Various Artists - New American Music 1 / Various - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Trumpets and trombones twist through dense pockets of sound in Lucia Dlugoszewski InchAngels of the Inmost HeavenInch; the voice of a lone guitarist punctures the silence in James Fulkerson's InchPatternsInch II and VII; flute, bassoons, viola and vibraphone are intended to Inchturn some dancers onInch in Carman Moore's InchYouth in a Merciful HouseInch; and a guitarist laments to the hum of an Elizabethan-type string and woodwind consort in Stanley Silverman's InchPlanh.Inch This is a thoughtfully balanced collection of new music composed during the 1970s.

Noa Ain gives US a surreal portrait of violinist Yoko Matsua in InchUsed to Call Me Sadness,Inch Joel Chadabe encourages a solo percussionist to interact with an automated electronic system in InchEchoes,Inch Ann McMillan manipulates animal sounds with recording techniques in InchWhale I,Inch Gordon Mumma offers audience members InchDo It YourselfInch participation in InchCybersonic CantileversInch and Vladimir Ussachevsky suggests a pre-biblical story of the creation of the world depicted by electronic chorale in InchConflict.Inch

Sounds of New Music is a collection of 18 compositions from the 1920s to the mid-1950s representing attempts at a new means of musical expression. Some use familiar instruments in new ways, while others experiment with new instruments; the formats of the compositions range from structured musical scores written for orchestra to electronically altered music using tape-recording devices. Composers include Edgard Varese, Henry Cowell, and John Cage, whose Dance is played on a transformed Steinway piano that gives the music an almost primitive quality. Liner notes describing the new music feature a substantial article on Concrete Music.