Ligeti

Holy cow - that looks awesome! Not cheap mind. Still, wow!

Well, Tim Berne is my favorite Jazz musician. I have everything from his five-disc Empire set through his ECM material. I have a love/hate relationship with ECM, and find their aesthetic a little dull - but obviously they record well. Mind you, just anything the guy appears on is worth your time. Biog Satan are probably my favorites - but I hate to pick.

It's fair enough. I don't listen to much straight-ahead Jazz, my main interest is avant garde, late Coltrane, Brotzmann, Time Berne, Marilyn Crispell, Anthony Braxton etc.

I think the issue here is that what's good for the label may not be best for the artist........ Also, it's a model that is once again okay for the Pop stars, but not good for more niche performers - like Jazz artists.

There is an excellent series of CD's put out by BIS - I have a few of them, here's one: SACD for those people interested in such things - the CD layer sounds great though.

Thank you, kindly. When Tom calls, we muster.

Sure is - and it's mighty lovely too. They have a few discs with Fernandez, including some trio dates. Sublime!

No no. You know what - I've got it all wrong. Read your post, and it reminded me of an awesome CD I have - and rather than check it by peering at the shelf, I responded to you. Topos is the title of a CD: Highly recommended. Apologies!

Well, I reached into my Sun ra section and randomly pulled: It's a little straight for me, and not adventurous enough. Still, on a cold wet night in the UK, it's better than most! Got to love the madcap cover art though.

Topos?

I am sure most of you know of Alvin Curran, he being one fo the founding members of Musica Electronica Viva with Frederic Rzwski, Teitelbaum, and Elliiot Carter. I wonder if I might recommend two release from his later work for your consideration. While I have 7 or 8 CD's by Curran, the two I go back to the most are there: This is a four disc set. Each CD is essentailly solo piano, played wonderfully by Daan Vandewalle. Four CD's, and almost 5 hours of solo piano might seem a lot to dive into, but it's very much worthwhile. This isn't actually one pieces, but 12 pieces that grown over time. The styles change, sometimes strident sometimes melancholy. It never fades into nothing though, and Curran's writing has perhaps never been better. It also benefits from aggressive pricing, so you shouldn't find it hurts your wallet too much. The accompanying booklet has a wonderful reminisce of being in New York, along with a short piece on the inspiration for the various segments - but the real beauty is in the notes. The other Curran to look out for is: This one is really terrific. The basic concept started with Curran making a radio show where he travelled the Eastern Seaboard, recording the sound of fog horns, lighthouses, ships, and even interviews with locals. Next he invited artists to come in and improvise over his recordings. These include one piece each from Steve Lacy, George Lewis and Leo Smith, plus fellow composers Pauline Oliveros, among others. It's really captivating, and has that little bit of "difference" that makes you want to go back and hear it again one more time. Curran has of course done alot of different works - but these two are probably the best of what I've heard..... well until the next time I play another of his CD's.

Do you mean this box set: ? I have this one. It comes in a 12-inch LP cover, with the CD's on a card insert. Strangely for something aping our beloved friend the Vinyl LP - it's a bit of a pain in this configuration because it doesn't fit well on my shelves alongside my other box sets.........

Hm, not sure how someone like Feldman can generate angst - the music is so.......... I have since invested in several more titles, Sub Rosa have some good ones I've purchased. The major work I got was his 2nd String Quartet, which at five hours long is something you really have to commit to. I had a choice of buying the DVD-A version, or the CD version. One of course plays right through, the other you have to change every now and then. I opted for the CD, figuring a break wouldn't be such a bad idea. I am definitely a fan of minimalism, although it's a long way from being my only passion (Reich's Music for 18 Musicians is coming to the island with me along with LeMonte Young's Well Tuned Piano). I'm also reminded that once heard, you own a bit of the music. That is, once it's left the composers mind and found its way before a performer, he gives up a bit of the work, and we fill in what we want. As such, I might thoroughly love String Quartet No. 2, and someone else might dislike it. To ME, it's beguiling, but that doesn't take away anything from any other performer. As such, I'm not sure it matters all that much whether Mr. Feldman was the real deal or just having us on. I mean, there are plenty of John Cage experiments I enjoy, but I accept they probably weren't meant to be over-analyzed, or even listened to in perpetuity. I do it anyway.

Much to my own surprise, I am slowly developing an interest in Opera. I come to it from perhaps strange avenues. There is an electronic music guru by the name of Klaus Schulze, and my favorite album of his is Blackdance. One of the tracks begins with this haunting analog synth, with an operatic voice overlaid. Yeah, not your usual path, I suppose. My love of electronic music led my to electro-acoustic music, and my enjoyment of it led to Alejandro Vinao, whose Hildegard's Dream has Frances Lynch (Soprano) on it. From there I found my way to other vocal works (such as Stockhausen's Stimmung) and more opera from Unsuk Chin, whose Alice in Wonderland is something else. From there into Berio and the awesome Song from the Uproar written by Missi Mazolli (if you buy directly from her, as opposed to from say, Amazon, she has a wonderful package as opposed to the usual jewelcase. I have only sampled what is considered the classic Opera's, perhaps I'll develop a taste for it, but I'm not there yet. However, the more contemporary stuff has certainly got me hooked. I don't call myself an Opera fan only because I've heard so little, and understood even less. But I'm growing into it, and am definitely open.

Well, I am very late to the Sun Ra party. I was listening to Jazz for a long time before getting a taster of Ra's music. I stumbled upon a documentary on him, and was interested from the get go. I started by ordering the Artyard in a Box release, and went from there. I bought some of his work for Evidence, but didn't find that so much to my liking - I like my Sun Ra wild. Give me some Outer Spaceways Incorporated, is what I'm saying. To contradict myself immediately, the one release I constantly go back to though is Lanquidity. It's not too challenging, but it really works on every level. I've still got mountains of Sun Ra to sample, he strikes me as a performer who was all things to all men. He can groove, he can clay it straight, he gets wild. Also his discography is frighteningly large. With no expectation of owning it all, I'll try to funnel my funds and time into the edgier stuff.