Kairos

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I don't have a large budget, so I spend time choosing recordings to buy very very carefully so that I spend money at the moment only on things that I know mean a lot to me and can help me to learn and discover and be inspired most of all. I stream most other music or listen to CDs or the radio. Kairos has been a record label which I have loved ever since I was given a CD of two pieces from Dufourt's Tiepolo cycle of works for ensembles, and I've sampled many recordings released on Kairos on Spotify until it was taken down.

I'm curious to know what you would especially recommend I buy, as I've pretty much loved everything I have heard released on Kairos. What are your experiences? What do you most recommend? I'd love to hear anything basically.

[amw]

Kairos CDs go out of print really quickly! Expect to have to use interlibrary loan, and pirate things. A lot.

I have about 61 albums from them at the moment—one of my favourite labels. Personal top recs are: Grisey Quatre Chants and Les espaces acoustiques*, Lachenmann string quartets*, Das Mädchen* and Kontrakadenz/Klangschatten/Fassade, Sciarrino Quaderno di strada, Luci miei traditrici, string quartets and the 3cd set of orchestral music, Messiaen Éclairs sur l'au-delà*, the two Rebecca Saunders albums, Enno Poppe Arbeit/Wespe/Schrank/etc, the Vivier album, and Mitterer Coloured Noise—if you're into that sort of thing. Also if you're into that sort of thing, there was a limited edition set of electronic music by Francisco López which collects most of his best work.

Asterisks mark those for which alternative recordings are available, if the Kairos ones are deleted.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I've been looking around for some stuff by Rebecca Saunders actually. I've heard a little of her music and I really would love to hear more....

[amw]

She is def underexposed, considering that her music has an actual personality, unlike some better-recorded new music composers*cough*Pintscher*cough*Widmann*cough*. Has some interesting ideas about music growing from the means of sound production and such—not original by any means, but producing compelling results, imo.

Oh and I forgot another "if you're into that sort of thing" composer with two albums on Kairos, Peter Ablinger. Voices and Piano was a miss for me, but the other one (Quadraturen mit Berlin, etc) was a hit and I really hope I can get hold of a cd somehow

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

MATTHIAS PINTSCHER is one of my top 3 favourite composers of all time :p
And his releases on Kairos are amazing! Especially Sonic Eclipse....

I've heard a few works by Ablinger, but at the time I hadn't explored much in the way of electroacoustic music, and that has become more of a passion of mine in recent weeks.

[amw]

Takes all kinds I guess! Some people even listen to John Adams. And not out of masochism, as far as I can tell. Weird, eh?

Kairos, oddly, doesn't do a lot of pure electronic stuff. For that you'll want L'empreinte digitale, Sub Rosa and INA-GRM. Don't know how much of their catalogues are on Spotify, though. (L'ED was going to start an electronic music streaming service of its own, I never followed up on that though)

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Ahhh thank you for the info on electronic music! I'll definitely check those labels out.

And as for John Adams: his music isn't that bad, not always interesting to me, but he has composed some fine music every now and then! Definitely a composer who never would be associated with Kairos though.

[North Star]

Takes all kinds I guess! Some people even listen to John Adams. And not out of masochism, as far as I can tell. Weird, eh?

John Coolidge, John Luther or John Quincy Adams?  0:) OK, those last two would be weird. 

[Artem]

I am a fan of Friedrich Cerha and I think his three Kairos releases are all very good and different from each other.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I am a fan of Friedrich Cerha and I think his three Kairos releases are all very good and different from each other.

Thank you; I will keep this in mind.

[SimonNZ]

I'll second amw's vote for the essential Grisey Quatre Chants (plus I like Ablinger's Voices and Piano much more than s/he seems to).

some more favorites off the top of my head:

Susanna Malkki's album of Philippe Manoury including "Fragments Pour Un Portrait"

Unsuk Chin's Xi - also available as a DG 20/21, but I believe the Kairos disc is now the easier to acquire

Haas' In Vain with Klangforum Wien

Sciarrino String Quartets with Quartetto Prometeo

[chadfeldheimer]

Easily one of the best labels for contemporary classical music. Many great records are already mentioned. Would like to add Mathias Spahlinger - Furioso, Gegen unendlich & Apo do. He seems to be Lachenmann influenced, but nevertheless has a strong own voice imo. Also I share his fascination for slappy pizzicato noises. 

[andolink]

That Spahlinger disc with Furioso is magnificent.  One of my very favorite Kairos discs, and I've got a lot of them.

[Rinaldo]

I am a fan of Friedrich Cerha and I think his three Kairos releases are all very good and different from each other.

This was one of the first contemporary discs I've encountered and it made a huge impression:

[asin]B003JSQOAK[/asin]
Also +1 to the Grisey recommendations. That's essential 20th century music.

Unfortunately, Kairos is out of my price range most of the time. All I do is wishlist their releases and then watch them slide out of stock and out of print..

[San Antone]

Takes all kinds I guess! Some people even listen to John Adams. And not out of masochism, as far as I can tell. Weird, eh?

Kairos, oddly, doesn't do a lot of pure electronic stuff. For that you'll want L'empreinte digitale, Sub Rosa and INA-GRM. Don't know how much of their catalogues are on Spotify, though. (L'ED was going to start an electronic music streaming service of its own, I never followed up on that though)

Electrocd.com has a streaming site for acousmatic music : electro:theque.  It is not free, although they offer free listening to a featured album each week, but the cost is rather modest to subscribe.  Most if not all of the empreintes DIGITALes catalog is included.

[James]

What are your experiences? What do you most recommend? I'd love to hear anything basically.

I acquired a LARGE chunk of their discography a few years back ..  but I haven't really listened to any of it much.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I acquired a LARGE chunk of their discography a few years back ..  but I haven't really listened to any of it much.

So.....what have you listened to? Anything at all?