Avant Garde Project torrent 62 is up and running

[loudav]

AGP62 is a transcription of Wolfgang Rihm's opera Jakob Lenz, from a 2LP release on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz was a poet, playright, and friend of Goethe's, who experienced a psychotic breakdown starting in 1777. The year before, he wrote the play Die Soldaten that was the inspiration for Bernd Alois Zimmermann's opera of the same name, the concert suite from which was featured in AGP10.

Rihm's opera is scored for chamber orchestra, voices, and chorus, and has a correspondingly spare sound. The instrumentation and vocal techniques beautifully express the emotional tumult experienced by the poet during the emergence of his madness.

Check it out at:

http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3697357

Enjoy!

[Maciek]

Thanks as usual.

[Catison]

I just want to say another thank you for keeping this music alive.  It is such a shame that most of these recordings are lying around in some archive, possibly unrepairable.  I have finally got around to downloading these torrents, and I have enjoyed the music very much, even if I don't understand it.  It is, of course, that initial jump into the water which gets you started.

So if I could possibly make a request, I absolutely love Babbitt, Wuorinen, and Feldman.  Do you have any of their stuff in your stacks?

[loudav]

Glad you like it! I have some of each, but Wuorinen and Feldman are both well-represented on CD so those works are off-limits to the AGP. I do have one LP of Babbitt piano works that was released some time ago on CD but is long out of print and basically unavailable through usual channels. I might get around to that if my LP copy tracks well, and I could probably find one or two other works to fill it out. But there's a bunch of stuff already in the hopper, so don't hold your breath.

[Catison]

Glad you like it! I have some of each, but Wuorinen and Feldman are both well-represented on CD so those works are off-limits to the AGP. I do have one LP of Babbitt piano works that was released some time ago on CD but is long out of print and basically unavailable through usual channels. I might get around to that if my LP copy tracks well, and I could probably find one or two other works to fill it out. But there's a bunch of stuff already in the hopper, so don't hold your breath.

Are you refering to the Robert Taub CD on Harmonia Mundi?  That is a favorite of mine.

[loudav]

Yes, do you have a copy of that CD? If so, I'd love to include it in the AGP or somehow get it out there to people. The only used copy on Amazon last time I checked had an asking price of 50 bucks! If you're willing, email me at lou@avantgardeproject.org and I can walk you through extracting the tracks to WAV files and getting them to me by yousendit.

[Catison]

Yes, I do have a copy, and I think it is already in flac format.  I have an ftp server in my home.  I can send you the link once I have the files in place.

And btw, I use Linux, so cdparanoia + flac is my ripping method.  Except in extreme cases when I cannot get the whole CD to read correctly, I have the 'paranoia' set to its highest level.  It is a slow process sometimes, but I get every single bit off my cds .

[loudav]

Excellent news--thanks so much! When I rip a CD, I use EAC with its equivalent of high paranoia. My sense is that run-of-the-mill ripping software makes precious few errors these days, but it never hurts to be careful.