From 1967 to 1971, Deutsche-Grammophon's "avantgarde" series featured modern choral, instrumental, electronic and electroacoustic music from 35 composers (including Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Cornelius Cardew, Dieter Schnebel, Earle Brown, Franco Evangelisti, Gottfried Michael Koenig, Gruppe Nuova Consonanza, György Ligeti, John Cage, Krzysztof Penderecki, Lejaren Hiller, Luc Ferrari, Luciano Berio, Luigi Nono, Lukas Foss, Mauricio Kagel, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Witold Lutoslawski). These 24 albums are listed below in catalog (release) order.
LaSalle Quartett:
- Violin: Henry Meyer
- Violin: Walter Levin
- Cello: Jack Kirstein
- Viola: Peter Kamnitzer
The LaSalle String Quartet perform works by Witold Lutoslawski, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Toshiro Mayuzumi.
Witold Lutoslawski: String Quartet (1964) (23:26)
- Introductory Movement
- Main Movement
This is a highly-segmented work, with some of the earlier sections demarcated by accented octave figures. The latter half of the main movement explores less frenzied, more "delicate" textures. Many sequences are also scored so that the four players are to play "asynchronously" with each other (in order to obtain an aleatory texture).
Krzysztof Penderecki: Quartetto per archi (String Quartet, 1960) (6:36)
In this work, the players explore extended string techniques (percussive, near the bridge, harmonics, plucked, etc) as a unified ensemble, and the highly-defined contrasts which arise help to define the structure of the work (this idea would later be expanded into a work using 52 strings in Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, 1961). The piece begins with frenzied elements, but eventually calms down at its conclusion.
Toshiro Mayuzumi: Prelude for String Quartet (1964) (11:32)
The first section seems to describe a static, tremolo-based texture, but it also demonstrates many subtle changes in tone color. Later, the piece features many changes in the tempo structure, resulting a kind of textural counterpoint. This section in particular seems to draw its influences from Japanese traditional music via held tones and sliding pizzicato accents. In performance, the string players are spaced far apart from each other in order for the audience to better appreciate each of the individual voices.
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Deutsche Grammophon avantgarde 104 989 (1968)
This album features two large-scale multi-orchestra works by Karlheinz Stockhausen.
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Gruppen for 3 orchestras (1955-57) (24:00)
- Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester (Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra), conducted by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Bruno Maderna and Michael Gielen, May 9, 1965
Gruppen ("Groups") was initially designed to explore layered tempos amongst instrumental groups. The methodology of arranging the orchestra into 3 spatially-separated sound sources inspired Stockhausen to also explore the motion of sound in space (through isolation, alternation, fusion, rotation, etc. of sounds between the 3 ensemble groups). In the latter half of the piece, brass swells are passed from orchestra group to orchestra group in a signature moment before a percussion-based "rave up". A variety of orchestral densities results in the appearance of various solo and chamber groupings (including a notable solo for electric guitar).
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Carré for 4 orchestras and 4 choirs (4 cond.) (1958-60) (30:16)
- Sinfonie-Orchester (and Chor) Des Norddeutschen Rundfunks Hamburg (North German Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir), conducted by Mauricio Kagel, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Andrzej Markowski and Michael Gielen, October 28, 1960
Carré ("Square") also employs spatially-separated ensembles (in a box formation), this time with 4 instrumental groups "fused" with mixed choirs of 8-12 singers. The texts sung by the vocalists are based on purely phonetic figures (with a few names of friends and family added). Inspired in part by long flights in jets while touring across America, the piece uses a more deliberately-paced tempo structure to explore "quietude" and inner contemplation through textures more static than those found in Gruppen.
Deutsche Grammophon avantgarde 104 990 (1968)
Organist Gerd Zacher performs works by Mauricio Kagel, Juan Allende-Blin and György Ligeti.
Mauricio Kagel: Phantasie Für Orgel Mit Obbligati (1967) (14:02)
This is a solo organ "fantasia" accompanied by a prerecorded tape of the performer conducting day to day tasks prior to the performance (eating, cleaning, watching TV, a train journey, arriving at the church).
Juan Allende-Blin: Sonorités (1962) (8:22)
This piece explores thick, static sound textures ("sonorities") intended to cause "trembling and palpitations" amongst its listeners.
György Ligeti: Volumina (1961) (17:20)
This piece is based on slowly changing held note clusters (sometimes tremolo), with the number of held notes remaining the same.
