Presented together for the first time, American composer John McGuire's Pulse Music series (1975-1979) blurs the popular narrative that Minimalism was a reaction against Europe's angular, intellectual, inscrutable high-modernism. McGuire, born in California, studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles and UC Berkeley before going to Europe to study with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Gottfried Michael Koenig. His compositions lock serialism's warped geometries onto an evenly spaced grid, perfectly preserving serial music's multi-dimensionality while smoothing it's wildest disjunctures and sharpest angles. If serialism is Montreal's Habitat 67 modular housing complex, McGuire's Pulse Music compositions are the primary-colored grids of Le Corbusier's L'Habitation apartment complex - an exuberant expression of the same materials and principles. Every layer of pulses is made distinct through it's timbre, register, and tempo. We hear them as a plurality, organized like stars in the sky. Every so often the sky rotates and the stars appear in a different arrangement. Our ear naturally starts to draw connections and, as it sweeps between one layer and another, what was discrete becomes continuous. Pulses become flows; quantitative reality becomes qualitative experience. McGuire's pulse pieces were realized electronically, in the newly built Studio for Electronic Music at the State University of Cologne and WDR, but Pulse Music II adapted his ideas to an orchestral canvas. Commissioned retrospectively by the composer and radio producer Hans Otte for his Pro Musica Nova festival at Radio Bremen. Alongside the Bremen orchestra, conducted by Klaus Bernbacher, were four pianists-Christoph Delz, Herbert Henck, Deborah Richards, Doris Thomsen-and McGuire himself playing a series of twelve drone-like chords on the organ. The techniques of the electronic Pulse Music pieces required a speed and precision too great for live musicians, so for Pulse Music II McGuire adapted his method to an expanding progression of durations; this had the advantage of being much slower and requiring none of the carefully calibrated tempo changes of Pulse Music I or III. It was still based, says the composer, "on what seemed to me an interesting foray into a completely different kind of time structure. Complex time structures had, by 1975, become a condition for me in two senses: a compositional requirement and maybe an illness." The present recording was made by Radio Bremen at the work's first and only performance, and has been held in their archive until now. "108 Pulses" - originally composed a proof-of-concept piece and realized as a single, repeating loop in a 20 minute tableau - is also presented here for the first time.
PULSE MUSIC
$46.99
Vinyl
UNSEEN WORLDS
Dec 16, 2022
USEE36.1
SUBAERIAL
SN VARIATIONS
Available as
Vinyl
$28.99
Jan 21, 2022
Subaerial' is the latest and most sophisticated transmission from the long musical partnership of cellist Lucy Railton and keyboardist Kit Downes, a collaborative history that stretches back thirteen years. From the beginning, the pair bridged musical worlds, with the former emerging from classical and contemporary music and the latter steeped in jazz tradition. This phenomenal new album captures the musicians erasing lines between approaches and traditions. While improvisation has always been a part of their alliance, Subaerial marks the first time that the duo have used recorded improvisations as the core material for a release. The cello and organ, beautifully recorded by Alex Bonney at Skaholt Cathedral, blend in richly striated harmonies, with phrases and cadences that stretch back centuries while sounding unerringly contemporary
SUBAERIAL
$28.99
Vinyl
SN VARIATIONS
Jan 21, 2022
SNVN9.1
MIRANDA CUCKSON
URLICHT AUDIOVISUAL
Available as
Vinyl
$32.49
Jun 21, 2024
Violinist Miranda Cuckson has achieved an international reputation as a leading champion of contemporary music and living composers in a remarkably wide range of styles. Known for her organic expressivity, dexterous virtuosity, musical insight, brilliant programming, and love for music, she is acclaimed internationally as a soloist and collaborator. In addition to frequent performances throughout the United States and high-profile appearances in Vienna, Berlin, and other European cultural centers, she has gained an international fan base through her many recordings for Urlicht AudioVisual, ECM Records, and Centaur. In her eponymous first release on vinyl, Miranda plays a new work written for her by a rising star among composers, Stewart Goodyear. "Solo: A Suite for Solo Violin" is an engaging and accessible work that incorporates traditional classical forms with elements of jazz and music that draws on the sounds of his Trinidadian roots. The other side of the LP contains two twentieth century avant-garde masterpieces: "Mikka S" by composer and architect Iannis Xenakis, a challenging virtuoso work incorporating microtonal glissandi and a range of sonorities that push the technical limits of the instrument, and Franco Donatoni's "Argot", which fuses minimalism, mutation, and gestures that conjure the many influences that shaped him, from folk music to the music of John Cage and Pierre Boulez. Drawn from ultra high definition digital sources and prepared for mastering by Urlicht AudioVisual's Gene Gaudette, Miranda's first LP is being issued in a Direct Metal Mastered, audiophile-quality 180 gram limited edition pressing.
