Circles is one of Berio's most captivating, intriguing and fascinating works, a piece based on the poetry of e. e. cummings, wonderfully interpreted by the "Callas" of New Music, Cathy Berberian. The "Sequenzas" are all virtuoso solo numbers, exploring the range and agility of each performer, all the way from flutter-tonguing for the flute to slides and glissandi for the trombone. Cathy Berberian: voice / Francis Pierre: harp / Jean Pierre Drouet: percussion / Jean Claude Casadesus: percussion / Aur�le Nicolet: flute / Vinko Globokar: trombone.

Nature has always been a source of inspiration for painters, musicians, and poets. The compositions of Enjott Schneider approach nature in various ways. His symphony Dunkelwelt Untersberg examines myths surrounding a legendary mountain in the Alps. Naturkl�nge is about pure sound as a natural phenomenon. In the two orchestral suites, being bound to the earth is expressed as a love for a native land or landscape.

Echoes of Africa offer 24 rare recordings from the early days of the African record industry, hardly heard in the West before. Concertina bands and doo-wop singers from South Africa, accordion groups from Kenya, West African brass bands, unaccompanied vocal and drum ensembles from Nigeria and Tanzania, plus bands from East Africa with their Arabic influences, reveal a huge variety of early African pop music and more traditional styles.

The sensitive tapestry of sound on this CD results from insights derived from Awankana's search for sounds that have a therapeutic effect. Sounds from nature serve as the basis for his organically developed, holistic music in which natural sounds and noises combine with elements from a wide range of musical cultures to form a "harmonious" music.

The Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin made herself well-known by her soundtracks for experimental and silent films or her works for drama and dance theater. This CD has been produced at the ZKM (Center for Art and Media Technology Karlsruhe). "Unceremonious Processions" is something like "live studio music". Kats-Chernin's 15 short pieces could have been the music for a film that was never made. The set would be an abandoned theater; the ruined technical equipment would become the props, strewn about the stage. Many traces can be heard in this music, those of Shostakovitch and Prokofiev, or of American Minimal music. There are also points of contact with House and Ambient music despite the models of nostalgic dance music that lend form to many of the pieces. But "Unceremonious Processions" does not appeal to the emotions of the listener, it is itself emotion - so tangible that it easily lingers on in one's memory. Uta-Mirjam Theilen: clarinet, bass clarinet / Uwe Dierksen: trombone, tuba / Dirk Rotbrust: percussion / Gregory Jones: cello / Heinz Huber: accordion / Elena Kats-Chernin: piano / Christian Venghaus: sound designer.

European folk music has not one sound but many. There are countless soundscapes between Sardinia and Norway, from the Atlantic coast to the Urals, each one distinct. All have their own character. Europe means polyphony, a thicket of diversity where for millennia cultures have been flowing together and drifting apart, creating a musical patchwork. Traditional music? The term suggests constancy and permanence: familiar tunes and homely songs. The melodies of the past seem to offer a stable foothold, in opposition to the ever faster innovations of the present. However this nostalgia is an illusion, a false idyll. Many of the musical styles we now perceive as traditional were originally radical and modern. They resulted from dramatic changes which shook the 19th century European world and turned it upside down. The industrial revolution triggered technical innovations and social change on a massive scale. New instruments were invented: the accordion, mouth organ, concertina, banjo and saxophone, plus brass instruments equipped with valves like the trumpet and tuba. Later, factory production turned these new musical instruments into relatively cheap mass produced items which many people could afford.

The contrast between sounds that are blown and sounds that are plucked has retained a special fascination throughout all periods of history. Our duo - recorder and guitar - was one of the first ensembles of it's kind in our time. We have enjoyed playing Baroque music as well as (with transverse flute) works from the Classic and Romantic periods in numerous concerts and recordings. But the music of our own time also has an important place in our repertoire. The recording at hand contains contemporary music representing markedly different tendencies. Most of the works were written or arranged especially for us. Hans-Martin Linde: recorder / Konrad Ragossnig: guitar.

The music of the "waza" trumpet groups is considered the most important instrumental music of the Berta, who have been living in the border region of Sudan and Ethiopia since the 19th century. A full ensemble consists of ten to twelve monotone instruments between 50 and 180 centimeters long and the wood blocks, called "bali". The performances usually take place after sunset and are a major event for the inhabitants of a village. Before the pieces begin, a woman sings a song, which is then performed instrumentally. The recordings from 1982/3 are published for the first time on this CD.