György Ligeti: Étude Nr. 1 ("Harmonies") (1967) (9:03)
Like Volumina, Harmonies also uses static, held textures (a 10-part chord), but employs seconds and thirds (less dissonant) intervals that the cluster in the previous piece. Performed at a soft dynamic, the composer asks for "pale, unearthly" sounds to impart a sense of "airiness" with this etude.
- Organ: Gerd Zacher, recorded at Lutherkirche, Hamburg-Wellingsbüttel, April 1968
The Chor Des Norddeutschen Rundfunks Hamburg (Chorus of the North-German Radio, Hamburg, conducted by Helmut Franz) perform works by David Bedford, György Ligeti, Arne Mellnäs and Marek Kopelent.
David Bedford: Two Poems for Chorus on the Words of Kenneth Patchen (1966):
- O Now The Drenched Land Wakes (4:29)
- The Great Birds (8:40)
The first poem (concerning a country morning) uses serial methods to create its "sliding" textures. The second piece (evoking birds at the seashore) employs a series of thick textures which disintegrate into solo voices and then phonetics. Tempo layerings also sometimes occur.
György Ligeti: Lux Aeterna for sixteen-part mixed chorus (1966) (8:04)
In this piece, Ligeti uses an essentially tonal microtonal polyphony ("canonic part-writing") to create dynamic tension. The text is from the Requiem Mass.
Arne Mellnäs: Succsim for mixed chorus (1964) (6:57)
This piece is based on layers of independent tonal events, but the text is comprised of aleatoric vowel/percussive/sibilant phonetic figures.
Marek Kopelent: Matka. Fresca for mixed chorus and solo flute (feat. Gerhard Otto, 1968) (10:29)
This atonal choral work is accompanied in some sequences with a solo flute, given 12-tone melodic lines. The wordless text is meant to evoke the concept of "mother", and Latin words are sometimes intoned/whispered to that effect. Note durations are sometimes free, but follow a larger structural plan.
Trombonist Vinko Globokar is featured in works written by himself, Luciano Berio, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Carlos Roqué Alsina. In most of these works, Globokar explores modern techniques to extend the range of the trombone's ability to evoke "speech-language" through vocalizing, mutes, etc. The use of vocals while blowing also allows the possibility of dynamic multiphonic textures, while mutes can be used to both change the tone and as a percussion instrument when struck against the trombone's body.
Vinko Globokar: Discours II (for 5 trombones, all recorded by VG) (1967/1968) (14:47)
The "text" used in this piece literally describes Globokar's approach to extended trombone technique through mutes and vocalizing. This version is an amalgamation of 5 recorded layers, but in live performance the performers can be seen as having a "dialogue".
Luciano Berio: Sequenza V for Trombone Solo (1966) (6:55)
Live, the performance of this piece also includes physical gestures meant to evoke the image of the famous clown Grock, whom Berio had admired as a youth. Aurally, it is another exploration of virtuoso new music for solo trombone, sometimes with added vocalizing as a counterpoint element. Some of the vocalized blowing here produces vibratory "beating tones" due to the intervals between the played note and the sung note.
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Solo for Melody-Instrument with Feedback Signal (1966, version with 2nd Region from Hymnen (1966-67)) (17:37)
Although this work does not demand extended techniques, the player must interact with a delayed (and sometimes manipulated) signal/echo of his performance in various ways to create a form of "self-generated polyphony". In this version, extracts from Stockhausen's electronic work Hymnen are also added as another layer to function as a kind of "commentary".
Carlos Roqué Alsina: Consecuenza Op. 17, for Solo Trombone (1966) (10:02)
Like the Berio piece, this piece also uses gesticulation and extended technique (including audible foot stomping), and at the end the performer is supposed to play "normally", but to the point of exhaustion.
- Trombone: Vinko Globokar
Deutsche Grammophon avantgarde 104 993 (1968)
This album features two works by Mauricio Kagel.
Mauricio Kagel: Match Für 3 Spieler (1964) (16:55)
- Cellos: Klaus Storck, Siegfried Palm
- Percussion: Christoph Caskel
This work for two cellos and one percussionist came to Kagel in a dream, and it's fast instrumental interplay (through mimicry, call-and-response, commentary and other tactics) seems to portray a competition of some sort.
