Various Artists

Avant-Garde (21CD Box Set)

Celebrating 55 years of the DG Avant-Garde Series: For the first time, the legendary series appears on 21 CDs. The box traces a ground-breaking time period in classical music: Starting in the signal year of 1968, when the artistic and musical state-of-the-art was questioned by many creatives, DG released 4 box sets of 6 LP records with the most forward thinking and daring music of the time. A historic document of a radical change in classical musical thinking, highlighting politically motivated and anti-authoritarian ideas of collective working and outbreaks of conventional genres. Without aesthetic restrictions, the Avant-Garde Series portrays all experimental genres and ensemble constellations of the time – from full orchestral pieces to chamber music and solos to electronic music and improvisations.

MORE INFORMATION

Numerous CD premieres, along with many new digital releases. Original colourful sleeve designs by graphic designer Holger Matthies, famous for his award-winning artistic poster designs. He was professor for visual communication at Berlin University of Arts and the designer for many Deutsche Grammophon covers. A collection of the most famous names of European and North American Avant-garde composers such as György Ligeti, John Cage, Luciano Berio, Mauricio Kagel, Luigi Nono, Krzysztof Penderecki, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Dieter Schnebel and Witold Lutoslawski are presented next to the rediscovery of fewer known master composers like Luc Ferrari, Gottfried Michael Koenig, Rainer Riehn, Lukas Foss, Roland Kayn and Earle Brown. A 186-page booklet with the complete reproduction of original liner notes in English and German, including essays by the composers themselves as well as specialists, and various photos from the DG archive.

TRACK LIST

CD 1 LUTOSŁAWSKI: String Quartet PENDERECKI: Quartetto per archi MAYUZUMI: Prelude for String Quartet LaSalle Quartet CD 2 KAGEL: Phantasie für Orgel mit Obbligati ALLENDE-BLIN: Sonorités LIGETI: Volumina; Etüde Nr. 1 (»Harmonies«) Gerd Zacher, organ CD 3 BEDFORD: 2 Poems for Chorus on Words by Kenneth Patchen LIGETI: Lux aeterna MELLNÄS: Succsim KOPELENT: Matka* *Gerhard Otto, solo flute; Chor des Norddeutschen Rundfunks / Helmut Franz CD 4 GLOBOKAR: Discours II BERIO: Sequenza V STOCKHAUSEN: Solo für Melodie-Instrument mit Rückkopplung ALSINA: Consecuenza op. 17 Vinko Globokar, trombone CD 5 KAGEL: Match für 3 Spieler Christoph Caskel, percussion; Siegfried Palm, Klaus Storck, cellos Musik für Renaissance-Instrumente Collegium Instrumentale / Mauricio Kagel CD 6 IMPROVISATIONEN »... e poi?« Quasiraga Light Music Gruppe Nuova Consonanza Ancora un trio Walter Branchi, double bass; John Heinemann, trombone; Ennio Morricone, trumpet Credo Walter Branchi, double bass; Franco Evangelisti, piano; Egisto Macchi, percussion CD 7 ZIMMERMANN Présence: White ballet in 5 scenes for violin, cello and piano Saschko Gawriloff, violin; Siegfried Palm, cello; Aloys Kontarsky, piano Intercomunicazione Siegfried Palm, cello; Aloys Kontarsky, piano CD 8 CAGE Atlas Eclipticalis & Winter Music Atlas Eclipticalis Winter Music Lissa Bauer, Chaia Gerstein, Heinz-Klaus Metzger, Gertrud Meyer-Denkmann, Mario Venzago, pianos Cartridge Music; Ensemble Musica Negativa / Rainer Riehn SCHNEBEL Glossolalie Ensemble Musica Negativa / Rainer Riehn CD 9 KAGEL: Hallelujah SCHNEBEL: für stimmen (... missa est) Schola Cantorum Stuttgart / Clytus Gottwald CD 10 KOENIG: Terminus II; Funktion Grün PONGRÁCZ: Phonothese RIEHN: Chants de Maldoror (Rev. version 1968/69) Realization by the composers CD 11 KAGEL: Der Schall Kölner Ensemble für Neue Musik CD 12 LIGETI: String Quartet No. 2 BROWN: String Quartet ROSENBERG: String Quartet No. 3 LaSalle Quartet CD 13 FERRARI: Presque rien No 1 (Daybreak on the beach) Luc Ferrari, realization & sound direction Société II (Et si le piano était un corps de femme / And if the piano were a female body) Gérard Frémy, piano Jean-Pierre Drouet, Sylvio Gualdo, Gaston Sylvestre, percussion Ensemble Instrumental de Musique Contemporaine de Paris Konstantin Simonovitch, direction CD 14 FOSS: Paradigm (“for my friends”) Jan Williams, conductor; Lukas Foss, musical supervision HILLER: Algorithms I, Versions I & IV Lejaren Hiller, conductor SCHWARTZ: Signals James Fulkerson, trombone; Nicholas Molfese, double bass CD 15 KAYN: Cybernetics III Roland Kayn, Marino Zuccheri, magnetic tape realization NONO: Contrappunto dialettico alla mente Nino Antonellini, direction CD 16 EVANGELISTI: Die Schachtel Eberhard Schoener, conductor HOLLIGER: 8-16 Der magische Tänzer Hans Zender, conductor CD 17 CARDEW: The Great Learning Scratch Orchestra / Cornelius Cardew CD 18 HAUBENSTOCK-RAMATI: Symphonie “K” ORF-Symphonieorchester Wien / Milan Horvat GLOBOKAR: Étude pour Folklora II; Climats 1–6 Simfonični Orkester RTV Ljubljana / Vinko Globokar CD 19 HOLLIGER: Siebengesang Heinz Holliger, oboe Schola Cantorum Stuttgart Basler Sinfonie-Orchester Francis Travis STOCKHAUSEN: Spiral Heinz Holliger, oboe Karlheinz Stockhausen, sound direction CD 20 BUSSOTTI: Cinque frammenti all’Italia HUBER: Versuch über Sprache Helmut Franz, conductor CD 21 KÜPPER: L’enclume des forces; Électro-poème; Automatismes sonores Leo Küpper, automatic programming & performing Exequiel Virasoro dynamic faders