An exclusive anthology of tracks inspired by the legendary Polish Radio Experimental Studio.

Alarm Will Sound's recording of Steve Reich's monumental orchestral/choral works The Desert Music and Tehillim, released on the Cantaloupe label in 2002, greatly benefits from the group's close connections with the composer: the ensemble's conductor, Alan Pierson, and several of the performers studied at the Eastman School with Brad Lubman, a conductor frequently enlisted by Reich. Also, Pierson's arrangements, which reconcile the chamber and orchestral versions that exist for both works, were prepared in close consultation with the composer; thus, this may well be the definitive recording of these pieces. Brilliantly sonorous in their climaxes – the burst of light near the end of Desert Music, the "Alleluias" that close Tehillim – the players also articulate Reich's intricate canonic textures with nimble precision. Voices and strings are always an Achilles heel within Reich's percussive textures (leading him to eliminate part doublings in favor of giving each line to a lone, amplified performer), but here the singers and strings maintain an impressive rhythmic vitality. This knack for precision carries over to the pristine recording, as well, which, for good or ill, was digitally recorded and heavily edited. Still, it makes up in energy and clarity what it might lack in performative spontaneity.

Australian-born, New York-based pianist Lisa Moore is known for her convention-smashing aesthetic; a prime example is her adventurous and virtuosic performance on various percussion instruments as well as piano in Martin Bresnick's Caprichos Enfáticos. Another is her use of the EP – extended-play recording, longer than a single but shorter than a full album – that was current in the LP era for pop releases, but that in the world of classical music, is a rarity in the age of CDs and beyond.

The BIS Skalkottas series goes from strength to strength, opening up a series of fascinating doors on the music of this neglected composer. The Third Quartet is a concise, three-movement piece, which seems to have been written at white heat, from its arresting opening, through the lyrical central Andante, to the contrasts of the final rondo. People often complain that they can’t follow serial music, but Skalkottas has a knack of writing memorable melodic shapes and devising contrasting textures which really underpin the musical structure: the first movement is one of the clearest examples of sonata form imaginable. The New Hellenic Quartet, led by Georgios Demertzis, who has already shown his prowess in recordings of Skalkottas’s solo violin music, performs with extraordinary virtuosity, passion and love – qualities which are even more apparent in the Fourth Quartet, a massive piece of amazing power and energy. The angry first movement must be one of the most concentrated eight-and-a-half minutes of music since Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, while in the extended variations which follow, Skalkottas encompasses an enormous variety of moods. And, after the frenetic scherzo, the short finale (another rondo) reconciles the lyrical and incisive sides of the work. Terrific music – a terrific CD.

Orange Mountain Music presents the world premiere recording of Philip Glass’ A Madrigal Opera performed by Finland’s Ooppera Skaala. Glass’ second opera after the hallmark Einstein on the Beach in 1975, A Madrigal Opera contains no narrative or subject matter. It is a work composed for future writers and directors to create in and around Glass score. The work is composed as for a traditional madrigal, with six voices with violin and viola accompaniment. The clean and dynamic Glass score from 1979 represented a huge musical step for the composer as he moved toward a more expressive idiom which later produced works like Satyagraha and Koyaanisqatsi.

"Cold Blue Music has an unofficial “stable” of composers and performers names that come up on multiple releases. And why not? Every record label needs an identity. Composer Jim Fox is the man behind Cold Blue Music, and that position serves as a kind of bully pulpit for his own music. Again, why not? I like Cold Blue Music a lot, and one of the things I like about it is its advocacy for the specially priced CD single.

Tilt was Scott Walker's first album following over a decade of silence, and whatever else he may have done during his exile, brightening his musical horizon was not on the agenda. Indescribably barren and unutterably bleak, Tilt is the wind that buffets the gothic cathedrals of everyone's favorite nightmares. The opening "Farmer in the City" sets the pace, a cinematic sweep that somehow maintains a melody beneath the unrelenting melodrama of Walker's most grotesque vocal ever. Seemingly undecided whether he's recording an opera or simply haunting one, Walker doesn't so much perform as project his lyrics, hurling them into the alternating maelstroms and moods that careen behind him. The effect is unsettling, to put it mildly. At the time of its release, reviews were undecided whether to praise or pillory Walker for making an album so utterly divorced from even the outer limits of rock reality, an indecision only compounded by its occasional (and bloody-mindedly deceptive) lurches towards modern sensibilities. "The Cockfighter" is underpinned by an intensity that is almost industrial in its range and raucousness, while "Bouncer See Bouncer" would have quite a catchy chorus if anybody else had gotten their hands on it. Here, however, it is highlighted by an Eno-esque esotericism and the chatter of tiny locusts.