Mauricio Kagel: Musik Für Renaissance-Instrumente (1965/66) (26:09)
- Collegium Instrumentalis, conducted by Mauricio Kagel
This work employs instruments used in Renaissance music circa 1619 (as listed in the Theatrum Instrumentorum of the "Syntagma Musicum" by Michael Praetorius). The instruments used in this 22-piece version include crumhorns, recorders, bombards, curtals, a cornet, a clarino-trumpet, renaissance trombones, a positive organ, a regal, lutes, a theorbo, viola da braccios, viola da gambas and various percussion instruments (including dulcimer, cumbals, tambourines and timpani). The instrument parts were first written out as solo lines, after which they were combined to make a full orchestral score (which mostly concentrates on rising and falling ensemble textures more than polyphonic interplay). These solo parts can also be used to form smaller chamber versions having as little as just 2 performers.
Deutsche Grammophon avantgarde 137 007 (1969)
Gruppe Nuova Consonanza:
- Piano: Franco Evangelisti
- Trumpet: Ennio Morricone
- Drums: Egisto Macchi
- Cello, Trombone: John Heineman
- Contrabass: Walter Branchi
- Drums: Mario Bertoncini
This album features acoustic and electronic free improvisations
performed by members of the Gruppe Nuova Consonanza, a sextet based in
Rome. Each member was a composer in his own right, with Ennio Morricone
being the most well-known. In addition to acoustic instruments
(frequently played in abrasive, unconventional ways), the group also used
prerecorded tapes (applied ad-lib) to add layers of processed
electronic sound.
Gruppe Nuova Consonanza: "...e poi?" (23:21)
After an initial outburst, the members settle into a sequence of more restrained, layered textures, but punctuated by recurring "rave ups" of more frenzied brass and percussion/piano commentary.
Gruppe Nuova Consonanza: Quasiraga (6:28)
This piece is driven by a dialogue between the contrabass and cello (both played entirely pizzicato), while the other instruments add relatively quiet (but dense) textures. There are hardly any conventional brass or piano elements in this piece.
Gruppe Nuova Consonanza: Light music (6:59)
This piece explores more ambient textures with less layers of simultaneous textures. There are no (obvious) brass/piano elements in this piece as well.
Gruppe Nuova Consonanza: Ancora un Trio (3:30)
- Trumpet: Ennio Morricone
- Trombone: John Heineman
- Contrabass: Walter Branchi
This improvisation features more of a contrapuntal "jazz" dialogue between three players.
Gruppe Nuova Consonanza: Credo (7:32)
- Live Electronics, tapes: Walter Branchi, Franco Evangelisti and Egisto Macchi
This improvisation (for 3 players) uses electronics and tape (featuring, amongst other things, radio broadcasts) to create a form of collective live musique concrete.
- Introduction Et Pas D'Action (Don Quichotte) (3:31)
- Pas De Deux (Don Quichotte Et Ubu) (2:55)
- Solo (Ubu) (5:03)
- Pas De Deux (Molly Bloom Et Don Quichotte) (4:29)
- Pas D'Action Et Finale (Molly Bloom) (9:51)
- Violin: Saschko Gawriloff
- Cello: Siegfried Palm
- Piano: Aloys Kontarsky
The three characters in the ballet are each associated with an
instrument (Cervantes' "Don Quixote" with the violin, James' Joyce's "Molly
Bloom" with the cello, and Alfred Jarry's "King Ubu" with the piano). Although structured as 5 "ballet scenes" (each devoted to 1 or more of the three characters), the 3 instrumentalists (a veritable "piano trio") participate in all of them. Within each scene however, vignettes arise which feature subdivisions of
the trio in order to help the facilitate rapidly-shifting mood shifts (with some interplay accomplished through "independent time patterns"). The piece also includes quotes from works such as Richard Strauss' Don Quixote, Prokofiev's 7th Piano Sonata, Stockhausen's Zeitmasze and Debussy's Jeux.
- Cello: Siegfried Palm
- Piano: Aloys Kontarsky
This piece starts out with long tones (sometimes with quarter-tones) and accents on the cello, with restrained figures from the piano. As the piece progresses, the piano adds more and more commentary (in looping short figures). The cello figures eventually become more angular, after which the piano switches to loud accents. The latter half adds cello pizzicato effects while the piano expands on some chordal figures. Despite the title, the cello and piano parts are written to be at odds with each other.
- Ensemble Musica Negativa (directed by Rainer Riehn)
Atlas Eclipticalis is comprised of notation derived from star charts, resulting in a form of pointillistic "anarchy". Winter Music consists of isolated piano chords without clef, distributed in this case over 5 pianos. Cartridge Music describes the use of contact mikes on instruments, with a "sound mixer" controlling the microphones' output. These three pieces are played/executed simultaneously in this recording, creating a dense constellation of essentially unrelated sounds. Any form of synchronization here arises only though coincidence.