More than 50 composers from 13 different countries contributed to this collection of music with computers. Their pieces represent major directions of how avantgarde composers utilize the potential of new technology. Computer Music by Chris Chafe, David Jaffe, William Schottstaedt.

The accordion is the ultimate global instrument. As a catalyst of popular music it spread around the world in the 19th century like wildfire. 26 rare 78rpm recordings from Africa, Latin America, the US, the Caribbean and Europe display the enormous variety of early accordion styles. You will glimpse a wild folk music that hardly exists today. The invention of the "accordion", as it was named in the patent granted to Viennese organ and piano builder Cyrill Demian in 1829 was a musical explosion, which triggered a chain reaction of global dimension. The accordion was louder than any string instrument, and it was portable. It also had fixed tuning. But it's biggest advantage was it's format as a one-man-band. Even when pressing the wrong notes within a melody it still sounded pleasant. Therefore the accordion was seen as a "miracle box" which immediately allowed everybody without any formal musical training to participate actively in music making. It may truly be claimed that the accordion gave birth to popular music.

Available as a recording for the first time ever: the first of Mikis Theodorakis' 3 great ''lyrical tragedies'' (i.e. operas). The composer based his arrangement of the plot on Sophokles' version of the famous ancient tragedy – thus the 'theodorakian' Electra is the protagonist. She is the daughter of King Agamemmnon. After 10 years of battle for Troy the King has just returned to his palace in Mykene – only to be treacherously killed by his faithless wife Klytaimnestra and her lover Aigisthos. The murderous couple marries soon after the crime; however, their plans haven't considered Electra, who is craving revenge for her father ... ''Electra'' was composed between 1991 und 1994; its world premiere was held on May 2nd 1995 at the municipial theater of the former 'european capital of culture', Luxemburg. The 3-CD-recording was actualized under direction of Mikis Theodorakis himself with the St.Petersburg State Academic Orchestra & Choir.

The Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis is one of the few living artists who represent a large section of the twentieth century. He is also one of the most contradictory personalities alive today. Resistance runs through his entire life. First resistance against Italian oppression, then against fascism in his own country, then resistance against an increasingly rigid communism, as he grew older it was the resistance of a conservative against pseudo-progressive globalization, and finally a permanent resistance against his own image. But precisely by constantly shrugging himself off, he has become truly himself and never became a pale shadow of his own past. Once he would have been called a troublemaker; if he were twenty again today he would be classified as a punk or anarchist. For all the political awareness in his art Theodorakis has preserved his delicate sense of poetry and imagination. “I have always pushed my limits, but at the same time I was always conscious of them. I composed knowing that the limits of human existence can only be overcome through imagination, inspiration, and intuition. And I acted on that. Art is the only thing so far that has conquered death. All those who tried to achieve immortality through violence, power, or money have failed. Immortality has no temporal dimension. It is a sign of quality, a strong feeling. Only art can communicate emotion of being immortal for three seconds." Mikis Theodorakis has written a large number of musical works of varied form and size during his long life. His compositions range from small songs in the style of folksongs, in which the voice is accompanied only by bouzouki or guitar, to large-scale symphonies, operas, cantatas, masses, and oratories, like his unparalleled Canto General on texts by Pablo Neruda. Surely his most famous work is his often-copied music for the classic film Alexis Sorbas, which starred Anthony Quinn. It is important to note that this soundtrack appeared in 1964, and thus that Theodorakis was already a world star three years before he was imprisoned by the Greek military junta in August 1967. Theodorakis‘s protest songs, written from the late sixties to mid-seventies, met with great international interest because there was a parallel movement of the protest song worldwide, led by figures like Bob Dylan, Viktor Jara, and Pete Seeger, singing for the ears and hearts of a rebellious young audience. Several of his songs were smuggled out of the country, at great personal risk, and became popular in interpretations by Melina Mercouri and Maria Farantouri. He recorded them under the most primitive conditions. For example, his percussion instrument was just a table struck by a ruler. Resistance is not a summary of the resistances in the life of Mikis Theodorakis but three cycles of songs he wrote during the Greek dictatorship from 1967 to 1974, underground, on the run, in prison, under house arrest, banished, and in exile. His songs have lost nothing of their urgency precisely because they are so movingly simple. Some sound like invocations, others like calls to struggle, still others like declarations of love. It isn’t necessary to understand the words to comprehend that Theodorakis draws on a deep well of everyday and deeply human observations and experiences when he creates. The texts are by the great Greek writers and poets whom Theodorakis met in the resistance; but without exception he made their words into a language that was of a piece with his own body. When we hear these simple songs, it is difficult to reconcile them with the artist who set the texts of the church father Johannes Damaskinos in a large-scale requiem. As Theodorakis sees himself, however, this contradiction is simply logical. For him music is a metaphor for life, whatever the political circumstances may be. “For me, the quintessence of the gift of life lies in the harmonic laws that penetrate and determine us. Harmony is the only thing that makes it possible to live together. Before there was harmony, perhaps, chaos reigned. When the galaxies formed from the primal matter, the first harmonic laws came into effect. This runs through the solar system. A ballet that moves with the precision of a hundredth of a second. This idea can drive someone crazy. It is terrifying to think that the individual obeys the same harmonic laws as the galaxies. Human society too needs an equilibrium. All emotions have to be brought into balance. I believe that 999 of a 1000 people want this harmony. Hence we have one in a thousand or in ten thousand, whom we might call the extraterrestrials. They are the leaders. The saviors. The saints. The supermen. And they are our enemies. They destroy this harmony within society. They use politics and parties to achieve this. I know these types, and I attack them. Sometimes they wear black and call themselves fascists. Sometimes they wear red and say they are communists. Or they wear green and call themselves social democrats. I am not interested in the colors. Perhaps I was red once. Right now the enemy is black. But when the red ones became dangerous, I would have been betraying myself if I had remained loyal to them, because they had become our enemies. The central concern of my activity as a composer has always been setting poetry.” Resistance is a retrospective, and given how melancholic many of the songs on this album sound, this retrospective may have been difficult for Theodorakis himself as well. But even when he sighs, his sighs contain the hope of a twenty-year-old volcano. “Humanity has taken a few steps forward during the past 150 years, with revolutions and two world wars. At present we find ourselves in a regressive phase again. That is dangerous, and we have to resist it. We need new theories, new analyses. I do not see them, however. Nowhere. Marx, Engels, and Luxemburg are no longer in keeping with our times, but there are no new ones. The world has fallen into a routine; humanity has accepted its fate.” Theodorakis has been and continues to be a resister. Unruly. A wild one!

Julius Berger presents Bach's eternal ciphers - a source of inspiration for all time! Included in the full-colour booklet are works by the painter Linda Schwarz. Her "Notenbilder" [Score Images] are based on Bach's first cello suite and inspired by Berger's great technical brilliance and spiritual joy in interpretation. Julius Berger: violoncello.

The projects, ranging from digital synthesis and algorithmic composition to the integration of live electronics, from radio art to sound installation, encompass a broad spectrum of that locus where digital technology stimulates musical fantasy. "Reading Casta�eda" is a journey through a sound landscape: a dream world of bizarre sounds. The ear can take a walk through it just as the feet find their way through a rugged mountain region. The composition was inspired by the books of Carlos Casta�eda. Bettina Geiger: flute / Gaby Schumacher: violoncello / Francisco Moreno: speaker / Bassam Abdul-Salam, Andr� Wolf: metal objects / Pierre Dutilleux: NeXT Computer / Melvyn Poore: radio baton.

Cori�n Aharoni�n's work is characterized by bold gestures and explosive debates. The intensity of this composer's active engagement with his historical and contemporary environment gives rise to powerful and energetic sounds rooted in the culture of Latin American political resistance. Aharoni�n's entire aesthetic philosophy can be discovered in the smallest space, like a nutshell. His music is characterized by short sequences within a small range, rigorous use of material, lively sound gestures, explosively dramatic densifications, a non-discursive character, stringent rhythmic organization, block-like static constructions, repetition combined with stringent motivic transformation, suspense-filled silence as an aesthetic resource, and richly suggestive activity. Cori�n Aharoni�n (1940-2017) was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, the son of Armenian immigrants who had survived the genocide of 1915. In addition to composing, he was involved in a broad range of artistic and institutional activities promoting resistance to fascist dictatorships.