Author: Discophage

Continuing Aperghis. Created a composer’s entry for Aperghis. New review of:

Georges Aperghis: Parcours. Jean-Pierre Drouet, Claudine Brahem. Transes Européennes TE 008 (1995) (in fact a review that I had written some time ago, but forgot to post on Amazon because I need to scan the front and back cover first)

Reposted Amazon reviews of:

Pauline Vaillancourt, soprano sings Récitations (14, 12, 11, 10a, 10b, 9, 8a, 8b, 8c, 7, 5, 3) by , Canti del Capricorno (1, 3, 5, 8, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18) by Giacinto Scelsi.  Société Nouvelle d’Enregistrement SNE-571-CD (1990) originally posted on Amazon.com, 7 December 2009

The Arditti Quartet Edition: Arditti String Quartet & Trio Le Cercle play Compositions for String Quartet & Percussion Trio by Georges Aperghis, François-Bernard Mâche, Iannis Xenakis, Allain Gaussin. Disques Montaigne 782002 (1991) originally posted on Amazon.com, 10 May 2015, transferred with additional information on the reissues

Created a composer’s entry for Scelsi.

 

Since I’m doing the As: pulled out of my shelves my two CDs of Barry Anderson (Continuum) and reviewed:

Barry Anderson: Mask (Mask. Two Songs Penyeach. Sound the Tucket Sonance… And the Note to Mount. Colla Voce). Continuum CCD 1008 (1989)

Barry Anderson: Arc and other electronic works. Continuum CCD 1009 (1989)
Electro-acoustic Fanfare for computer tape / Arc for bass clarinet, string quartet, computer tape & electronics (1987): Harry Sparnaay, Mistry SQ, cond. Stephen Montague / Piano piece 1 for piano & tape, 2 for amplified piano, 3 for piano & electronics (1969-74): Sally Mays, Stephen Montague / Domingus for voice & tape (1978): John Franklin Robbins, speaker

Created Anderson’s composer’s page.

Created an introductory page to The Discographies, and an introductory page to The Reviews. I’m not sure at this point what’s going to be the difference between the discographies of labels and the Labels Index. Created the Alphabetical Index of Composers Reviewed – the main entry, really, to all the reviews.

 

“Le 15 août”. France is on holidays (isn’t it always?). What better time would there be to start working on my website… Where to start? Well, why not with my latest listen and review:

Elena Firsova: The Mandelstam Cantatas: Forest Walks op. 36 (1987), Earthly Life op. 31 (1984), Before the Thunderstorm op. 70 (1994). Ekaterina Kichigina (soprano), Studio for New Music Moscow, Igor Dronov. Megadisc Classics MDC 7816 (2004)

And then, where else to start than with the As? They’re first, and, unlike the Bs and Cs and Ds, they’re not too abundant. And I loooove the music of Georges Aperghis, I think his Récitations are a brilliant and witty piece of contemporary vocal virtuosity, and his Sextuor (which I saw live around the time of its premiere) a superb, witty and imaginative piece of music theatre. So I re-posted my Amazon.com reviews, with, for Récitations, a substantial re-organization and more precise info on the various reissues, thanks to the barcode information and online cover photos.

Georges Aperghis: Récitations (excerpts). Martine Viard. Disques Montaigne CD 782007 (1992) originally posted on Amazon.com, 28 April 2009

Georges Aperghis: Sextuor – L’Origine des espèces, on texts by François Régnault and Georges Aperghis. Elena Andreyev (cello and speaker), Emmanuelle Zoll (soprano 1), Donatienne Michel-Dansac (soprano 2), Françoise Degeorges (soprano 3), Valérie Joly (mezzo-soprano), Frédérique Wolf-Michaux (contralto). Musique française d’aujourd’hui MFA 216004 (1995) originally posted on Amazon.com, April 27, 2009

Since I mentioned Heiner Goebbels’ “Ou bien le débarquement désastreux” in my review of Aperghis’ Sextuor, I went ahead and imported my Amazon review of that one too.

Heiner Goebbels: Ou bien le débarquement désastreux. André Wilms (voice), Sira Djebate (vocals), Boubakar Djebate (kora, vocals), Moussa Sissoko (djembe), Yves Robert (trombone), Alexandre Meyer (electric guitar, table-guitar, daxophone), Xavier Garcia (keyboards, sampling and programming), Heiner Goebbels (sampling and programming). ECM New Series 1552 (1995) originally posted on Amazon.com, 25 April 2009