decade and a half by my count) & it was only recently (after scouring virtually every shop in said country) that copies of all three relevant titles were finally sourced: "Música Electrónica Latinoamericana" (#LP 502), "Phantasie 1967 / Antithese 1962 / Montage 1967 / Pandorasbox" (#JJ 015), & "Núcleos - 1a. Serie / Música / Metapiéce (Mimetics)" (#LP 500) - the contents of the first two appearing here en toto (in this order) followed by "Metapiéce (Mimetics)" (as a bonus cut, essentially) tidily across a single 80-minute disc.

Whether for its historical associations or its sonic possibilities, the piano has featured prominently at all stages of Maurizio Kagel’s career. This collection gathers together most of his piano compositions: as so often with Kagel, the medium in itself does not constitute a generic body of work so much as music for one particular ‘sound source’ out of many.

In his opening remarks, Marco Blaauw admits that only latterly did he enjoy the extrovert tendencies of his instrument – and this recital “shows off” in exemplary fashion. Only Hanna Kulenty’s Brass No 1 is a truly abstract study: the first in a cycle of trumpet-centred pieces that puts the double-bell instrument as thoroughly and as scintillatingly through its paces as any music written from a non-jazz perspective.

Isao Nakamura - Carter, Huber, Kagel, Pagh-Paan, Eötvös, Xenakis & Hosokawa: Works for Solo Percussion (2018) {NEOS Digital Download}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44kHz - Official Digital Download (qobuz.com) -> 208 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 140 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 2018 Neos Music | NEOS10819
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Percussion

On this CD, Isao Nakamura presents a selection of works for solo percussion which – despite some very demanding technical passages – do not focus primarily on technical brilliance but on clear, focused artistic ideas, as well as, in some cases, extra-musical concepts. The main focus here is on drums. As the only instruments tuned to a specific pitch, in this CD the timpani features in two movements of Elliott Carter's "Eight Pieces for Four Timpani" and in Peter Eötvös's "Thunder".

The legendary DG Avantgarde vinyl series (1968-1971) is turning 55! In order to celebrate this occasion, the series is now released on 21 CDs for the first time. The Avantgarde series serves as a historical document for a time of radical change in musical thinking and the breaking of artistic boundaries. The question "What is music?" confronted many of the composers and musicians involved in the series, and the anti-authoritarian spirit of the 1960s and 1970s was a palpable influence. Deutsche Grammophon's Avantgarde Series reflects all the currents that thus arose, without aesthetic demarcations and across genres and instrumentations: large orchestral works stand alongside chamber music and solo forms, electronic music and improvisations.

Wergo's admirable series, Edition musikFabrik, consists of seven thematically arranged discs including works by 25 European (and one American) composers performed by the exciting Cologne-based ensemble musikFabrik. The third volume, Vom Himmel zur Hölle (From Heaven to Hell), has, for the most part, in spite of the seriousness of its title, a surprisingly whimsical and sometimes even goofy tone.

Schönberg Ensemble - Schönberg Ensemble Edition (2006) {22CD+4DVD Set Etcetera KTC9000}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 5.82 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 3.21 Gb
3xDVD9+DVD5 -> 24.2 Gb | All Regions | NTSC 16:9 | LPCM, 2 ch / DTS, 5 ch | ~ 240 min | ISO Images
Subs: English, Francais, Deutsch, Espanol, Italiano, Nederlands
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 1.36 Gb | 5% repair rar
© 2006 Schönberg Ensemble / Et'cetera | KTC9000
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Experimental / Avant-Garde / 20th Century / 21st Century

The Amsterdam-based Schoenberg Ensemble ranks alongside the London Sinfonietta, the Ensemble Modern from Frankfurt and Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris as one of Europe's most distinguished new-music groups. What began in 1974 when seven student instrumentalists got together with their teacher, Reinbert de Leeuw, to perform Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire has steadily diversified. At first, the group concentrated on the music of the Second Viennese School, but gradually its scope expanded: now the Schoenberg Ensemble has a core lineup of 14 musicians and a repertoire that stretches from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day.

What happens after death? This question has occupied the thoughts of mankind since its existence. They believe in gods and paradise, in hell or in the afterlife. Even some of the most famous moments in music history are due to the imagination of the realms that are beyond this world. In the works by Francesco Filidei, music and death are always interconnected: Man has found three instruments to explore life: philosophy, religion, and art. To me, music is the most effective because it works with time, and we perceive life through time. The composer Michael Beil devoted himself to cross-media questions very early, and his composition Black Jack plays with the relationship between sound and picture, playback and action, while giving special emphasis to the play with silence and repetitions.

The third album from Trio Image follows the success of their releases of the Piano Trio by Mauricio Kagel and Chamber music by Hans Sommer. The new album consists partly of world premiere recordings of unknown repertoire.