Avant Garde Project torrent 100 is up and running

[loudav]

The AGP celebrates its centenary with a collection of Igor Stravinsky's earliest neo-classical chamber compositions. I'm actually not a huge Stravinsky fan, but I do love these pieces, and particularly track 01: the Suite Italienne for cello and piano. Like track 02, which is scored for violin and piano, this suite was taken from Stravinsky's ballet Pulcinella, which is in turn based on themes by the baroque Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. The version for violin and piano is largely the same, but includes a somewhat different selection of movements.

Pulcinella was completed in 1920 (though Stravinsky's arrangements included here were done in 1933), and all of the other works in this installment date from 1918-1923. This period includes Stravinsky's last works in his Russian style and his first neo-classical works. All of the pieces included in this installment are available on CD in other recordings, but I know of no other collection that brings together so many works from this pivotal period in Stravinsky's development. And the recordings of his Suites Italienne tend to be on cello and violin miscellany CDs, rather on CDs devoted to Stravinsky.

Check it out at:

http://thepiratebay.org/tor/4129409

On the occasion of the AGP centenary, I offer my warm thanks to all members of the AGP community. I am delighted that so many AGP partisans continue to seed each installment for weeks after it is released, enabling others to download the files quickly and easily. Thank you also for the many kind and supportive emails I have received over the past two years. And I am especially grateful to those partisans who have been hosting AGP installments on their servers and who have provided FLAC, PDF, and JPG files to the project.

I put out a call last week for transcriptions of CDs with works by Stockhausen and Xenakis, and within 24 hours I had heard from several AGP partisans offering transcriptions of one or both. In fact, every call I have put out for CD transcriptions has been answered sooner or later. This sort of generosity inspires me to continue with the project. So once again, thank you.

I especially love how truly global the AGP community is. As noted on the website, installments have been downloaded by people in at least 68 different countries on every continent except Antarctica (what's with you guys--too busy taking ice core samples?). And assistance, support, and advice have also come from people all over the world.

BTW, the Stockhausen transcription will make up next week's installment. I hear from the people at EMF Media that they hope to re-release their CD of Xenakis electroacoustic works. And while they don't know exactly when, I'd wouldn't want to interfere with their plans for a commercial release, so I won't be including those works in an installment after all. If you are interested in getting a copy of the CD, email them through the cdemusic.org website to let them know you're an interested buyer, and that might speed up the release.

Enjoy!