Album: Various Artists, Earle Brown Contemporary Sound Series Vol. 4 (Wergo)

This fourth 3CD volume of re-issues from the Earle Brown-curated series of '60s avant-garde milestones focuses on chamber orchestral performances.

With performances by the Hamburger Kammersolisten of pieces by Xenakis, Nilsson, Castiglioni and Yun; interpretations of Schönberg, Clementi and Nilsson by the Internationales Kranichsteiner Kammerensemble, and a disc of new string quartet music including four of Boulez's exacting "Livres Pour Quatuor", Scelsi's "Quartetto d'Archi No. 4" and Brown's own "String Quartet", a characteristic collusion of raindrop pizzicato, smeary dissonance and bleak chromaticism. Elsewhere, Schönberg's "Drei Stücke" are three tiny but highly expressive miniatures, and Nilsson's "Frequenzen" an endlessly inquisitive alliance of flute and tuned percussion, while Xenakis' "Achorripsis" is far less alarming than it first sounds, like wandering through a forest as dawn breaks to light one's way.

Download This: Achorripsis; Frequenzen; Livres Pour Quatuor