Monumental! Lavishly conceived, superlative 15-CD Boxset with 160-page (French, English) booklet, a dream come true!!!! François Bayle's itinerary spans over five decades through which music was able to renovate its material through a sensible use of technology. The terms of Musique Concrète, Electroacoustics or Acousmatics, as conveniently proposed by François Bayle, ultimately explore a similar artistic approach: a creative and expressive work on recorded sound. This last half-century saw many major technical mutations and François Bayle - in the fertile context of the Grm seized the right opportunities, often initiating them through his function as director, so as to renovate and update creativity to serve what he called the Light Speed Sound.

“Hyperchromatica” was released on March 23 by “Other Minds Records”. Album compositions were written by Kyle Gann. Kyle Gann is an American composer and music critic. His music is based on microtonal and chromatic structures, which are organically synthesized together with various specific timbres, electronic music elements and polychromatic forms. The synthesis between various music styles and expressions is heard in his compositions. Academic avant-garde, electronic and spectral music, concrete music, mikrochromatic and polychromatic music elements, modified tonal system and various elements of contemporary academical music – all these elements are the basics of Kyle Gann compositions.

Japanese edition of 1999 live album by the seminal Japanese electronic music pioneer in a miniaturized LP sleeve limited to the initial pressing only. The album is a concert performance of his 1999 opera 'Life'. Nine tracks. Each disc comes in a separate, inner protective sleeve.

Over and above his legendary career as leader of the Arditti Quartet, Irvine Arditti has worked on many solo projects and is still today one of the foremost interpreters of the music of our time. Over the past decade he has given the world premieres of a whole host of large-scale works written especially for him. His approach to the contemporary violin is fascinating. The works by Salvatore Sciarrino, Elliott Carter, Emmanuel Nunes and Pierre Boulez assembled in this album are among the most widely known in the recent repertory for violin, both on account of the transcendental character of the pieces themselves and the impetus they have given the instrument’s technique, but also and above all because of the accomplishment manifest in the variety of their modes of expression.

The performers in Kurzwellen react to the completely unforeseeable events which they receive on short-wave radios while performing on their instruments. But this is not improvisation. Stockhausen s score instructs them how to transform what they hear: how they imitate amd modulate it, make it longer or shorter, how to rhythmically articulate it, higher or lower, louder or softer, darker or more playful. Whether they should play and as solo, duo, trio or quartet, etc. Though not so familiar now, at the time short-wave radios made it possible to listen to live radio stations from all over the world. The transmission was not always clean, but disturbed by noises and interferences. Moving from one station to another one could hear Morse-code signals, amateur radio communications and all kind of electronic sounds and noises. Stockhausen wanted this sound world to be part of Kurzwellen. This new version created by C.L.S.I., premiered at the Stockhausen Summer Course in Kurten on August 10th 2011, is a kind of updating of Stockhausen s one of the 1960s.

"Long awaited" is very true in this case given that Godfrey's only previous solo album dates back to 1973. It's also an accurate description given that this disc of piano music was originally supposed to have been released a year ago. The end result is very satisfying and much, much better than his recent collaborations with the other members of the Enid.

Alfred Schnittke's Second Concerto Grosso is a different creature than his First. While the 1977 Concerto Grosso No. 1 for 2 Violins, Strings and Keyboards is a lithe, vicious, often comical work, the Second, finished five years later, is a weightier affair. The soloists are now violin and cello; the Baroque band is now a full orchestra with electric guitar, drum kit, and brake drum; there are four large movements rather than six smaller ones; the entire work is imbued with an air of sincere tragedy, albeit with mud on its shoes. Schnittke dedicated the work to its premiere soloists, husband-and-wife duo Oleg Kagan (violin) and Natalia Gutman (cello); famed for their flawless ensemble, the couple inspired in Schnittke a musical air of companionship – a single soul in two instruments.

Mute and Spoon are pleased to announce the release of VILLA WUNDERBAR, on 4 November 2013, a 2CD set, compiling the work of Can founder Irmin Schmidt’s solo and soundtrack work, including two unreleased Can remixes and a collection of soundtrack pieces personally compiled by long-term collaborator Wim Wenders. CD1 is a compilation of Irmin Schmidt’s extensive work as a solo artist over the past 30 years, whilst CD2 – selected and presented by the filmmaker Wim Wenders – is an insight into Schmidt’s vast work as a composer for film and television for which Wenders has written extensive sleeve notes. The two CD compilation includes tracks such as Villa Wunderbar, Kick On The Floods and Bohemian Step, alongside unreleased remixes by Schmidt of two Can tracks, Alice and Last Night Sleep.