MIRANDA CUCKSON
$32.49
Vinyl
URLICHT AUDIOVISUAL
Jun 21, 2024
URL3399.1
HAROLD IN ITALY & CLEOPATRA
LSO LIVE
Available as
SACD
$12.99
Feb 10, 2015
HAROLD IN ITALY & CLEOPATRA
HAROLD IN ITALY & CLEOPATRA
$12.99
SACD
LSO LIVE
Feb 10, 2015
LSOL760SACD
MYTHES
ONYX CLASSICS
Available as
CD
$20.49
Jun 30, 2023
Composed in 1915, Szymanowski's Mythes is a three movement work consisting of miniature tone poems based on Greek mythology. Late romantic and impressionist in style, the composer's travels to Sicily and north Africa without a doubt influenced the exotic and sumptuous sound world he created in this work. Mythes is the opening work on this eclectic recital album from James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong that also features Handel's D major violin sonata - a once popular staple of the violin repertoire, now sadly seldom encountered. The album concludes with a selection of short and sparkly miniatures and encores. There are some old favorites here, as well as new, including James Newton Howard's "133... At least".
MYTHES
$20.49
CD
ONYX CLASSICS
Jun 30, 2023
ONXC4234.2
MY WINDOW
PONDEROSA MUSIC RECS
Available as
Vinyl
$22.49
May 19, 2023
Vinyl 12 inches - 180gr. My Window is a collection of nine original compositions for solo piano, scenes painted using black and white as my palette. In some tracks I took works of art from great artists like David Hockney and Jan Vermeer as the seeds of inspiration, while others captured a scene from my childhood.
MY WINDOW
$22.49
Vinyl
PONDEROSA MUSIC RECS
May 19, 2023
PDRA26.1
FOREVER
INVISIBLE HANDS
Available as
CD
$9.99
Jul 07, 2023
3 time Classical BRIT nominees and You Tube sensations with over 200 million views release their brand new studio album titled "Forever", containing 13 newly recorded songs and coinciding with a World Tour in 2023. 6 page gate-fold digipack CD plus 12 page colored booklet and full color on-body. 'Forever' is the first album recording without Libera's founder, Robert Prizeman, at the helm. The Libera sound was conceived by Robert and was first truly realized in recorded form in 1999. Since then, the sound and repertoire have evolved as the group has gained popularity with audiences across the globe. In the early days the music was mainly based on Robert's compositions, taking influence from ancient plainchant and the great choral repertoire, as well as contemporary production and instrumentation. The boys' voices, however, have always been front and center. We now get to hear and enjoy the new Musical Director Sam Coates's contribution to the group's choral legacy. ARTIST BIOGRAPHY The London based group Libera is over 20 years old and one of the UK's international success stories. They are No1 selling artists around the world and sung to millions. The boys who make up the South London based vocal group Libera have been described as "normal" and "ordinary". However, as their recordings and performances demonstrate, the music they produce is anything but. The boys of Libera don't come from the hothouse environment of a dedicated choir school, but from different schools, backgrounds, and areas of South London. They come together four times a week to rehearse for regular church services, concerts and international tours.
FOREVER
$9.99
CD
INVISIBLE HANDS
Jul 07, 2023
IVIH91.2
BRAHMS: SYMS CONCERTOS OVERTURES HAYDN VARIATIONS
WARNER CLASSICS
Available as
CD
$21.99
Apr 21, 2023
The music of Brahms held an important place in Sir John Barbirolli's repertoire, and these recordings of the symphonies, made with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1966 and 1967, stand as one of the peaks of his discography. Barbirolli's relationship with this music is rooted in his time as an orchestral cellist, and these performances are notable for their rich, ripe sonorities and expansive warmth. The two mighty Piano Concertos were also recorded in 1967 in distinguished versions with Daniel Barenboim. Playing the violin concerto here, Fritz Kreisler as a young man had been part of Brahms's outer circle in Vienna and drew his approach to this music straight from the source. Last but not least is the Double Concerto, of which Geraint Lewis wrote in Gramophone, "The great underestimated Alfredo Campoli showed what a rich tone and innate musicality he had at his command alongside an equally eloquent Andre Navarra."
