Classical Music

Originally released in 1995. Directed by Frank Scheffer, Andrew Culver. Starring John Cage.

Classical Music

Also available on DVD. Violin and viola players whisper over their instruments. A guitarist waits with the closest attention for the moment to make a gesture we might easily have missed. The tuba player rises to go over to the open piano, there to send sounds echoing into its interior. Two cellists, bowing with heavy pressure down near the tailpiece, produce an urgent rasping. From the timpanist comes the sudden fortissimo that seems to shock the music to a standstill... Renowned German composer Helmut Lachenmann’s music is expressive in extraordinary ways, requiring the performers to play their instruments via unusual techniques, making for both compelling listening and viewing. Lachenmann performs in and supervises these recordings with Ensemble Signal, one of America’s leading New Music ensembles. In addition to performing as narrator in "...Zwei Gefühle...“. Lachemann also is the soloist for three of his piano works. These studio recordings followed an intensive four-concert tour of this programme. Lachenmann taught each musician of Ensemble Signal individually on his language of techniques for this project. Liner notes by Paul Griffiths. First in a series of Lachenmann on Mode Records.

Joan La Barbara is a long recognized pioneer of extended vocal techniques and champion of new music. She emerged from the New York Downtown scene to perform in the ensembles of Steve Reich and Philip Glass, including the premiere of Glass' "Einstein on the Beach." Composer/Vocalist Joan La Barbara has created a rich body of experimental works, many initially produced on analog tape. This collection includes a first release of the award-winning CYCLONE plus two LP reissues offered here remixed to her original surround concept: as lightning comes, in flashes explores a vast array of La Barbara’s signature extended vocal techniques; Autumn Signal is a rare example of the composer’s work with Buchla synthesizer for spatialization as well as modification of vocals. New stereo and surround mixes were then created under the supervision of the composer.

Classical Music

This release celebrates the long collaboration between the great German pianist Herbert Henck and composer Walter Zimmermann. Both works were written for, and premiered by, Herbert Henck. Zimmermann says "Beginner's Mind is the result of my study of the contemporary European New Music scene. It is influenced on the one hand by Erik Satie, who wrote in the most simple way in the midst of a highly complex musical landscape, and on the other hand by John Cage, especially by the music of his "naive period" around 1950.... The piece represents the process from the "complex" to the "simple."... The techniques of this process are derived from Shunryu Suzuki's book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1970) and are divided into three main chapters, analogous to the book: 1) Leave the old, 2) Clean the mind, 3) Alter the consciousness. The piece ends with the Beginner's Mind Song, which articulates the new consciousness," and is sung by the pianist. Both the vinyl LP and CD covers are facsimiles of the original LP cover. Apart from it's ornate lettering, shining silvery-gray at the top, Michael von Biel's cover design for the 1978 LP of Beginner's Mind - which does not add the name of the composer, Walter Zimmermann - is empty, or white. The mind of anyone who wants to start anew should be blank. The CD reissue also includes Abgeschiedenheit (Detachment). It's influence comes from Meister Eckert, who Zimmermann sees as as a bridge from Cage to Zen to Europe. Herbert Henck gave the first performance of Abgeschiedenheit in Cologne in 1985. Liner notes by Walter Zimmermann, Thomas Groetz, Christopher Fox and Monika Furst-Heidtmann.

This release celebrates the long collaboration between the great German pianist Herbert Henck and composer Walter Zimmermann. Both works were written for, and premiered by, Herbert Henck. Zimmermann says "Beginner's Mind is the result of my study of the contemporary European New Music scene. It is influenced on the one hand by Erik Satie, who wrote in the most simple way in the midst of a highly complex musical landscape, and on the other hand by John Cage, especially by the music of his "naive period" around 1950.... The piece represents the process from the "complex" to the "simple."... The techniques of this process are derived from Shunryu Suzuki's book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1970) and are divided into three main chapters, analogous to the book: 1) Leave the old, 2) Clean the mind, 3) Alter the consciousness. The piece ends with the Beginner's Mind Song, which articulates the new consciousness," and is sung by the pianist. Both the vinyl LP and CD covers are facsimiles of the original LP cover. Apart from it's ornate lettering, shining silvery-gray at the top, Michael von Biel's cover design for the 1978 LP of Beginner's Mind - which does not add the name of the composer, Walter Zimmermann - is empty, or white. The mind of anyone who wants to start anew should be blank. The CD reissue also includes Abgeschiedenheit (Detachment). It's influence comes from Meister Eckert, who Zimmermann sees as as a bridge from Cage to Zen to Europe. Herbert Henck gave the first performance of Abgeschiedenheit in Cologne in 1985. Liner notes by Walter Zimmermann, Thomas Groetz, Christopher Fox and Monika Furst-Heidtmann.

Directed by Arne Arnbom. Starring David Tudor, Carolyn Brown, Barbara Lloyd.

Classical Music

19.99

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Composed for a spatially distributed ensemble and live electronics, this work makes spectacular use of DVD's surround sound capabilities.