- Introduktion Und Teil I (8:16)
- Teil II (11:10)
- Teil III (2:48)
- Teil IV Mit Epilog, Coda (10:39)
- Instrumentalists: Sava Savoff, Werner Bärtschl, Hartmut Schumann, Thomas Gross
- Speakers: Doris Sandrock, Dieter Strobel, Michael Mendl‚ Rainer Riehn, Dieter Schnebel
This work is constructed (for each performance) from a set of open form instructions from the composer, and tries to interrogate the relationship between the meaning of words (whether sacred or political) with their accompanying musical elements. This version (created by the composer himself in 1961) utilizes 4 instrumentalists (drums, percussion, "string piano", harmonium/pump organ) and 5 vocalists. The result is a multi-lingual stew of "character" dialogue with musical accents frequently (but not always) commenting on the text.
- dt 31 6 (for 12 vocal groups, 1956-58) (4:52)
- AMN (for 7 "sprechstimme" groups, 1958-67) (15:10)
- : ! (madrasha II) (for 2 vocal groups, 1964-68) (8:44)
This work, composed as three separate pieces written over a period of 12 years, is structured after a "Deutsche Mass": annunciation, prayer and praise. The first section, "dt 31 6", makes its announcement through a pointillistic web of "musical gesticulation", and its deconstructed text is drawn from words in the Lutheran German, Hebrew, French, English Russian, Latin and Greek languages.
The second piece, "AMN" (or "Amen"), is a bit denser, as it places crying/whimpering/whispering/etc. sounds over prayers delivered in a "monotonously grinding" manner.
The third section, ": !" (or "madrasha II"), asks the vocalists to become more animated in their delivery, even to the extent of using "animal voices" to deliver their songs of praise (to help facilitate this, samples of actual wildlife sounds are also sometimes mixed in).
Gottfried Michael Koenig: Funktion Grün (1967) (8:16)
Zoltán Pongrácz: Phonothese (1965/66) (3:37)
Rainer Riehn: Chants De Maldoror (1965-69) (26:48)
- Ensemble Hudba Dneska, Bratislava, Dir.: Ladislav Kupkovic
- I. Edward H. Tarr: Foghorn, spaghetti tube with trumpet mouthpiece, straight cornet, C-trumpet, baroque trumpet (clarino), plastic tubing with ringed joints, tromba da tirarsi, short tube with plastic funnel, 20 meters of garden hose with plastic funnel, antelope horn, various mutes and mouthpieces.
- II. Vinko Globokar: Conch trumpet, pandean pipe, 2 posthorns, hand-drum as mute, double foghorn, plastic tubing with connection piece, plastic tubing with ringed joints, trombone, various mutes and mouthpieces, nafir.
- III. Karlheinz Böttner: Low jew's harp, sitar, banjo, octave guitar, stoessel lute, rubberphone (rubber bands to be plucked), various gloves, bowing and plucking requisites.
- IV. Wilhelm Bruck: 6-12 organ pipes (mixtures) to be blown by mouth, 2 pandean pipes, taishokoto, ocarina, Kimuan violin (Kimuanyemuanye), bass balalaika, bass mouth-organ, 2 brass tubes, various bowing and plucking requisites.
- V. Christoph Caskel: Bell-board (eight bells fixed to a board, to be bowed only), genuine Cagniard de la Tour siren (blown siren with frequency measuring device), cuckoo (a sort of seesaw with two bellows, each adjustable in pitch), 4 tortoise shelIs, nose-flute, bass drum, telephone, 2 brass tubes, 1 musical box.
The players are arranged in the following stereo-field:
IV - I - III - II - V
Recorded November 5-6, 1969 at Studio-Rhenus, Godorf bei Köln, Germany.
Deutsche Grammophon avantgarde 2543 002 (1970)
- Violin: Henry Meyer
- Violin: Walter Levin
- Cello: Jack Kirstein
- Viola: Peter Kamnitzer
- Allegro Nervoso (5:09)
- Sostenuto, Molto Calmo (4:55)
- Come Un Meccanismo Di Precisione (3:07)
- Presto Furioso, Brutale, Tumultoso (2:04)
- Allegro Con Delicatezza, Stets Sehr Mild (5:33)
Ligeti's string quartet is divided into 5 movements, each examining aspects of either micropolyphonic, "mechanical" (rhythmic), or extremely expressive sound textures. The 5th movement reexamines some of the ideas explored in the previous 4.
