Tag Archives: Mode
Thomas Meadowcroft–The Great Knot
Australian composer inspired by the distances there, and by “cheap” instruments not used in art music–drum machines, old tapes, etc. Long, somewhat droning works.
Killer Instincts
Sarah Maria Sun & the Gurks perform these wide ranging songs–cabaret, rock, broadway–about bad people. Raucous!
Gerald Eckert–absence
Long, quiet tonal explorations, mostly with acoustic instruments, one with live electronics and tape. Sample!
Henri Pousseur–Works for Flute
Mostly abstract, lyrical pieces for 1-3 flutes, except 2 works with electronics that are not so lyrical. Play most!
Horatio Radulescu–The Complete Cello Works
Finding connections with music/math and other arts, sound units/vibrations for cello and piano.
Walter Zimmermann–Lokale Musik
For a wide variety of instruments and ensembles, pieces that are not quite lyrical nor atonal, with rhythmic changes.
Ayman Fanous & Frances- Marie Uitti–Negoum
Improvisations of classical guitar or bouzouki and cello (one & two bows), ranging from lovely Middle Eastern to wild.
Friedrich Jaecker–paradis
A variety of works for piano, some with voice, glasses–minimalist, abstract, lots of silences.
Morton Feldman–for Bunita Marcus
With his trademark quiet, slowness, these are solo piano works that are flowing, with rhythmic changes, spaces, minimalist. Nice!
Morton Subotnick–Vol. 4 Complete Piano Works
Varying piano pieces–some solo and lyrical, others staccato and electronic or with tape. Interesting!
Elliott Sharp– Dispersion
Works both composed but with improvisation by musicians, very abstract. Each performance is different.
George Crumb– Metamorphoses (Book I)
Solo piano pieces inspired by famous paintings and “five pieces for piano”. Play most!
John Cage–The Works for Piano vol. 10
Staccato, abrupt changes, forceful banging, very abstract but accessible solo piano.
Stockhausen–Kurzwellen
Avant-garde compositions with a mix of short wave radio, electronics and/or instruments, from 1968. All very short.
dream–American Music for Electric Guitar
This is a stunning album! An excellent mix of pieces either for or transcribed for electric guitar or electric bass by many of the well-known contemporary/avant-garde composers: Lang, Cage, Wolff, Polansky, Sharp, Feldman and more. Sergio Sorrentino performs. Play, play, play!
Barbarella Reloaded
Marco Cappelli’s Italian Surf Academy is back with the wild and fun rearrangement of the soundtrack for Barbarella–60’s surf/psych today! Play!
Iannis Xenakis–Orchestral Works
Very avant pieces, trk 3 more accessible. Trk 1 is the original version, and a first recording. Sample.
Alvin Lucier–Two Circles
Very abstract electro-acoustic pieces, droning, knocks, voice–sample.
Cowell & Grainger–Works for Saxophone
Both of these composers favored the saxophone. These are Celtic/British tinged and modern. Play most!
Malcolm Goldstein–Soweto Stomp
A greatly varying mix of pieces: jazz, avant-garde, droning, or folk-inflected, all “structured improvisations.”
Christian Wolff–Incidental Music & Keyboard Miscellany
A collection of mostly very short works, abstract yet lyrical, for piano or melodica here performed by the composer. Pieces for melodica especially nice! Play!
Horatiu Radulescu–Piano Sonatas and String Quartet
Lyrical and abstract works by a composer who believes that music is “an endless ocean of vibrations.”(“plasmatic music.”) Play!
Roger Reynolds–Complete Cello Works
Highly abstract works for cello, solo, duet or with ensemble. Not dissonant, not fully lyrical. I found disc 1 much more accessible than disc 2. Sample some due to length.
Alvin Lucier–Broken Line
Very abstract pieces, the first 2 tracks are ambient sound or sine-waved sounds reflecting off of resonant objects. Trk 3 is droning percussion (but at 18 mins I didnt’ listen to all of it.) Trk 4 is the most accessible, with flute, vibraphone and piano.
