Reiner Bredemeyer, born in 1929, is one of the most famous composers of the former German Democratic Republic. His extensive oeuvre includes chamber music, songs and song cycles, orchestral works, solo concertos, operas, radio plays and stage music. Characteristic of Brede Meyers musical language is a concise, aphoristic concise and clear diction gestural. The CD is now released on WERGO shows a small part of his compositional diversity. The "Bagatelles for example" were Brede Meyers unpathetischer contribution to Beethoven's 200th birthday. For the then "German-German" oboe duo Burkhard Glaetzner and Ingo Goritzki he wrote "Duet / ll" while "Septet 80" for the tenth anniversary of the Leipzig group Neue Musik "Hanns Eisler" originated. "Solo 7" and "striking piece 1" belong to a series of solo pieces, which also can be combined with each other conceptually. "All nine - a Marksmen Music" is a tough and cheerful homage to Heinrich Sch�tz. The setting of the "Winterreise" caused quite a stir, Bredemeyer turns but to the bitterness and sadness, but also "courageous" protest expressing verses of Vormarz poet Wilhelm M�ller his lyre in a contemporary way, the sleepers in defiance and Wilhelm M�ller honor (Ute Wollny). This recording was awarded the "Prize of the German Record Critics' Award - Quarterly list" excellent.

The repertory of the duo-pianists Mrongovius and Uriarte is exceptionally rich and diverse. It extends from Bach over the entire classic and romantic piano literature to the modern classics. Additionally the duo has always been involved with contemporary music ranging from Messiaen, Shostakovich, and Lutoslawski to Maderna, Bialas, and Ligeti. Recent artistic high points for the duo have been their appearances in the Messiaen Night (1978), the Bart�k Night (1981) and the Stravinsky Night (1982) - events organized by Wilfried Hiller in the Munich music Hochschule - which drew considerable praise from the public and press. Karl-Hermann Mrongovius: piano / Bego�a Uriarte: piano / Hermann Gschwendtner: percussion / Karl Peinkofer: percussion.

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. The University of Illinois Chamber Singers / William Brooks: conductor.

Apparently it was only after he finished his one-act opera "M�rder, Hoffnung der Frauen" (Murder, Hope of Women) Op. 12 (text by Oskar Kokoschka) that Hindemith hit on the plan for a triptych consisting of that work and two others. The one-act opera "Das Nusch-Nuschi" Op. 20 (text by Franz Blei), the second work in this series, was not completed until a year after "Murder, Hope of Women"; Hindemith finished the second opera on 14 August 1920. In contrast "Sancta Susanna" Op. 21 (text by August Stramm) was already finished on 5 February 1921. Hindemith probably discovered the texts by Blei and Stamm simultaneously, and immediately recognized the possibility of extending and continuing the theme of "Murder, Hope of Women" with these two other pieces. It was thus that a triptych of one-act operas closely connected in their thematic content came into being. The three works deal with the same subjects from three fundamentally different points of view. The general themes include sexuality, culture, punishment, violence, and transfiguration.

Forr� means occasion, festival, dance, much more than just music. Since the 1940s the forr� has become known well outside of the borders of northeast Brazil. Accordion (concertina), the large frame drum called the zabumba, and the triangle are the typical instruments of the forr� band. Here they are played by musicians who mastered their instruments in childhood and are all closely associated with the forr�. The expression p� de serra (foothill) is used to describe everything from the that has come to the city from the provinces in raw and unpolished form. Forr� p� de serra differs from forr� urbano in not using any electroacoustic processing.

On Enlarge Your Sax, Brazilian saxophone player Pedro Bittencourt presents compositions for solo saxophone and electronics, each of which is characterized by a different configuration and musical interaction. The album is the result of Bittencourt's extensive and elaborate collaboration with seven composers. Together they explored the possibilities of interaction with electronics, and thus increased the variety of sounds. Even the sound of the saxophone has been processed in various ways: electronically amplified, recorded and processed.

An homage to Erik Satie and Robert Desnos - A sensuous sound journey by the Ensemble European Music Project "Inside the Dream" evolved out of a live multimedia performance with a multichannel sound installation, voice, and an ensemble augmented by modern "club electronics." This CD presents the musical part of the performance. At it's center are several early songs by Erik Satie, along with his famous "Gnossiennes". Satie's compositions are flanked by J�rgen Gr�zinger's pieces, consciously written with a similar gesture, making the CD something of an homage to Satie, who was both a forefather of modern music and a close friend of the surrealists. J�rgen G�rzinger is fascinated by the French surrealists and especially by Robert Desnos. "Inside the Dream" is an associative approach to and transformation of the atmosphere of longing, eroticism, passion, adventure, and melancholy which are presented in Desnos's poetry - all mixed with a touch of humor. The liner notes in German, English and French are illustrated with photographs by P.J. Boman from his book "Muse: Desire and Severance".