Wolf Rosenberg: String Quartet 3 (1960/61) (10:54)
- Dagmar Apei, Sopran
- Gaby Bodens, Sopran
- Helga Albrecht, Mezzosopran
- Wolfgang Fromme, Tenor
- Georg Steinhofi‚ Bariton
- Hans-Alderich Billig, Bass
- Piano: Gérard Frémy
- Percussion (& vocal outbursts): Gaston Sylvestre, Jean-Pierre Drouet, Sylvio Gualda
- Ensemble Instrumental De Musique Contemporaine De Paris, Conductor: Konstantin Simonovitch
- Session (4:20)
- Reading (3:12)
- Recital (2:46)
- Lecture (7:30)
- Percussion, conductor, vocals: Jan Williams
- Electric guitar, vocals: Stephen Bell
- Violin, vocals: Charles Haupt
- Clarinet, vocals: Jerry Kirkbride
- Cello, vocals: Marijke Verberne
- Tape & electronics, vocals: George Ritscher
This work has a clear structure, but employs indeterminacy (improvisation) in its finer details. The sections (which revolve between "tribalistic", ambient and Webern-like textures) are driven by guitar, percussion, violin, clarinet and cello, but the instrumentalists also at the same time shout/whisper a series of "multiple choice" statements decrying the state of "modern music". In the last section (based on instrumental imitation to a spoken "lecture" text), a tape delay is also sometimes appled.
- The Decay Of Information (2:04)
- Icosahedron (3:07)
- The Incorporation Of Constraints (4:06)
- The Decay Of Information (2:06)
- Icosahedron (3:08)
- The Incorporation Of Constraints (4:10)
- Flute: Petr Kotik
- Clarinet: Jerry Kirkbride
- Bassoon: Darlene Reynard
- Trumpet: Frank Collura
- Harp: Mario Falcão
- Percussion: Ed Burnham
- Violin: Charles Haupt
- Cello: Marijke Verberne
- Double Bass: James Kurzdorfer
- Tape: George Ritscher
- Conductor: Lejaren Hiller
The Algorithm works are 12-tone-based instrumental works (with some electronic tape elements) composed with the aid of computer software. Although the whole piece is based on dissonant counterpount, the 1st
section begins with thicker textures, and the last movement allows for
more unison figures (rhythmically). Nonetheless, different versions of Algorithm can be created by altering some of the input parameters given to the computer relating to note density, dynamics, types of serial rows used, melody construction and cadence types. Here, two different versions created by the same program are performed, but each with different input parameters.
Elliott Schwartz: Signals (1968) (9:34)
- Double Bass: Nicholas Molfese
- Trombone: James Fulkerson
In this work the two performers react to each other through musical "signals", thus adding a level of indeterminacy and improvisation. Technique-wise, the players play both "normally" and with extended techniques involving both percussive effects and the use of the voice. In some points, this results in a "4-part polyphony", while at other times the work tries to become "monophonic" by having both performers play on the same instrument at the same time. In some ways this piece draws more from free improvisation than contemporary chamber music.
- Liliana Poli, Cadigia Bove, Marisa Mazzoni, Elena Vicini, Umberto Troni: Voices
- Coro da Camera della RAI, Dir.: Nino Antonellini
- Tape Realization: Marino Zuccheri
This work is also dominated by stuttering/sobbing/whispered vocal elements. Conceptually, it is structured as 4 sequences, each based on the reverberated, layered recitations of 4 females and 1 male. In some sections, field recordings of social gatherings (at Venice's marketplace, river) and some purely electronic timbres (appearing in the latter half) also appear. Nono's intention is to use contemporary political tracts to create an aural commentary on the global upheavals of the time (civil rights movement in America, Vietnam War, etc.).
- Orchestra: Orchestra Of Münchner Kammeroper, Conductor: Eberhard Schoener
The musical portion of this multimedia work opens with "Spatial exposition and silent section" (swelling sound masses, 6:40), followed by "Liberating reactions" (traffic noises punctuated by instrumental outbursts (5:31), laconic instrumental dialogue with intermittent spoken "countdown" recordings (5:48), counterpointed accents (1:39 and 2:01), counterpointed textures (5:43), "Glorification of the system" (isolated instrumental outbursts, 2:28) and "Questioning and collapse of the box" (swelling instrumental outbursts, 1:51).
