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<pre class="nfo">The Avant Garde Project is an effort to make available some of my <br />
favorite pieces of experimental music from the late 20th century. <br />
The extremist intellectual climate of that time gave birth to some of <br />
the wildest and most challenging sound combinations that human artistry <br />
has ever conceived. The pieces selected for this project were released <br />
on LP but have never been released on CD, and so they are effectively <br />
inaccessible to the vast majority of music listeners today. Using an <br />
analog rig and pre-amplification that is near state-of-the-art, I am <br />
able to extract the sound from the grooves with almost none of the <br />
surface noise and tracking distortion normally associated with LPs. <br />
<br />
I am hoping you will find this material as fascinating and beautiful as <br />
I do. My hard disk is small, and so I am seriously limited as to how <br />
many torrents I can host at one time. If you find any value in your <br />
downloads, I ask you please to seed them yourself for as long as <br />
possible, so they will continue to be available to other people. Some <br />
or all of the first five AGP torrents are still being seeded through <br />
the generosity of other downloaders, so check them out if you haven't <br />
already. A mininova.org search for "avant garde project" will direct <br />
you to them.<br />
<br />
==========================<br />
<br />
The sixth AGP torrent contains Morton Subotnick's series "The Double <br />
Life of Amphibians". This series includes four of the fourteen works <br />
that Subotnick wrote for "ghost" electronics in the late 1970s and early<br />
1980s. The "ghost" electronics make no sound on their own, but alter <br />
the amplitude, frequency, and location of any sounds produced as the <br />
electronic score is playing. In his works for this technology, <br />
Subotnick explored the effects of these manipulations on a variety of <br />
instrumental combinations, from single instruments to chamber ensembles. <br />
The rather simple electronic manipulations in the "ghost" electronics <br />
nevertheless produce an interesting range of timbres, depending on the <br />
tone color of the instruments being manipulated. <br />
<br />
While Subotnick is known chiefly as a composer for electronics, his <br />
instrumental writing in these works is interesting and innovative even <br />
in those passages where the electronic manipulation is minimal. "The <br />
Double Life of Amphibians" is in three parts, the first part consisting <br />
of two compositions. A description of the structure of the series is <br />
included in a text file with the torrent. <br />
<br />
Equipment used for A/D conversion: Lyra Helikon phono cartridge, Linn <br />
LP12/Lingo turntable, Linn Ittok tonearm, Audioquest LeoPard tonearm <br />
cable, PS Audio PS2 preamplifier, Kimber PBJ interconnect, M-Audio <br />
Audiophile USB A/D converter. <br />
<br />
01 - Axolotl (cello and "ghost" electronics) [17:19]<br />
02 - Ascent Into Air (ten instruments and "ghost" electronics) [24:04]<br />
03 - The Last Dream of the Beast (soprano, two celli, electronics, and "ghost" electronics) [14:46]<br />
04 - A Fluttering of Wings (string quartet and "ghost" electronics) [19:13]<br />
<br />
NOTE: To the best of my knowledge, these recordings are currently out <br />
of print. If you know otherwise, please let me know ASAP, as I do not <br />
wish to deprive any artists of their much-deserved royalties (however <br />
paltry).</pre>
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