The first-class viola virtuoso Garth Knox met the well-known video artist Brian O'Reilly. The result is a unique audiovisual program with compositions by Giacinto Scelsi, Salvatore Sciarrino, G�rard Grisey, Michael Edwards and Kaija Saariaho, where the audible and visible correspondences of light, shadow, texture and color and their fragmentation offer new ways of perception. The production Spectral Strands with works for viola, both with and without electronics, created by foremost composers and interpreted by one of the most outstanding viola players, forms in combination with the brilliant video material a unique conjunction of sound, space and image Although the rainbow is a familiar object, the discovery that ordinary white light can be split into a spectacular spectrum of bands of light remains a source of wonder. With the advent of spectral music the same process was applied to sound, and the no less spectacular sound spectrums obtained with the help of the computer excited a whole generation of composers. Garth Knox: viola, viola d'amore / Brian O' Reilly: video / G�tz Dipper: electronics / Joachim Goamann: electronics / Michael Edwards: electronics.

Edition ZKM is dedicated to productions from the ZKM-Institute for Music and Acoustics. The institute is part of the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany, (ZKM) which also includes the Museum for Contemporary Art, the Media Museum, a Media Library and the Institute for Visual Media. Guest artists from all over the world are invited to work in the music studios to realize specific projects. 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. Franz Martin Olbrisch worked with more than 2,000 miniature excerpts from the last decades of the Donaueschingen festivals of new music. The result? A kind of "musique concr�te" of new music.

The revolution of 1848-49 marks a turning point in history. Throughout Germany the middle classes, workers, peasants, artisans, students, and the lower middle classes rose up against the ruling feudal nobility in order to create a unified, democratic state. The songs of freedom from the revolutionary years 1848-49 - released on CD by Wergo - are the expression of the struggle against feudalism, and they reflect the events of the time, the hopes and disappointments of the struggling democrats.

This recording from the Caucasus Festival (House of Cultures, Berlin, 1991) offers an overwhelming impression of the artful expressive power of Armenian music. Solo songs alternate with instrumental music, expressive melodies with boisterous dances. Most of the instruments - like the beguilingly soft-sounding, oboelike duduk and it's nasal sister, the zurna - are known only in Armenia. The extensive booklet contains an informed discussion of the history of this rich musical culture, the musicians, and the works. The CD was awarded the Quarterly German Record Critics' Award!

Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya wrote six Piano Sonatas. Spanning just over 40 years, these works are like a guidebook to her musical and spiritual growth. They vary widely in style, from the Shostakovich-inspired first sonata to the angular and technically avant-garde sixth sonata. This DVD (in PAL format) features a live performance of all six sonatas, each played by a different pianist. It was recorded at Moscow's School of Dramatic Arts, in it's unusual Globe Hall, which is shaped like an octahedron. The acoustics of this space concentrated the sound and immersed the audience in Ustvolskaya's unique sound world.

The primeval, freely improvised music of the group Arthea, performed on exotic and even self-designed instruments, feels like a plunge into the many voices of the tropical rain forest. Gradually all of the forms and styles that have ever been practiced on Earth seem to rise up out of a collective musical unconsciousness. These three multiinstrumentalists got together more than twenty years ago to explore the secret of music.

There is to be a journey, not too far away, because, after all, it's nicest at home, isn't it? A journey for invited guests, offshore and onshore, by boat and by bus, and a few steps on foot. A journey full of surprises. A journey as a performance. A journey into the night... When looking for a word to best describe Harald Weiss' musical oeuvre, the most applicable certainly appears to be "cross-over". He has been honored with numerous prizes and awards for his artistic work: among others, the Rome Scholarship of the Villa Massimo, the Lower Saxony Scholarship for Film and Music, and a prize from the Premier TV station for his video clips.

The precious and varied song of the shy nightingale can now be enjoyed at home - with the help of Walter Tilgner's wonderful dummy-head stereo recordings from nature. Walter Tilgner, author and producer of more than ten Natural Sound CDs with Wergo, has succeeded again in eliciting concertlike sound pictures from meadows, valleys, and forests. With these extraordinary natural sound pictures, he not only attempts to convey a feeling of joy, relaxation and inspiration, but also wants to encourage the listener to walk among the trees of a wood, eyes and ears alert, to penetrate the secrets of the sylvan world, and thus to achieve a true experience of nature. Digital recording technique and a dummy-head stereo microphone have made it possible to record sounds like the wind rustling the trees, rain, and thunder that are so natural and lifelike you might easily believe yourself transported to the middle of a wood as you listen to them. Thus, in the quiet of your own home, you can listen to the voices of birds, toads, and a chorus of frogs by a woodland pool, or the roaring of stags during the red deer rut. "Well known as a photographer of woodland and forest scenes, Walter Tilgner has captured in his pictures not only the surface layer that which strikes the eye immediately but also the very essence of the woods. In his recordings, his natural sound pictures, he has taken this fundamental view of woods and forests much further, above all the emotional aspect" (Prof. Hannes Mayer, Vienna). For about twenty years, Tilgner's main activity has been the documentary recording of the sounds of the natural world, the creation of sound pictures.