BRAHMS: SYMS CONCERTOS OVERTURES HAYDN VARIATIONS
$21.99
CD
WARNER CLASSICS
Apr 21, 2023
WCL720577.2
FANNY: THE OTHER MENDELSSOHN
MERCURY STUDIOS
Available as
Blu-Ray
$17.49
May 17, 2024
Fanny Mendelssohn -"Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn" - Felix Mendelssohn's Wedding March is probably the single most popular classical composition of all time. But Felix was not the only genius in the family; meet his brilliant sister Fanny, whose unknown Easter Sonata surfaced in 1972. In "Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn," director Sheila Hayman reveals the extraordinary life of a composer long neglected by the guardians of classical music and goes on a quest to prove that this lost masterpiece attributed to Felix was actually composed by Fanny. Piano prodigy Isata Kanneh-Mason brings the beauty of Fanny's music to life in this story of a very modern woman who happened to live 200 years ago. Blu-ray/DVD set in Softpak
FANNY: THE OTHER MENDELSSOHN
$17.49
Blu-Ray
MERCURY STUDIOS
May 17, 2024
MCUY143697BR
UP TO THE GLASS
PLAY IT AGAIN SAM
Available as
Vinyl
$30.99
Apr 12, 2024
Morgan Harper-Jones explores her emotions through confessional narratives and soaring dream-pop soundscapes on her debut album. Up To The Glass is a delicate exploration of finding yourself in your twenties against a backdrop of love, self-acceptance and loss. Documenting those universally defining moments of young adulthood through the prism of Morgan's own perspective, it explores deeply personal themes such as the passing of her grandparents, anxiously over-thinking every minor mistake, and yearning for a love that's destined to remain unrequited. Morgan eventually found solace to those struggles through both therapy and the cathartic release of expressing herself through song. She's an old soul with a significant appeal to her generation, her confessional dream-pop evoking influences which range from Maggie Rogers and Harry Styles, to Aldous Harding and St. Vincent, and back to Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon. Quickly becoming on of the UKs most exciting new voices, featuring four tracks in the global #1 Netflix film, Love At First Sight at the end of 2023 at reaching #8 in the global Shazam charts. "My favourite moments in other people's songs are where it feels like someone has just reached through the speaker or headphones and grabbed my hand and said: 'Hey don't worry, you're normal - I feel that too.' I hope above anything else that my songs can be that for someone else too."
UP TO THE GLASS
$30.99
Vinyl
PLAY IT AGAIN SAM
Apr 12, 2024
PITS1450.1
PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION / NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN
CRAFT RECORDINGS
Available as
Vinyl
$33.49
Jun 09, 2023
Lorin Maazel & The Cleveland Orchestra Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition / Night on Bald Mountain 180gram LP - Hailed as "one of the best recordings Telarc has ever done" by Stereophile, the 1980 recording of Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, performed by The Cleveland Orchestra and conducted by the legendary Lorin Maazel, cemented Telarc's status as the preeminent classical audiophile recording label. This reissue was mastered from the original Soundstream tapes by Paul Blakemore, cut by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound, and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Optimal. Mastered from the Original Soundstream Digital Tapes by Paul Blakemore! Lacquers Cut by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound!
PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION / NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN
$33.49
Vinyl
CRAFT RECORDINGS
Jun 09, 2023
CRFCR00223.1
EASTWOOD SYMPHONIC
DISCOGRAPH
Available as
Vinyl
$45.99
Sep 01, 2023
Eastwood Symphonic is a tribute from Kyle Eastwood to his father Clint Eastwood. It takes the form of a contemporary musical walk into the heart of the legendary actor-director's extraordinary career. As a young man, Kyle Eastwood appeared in a few films made by his father, but what has united them above all else is their mutual passion for music. It is precisely that passion, so dear to Clint and such an everyday part of Kyle's life today, which has bound their relationship so closely over the years. As bassist and frontman of a sparkling jazz quintet, he has already released one album, 2009's Cinematic, that takes up themes written for the silver screen. For Eastwood Symphonic, which fully embraces some of the music that has figured so prominently in his father's films, Kyle has chosen to have his quintet join by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra (CNSO) led by Grammy Award-winning conductor, Gast Waltzing. This family collaboration is a unique album that comes alongside a film produced by Arte.
