Three New Reissues Come To Deutsche Grammophon’s Avantgarde Series
Work from Luigi Nono, Mauricio Kagel, Roland Kayn, and Cornelius Cardew joins the series this month.
A new set of releases is making their way to Deutsche Grammophon’s Avantgarde series. Exotica from composer Mauricio Kagel with Non European Instrumentalists, The Great Learning from composer Cornelius Cardew with The Scratch Orchestra, and the double release of Cybernetics III from Roland Kayn and Contrappunto dialettico alla mente from composer Luigi Nono are all available for pre-order now on the uDiscover store, and officially ship on August 28.
All three releases arriving next month come from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Cybernetics III is considered a pioneering acoustic/electronic music, displaying and anticipating new advances in synthesis, recording technology, sampling, and sequencers. In the same package is Nono’s Contrappunto, which was composed for 2-channel magnetic tape. The work came in a period for the composer defined by international student struggles and opposition to the Vietnam War. Somewhat based on a madrigal comedy composed by Adriano Banchieri in the early 17th century, Nono explained that he was “seeking to reflect the type of musical process used by Banchieri: the focus on the voice, introduction of sound material of the time, humorous and parodic distortion especially in the lyrical and dramatic elements … but in today’s actuality.” Cardew’s music is similarly experimental and complex, while Exotica takes a bit of a different tack, assembling over 200 instruments from around the world. Making use of instruments like sitars, gongs, and bamboo flutes, Exotica is presented like a comedy in five acts, offering both humor and critique.
Deutsche Grammophon’s Avantgarde Series celebrates the imprint’s original series, which ran from 1968 until 1971. For many of the releases in the revived series, this is the first time they’ve been reissued on vinyl. Previous reissues in the series have included Luc Ferrari’s Presque Rien No. 1 and Mauricio Kagel’s Acustica, both of which returned to vinyl for the first time in decades. Whenever possible, all of the reissues are made using the original analog mastering techniques that made the original releases so special more than 50 years ago.