- Vocals: Dorothy Dorow, Philip Langridge, Eva Gilhofer, Hans Riediker,
- Piccolo: Roland Cavin
- Guitar: Anton Stingl
- Cymbal: Siegfried Schmid
- Harp: Cathérine Eisenhoffer, Ursula Holliger
- Harpsichord, Celesta, Piano: Janka Wyttenbach, Jürg Wyttenbach
- Percussion: Charles Pfyffer, Jean-Claude Forestier, Markus Ernst
- Chorus: Female Soloists from the Schola Cantorum Stuttgart, Chor Des Basler Theaters (on tape)
- Orchestra: Basler Sinfonie-Orchester, Conductor: Hans Zender (on tape)
This staged work (featuring 4 characters) is structured as an instrumental prelude, a frenetic opening scene, a forbidding instrumental Intermezzo and a more layered closing scene (made up of several character monologues). The character "Marina" (alto) is matched with flute, oboe d'amore and three violas, the "Neighbor" (coloratura soprano) with percussion instruments, "David" (bass) with seven low brass instruments, and the "Magic Dancer" (tenor) with bells, marimba, vibraphone, cimbalom, celesta, harps and piano. Each of these roles are also associated with a subset of orchestral or choral forces pre-recorded on tape. Stylistically, the textures here seem to be evolved from those of the 2nd Viennese School (Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire" for example). The final segment also seems to have some jazz-inflected lines in the low instruments.
- Orchestra: ORF-Sinfonie-Orchester Wien, conducted by Milan Horvat
This 3-section work is drawn from orchestral material contained in the composer's opera "America", a somewhat bleak work questioning man's place in the universe. Originally scored for 3 separated orchestras, Symphonie 'K' is a dynamic work frequently featuring layered instrumental textures in counterpoint.
- Section 1. String masses in glissando and tremolo textures, punctuated by pizzicato outbursts (7:27)
- Section 2. Swelling brass fanfares (1:48)
- Section 3. Gliding/plucked string textures punctuated by growing percussion accents (including piano, glockenspiel, etc), with brass fanfares joining in the latter half (6:00)
- Orchestra: Simfonicni Orkester RTV Ljubljana (with additional ethnic instruments), conducted by Vinko Globokar
- Oboe: Heinz Holliger
- Basler Sinfonie-Orchester, Conductor: Francis Travis
- Chorus: Schola Cantorum Stuttgart, Chorus Master: Clytus Gottwald
- Oboe, Shortwave Radio: Heinz Holliger
- Ancora odono i colli per sestetto vocale misto (vocal sextet) (4:47)
- Solo el misterio per coro misto (4:28)
- La curva dell’amore per sestetto vocale misto (mixed choir) (6:29)
- Per ventiquattro voci adulte o bianche (24 voices) (5:52)
- Rar’ancora per sestetto vocale misto (vocal sextet) (4:52)
- Vocal soloists (1, 3, 5): Dorothea Förster-Dürlich, Irmgard Jacobeit, Dieter Lorenz, Günter Genersch, Hartwig Stuckmann, Wilhelm Zimmer
- Piano: Günther Hertel (2)
- Tubular bells: Erich Wauschkuhn (2)
In this cycle, Bussoti uses texts from several sources (Rilke, Adorno, Braibanti, Michaelangelo, d'Annunzio, Baudelaire, etc.) in these works for vocal sextet and large choir. Some pieces are scored in detail, while others use indeterminacy to create varying textures. The 1st, 3rd and 5th pieces are polyphonic "bel canto" sextets with each verse employing a different subset of singers (1-6). The 2nd piece (with both soloists and mixed chorus) adds a few accents from piano and tubular bells, while the 4th piece has the singers (self-conducted) freely interpret graphic notation (both forwards and backwards).
- Chor des Norddeutschen Rundfunks (Dir.: Helmut Franz)
- Hammond Organ: Gerhard Gregor
- Contrabass: Georg Nothdorf
- Percussion: Max Lindner
Versuch Über
Sprache is a 4-channel work in which voices are used in both their natural state and in transformed states, while an electronic sine wave hovers in the background. Some portions also include some "circuit-bent" noise created with a screwdriver. At another juncture, the singers sound out the text using percussion instruments. The piece ends with the sine wave becoming an extended high-pitched "whistling noise".
This is an extended computer-generated work featuring musique concrète elements highly transformed into a great variety of croaking, bubbling, whirring, creaking, and whooshing layered textures. The ending was created through micro-edits of tape sources.