EASTWOOD SYMPHONIC
$45.99
Vinyl
DISCOGRAPH
Sep 01, 2023
DIGO2204.1
CHASING THE DRAGON AUDIOPHILE RECORDINGS / VARIOUS
CHASING THE DRAGON
Available as
Vinyl
$66.49
Apr 21, 2015
180 gram audiophile demonstration & test disc! a treat to listen to, a great way to test and show off your system. This audiophile demonstration album contains 13 tracks which were recorded with 50 year old Neumann valve microphones. Many tracks use the "Decca tree" configuration, invented by engineers in the early 1950's using 3 Neumann M50 microphones. Some tracks were recorded with a 1/2" Studer reel to reel recorder running at 30ips. This audiophile disc was used as a reference by Michael Fremer of Analog Planet in testing various record mats. The album contains selections from composers and musicians that include Vivaldi, Mozart, Ellington, Rachmaninoff, Verdi, and more!
CHASING THE DRAGON AUDIOPHILE RECORDINGS / VARIOUS
$66.49
Vinyl
CHASING THE DRAGON
Apr 21, 2015
CHDG7.1
BRUCKNER: SYMPHONY NO. 9
RCO LIVE HOLLAND
Available as
SACD
$21.99
Feb 26, 2016
BRUCKNER: SYMPHONY NO. 9
BRUCKNER: SYMPHONY NO. 9
$21.99
SACD
RCO LIVE HOLLAND
Feb 26, 2016
RCOV16001SACD
HOME
DECCA
Available as
Vinyl
$43.49
Jul 21, 2023
Two branches of choral royalty entwine with majestic harmony on the latest release from Grammy-winning composer Eric Whitacre and acclaimed vocal ensemble VOCES8. The album includes a world premiere, All Seems Beautiful To Me, and a new recording of Whitacre's deeply moving 2019 cantata The Sacred Veil. The five-minute work All Seems Beautiful To Me, released on Friday 10th February, is based on a poem by Walt Whitman (from Song of the Open Road) celebrating the human spirit's capacity for generosity and growth. It was commissioned by the United States Air Force Band and here receives it's world premiere recording. Also included is a new recording of one of Whitacre's most frequently performed and much loved pieces, The Seal Lullaby.
HOME
$43.49
Vinyl
DECCA
Jul 21, 2023
DCAB003813201.1
MOVES IN THE FIELD
WARP RECORDS
Available as
Vinyl
$35.49
Mar 29, 2024
Limited clear vinyl LP pressing. Includes digital download. New York-based composer and producer Kelly Moran's intricate, experimental pieces transcend the piano's more traditional and classically-imposed school of thought. On her forthcoming new album for Warp, Moran augments her pianistic abilities to superhuman levels in order to create a new strain of her singular experimental piano compositions. Hypnotic and emotive, the coming project solidifies Moran's role as one of the leading contemporary composers for the piano, constantly pushing the instrument's creative and sonic boundaries in the realms of classical and electronic music.
MOVES IN THE FIELD
$35.49
Vinyl
WARP RECORDS
Mar 29, 2024
WRP362.1
CHARPENTIER: IMPRESSIONS D'ITALIE / MASSENET
UNIVERSAL JAPAN
Available as
CD
$15.99
Apr 05, 2024
Japanese SHM-CD pressing. Universal. 2024.
CHARPENTIER: IMPRESSIONS D'ITALIE / MASSENET
$15.99
CD
UNIVERSAL JAPAN
Apr 05, 2024
UNIJ3162840.2
Marin Marais: Pieces de Viole - The Complete Collection
Ricercar
Available as
CD
$59.99
$44.99
Oct 17, 2025
More than forty years separate Marin Marais' Premier Livre de Pieces de Violes (1686) from the Cinquieme (1725). Despite the novelty of the basso continuo, the First Book is still the work of a composer who had inherited a tradition that developed in France during the 17th century. The Fifth, published a few years before his death, is a moving and perfect testimony to a musical language that was also in it's twilight years. The Second, Third and Fourth books reveal not only the evolution of musical forms but also the ineffable talent that ensured Marais' position as the undisputed master of his art, one that was inextricably linked to the spirit of French music of the Grand Siecle. Marin Marais' Pieces de Viole were recorded complete and first released in stages between 2014 and 2021; they are now issued as a boxed set to mark Francois Joubert-Caillet's appointment this year as professor at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.
On Sale
Marin Marais: Pieces de Viole - The Complete Collection
On Sale
