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AGP104 is a real gem. Two tracks comprise the two LP sides of Mauricio Kagel's Der Schall ("Sound") for five players with 54 instruments. The instruments include foghorn, spaghetti tube with trumpet mouthpiece, 20 meters of garden hose with plastic funnel, antelope horn, sitar, banjo, plucked rubber bands, organ pipes blown by mouth, taishokoto, ocarina, bass balalaika, bass mouth-organ, brass tubes, Cagniard de la Tour siren, tortoise shells, nose-flute, bassdrum, telephone, brass tubes, and musical box--just to name a few. This work is in essence the prequel to the first two sides of Acustica (AGP2), having been recorded 15 months earlier in the same studio by the same five instrumentalists working with the same producer and engineer. While it features some more familiar instruments than Acustica does, the emphasis is just as much on sound combinations; and while the texture is somewhat more open, I find it every bit as stimulating.

The remaining track is by the French electroacoustic composer Luc Ferrari, but is like Der Schall in being a completely acoustic work exploring the same frontiers of timbre and structure that electroacoustic works often do. It is scored for piano, 3 percussionists, and 16 instruments. Both of these recordings were featured in the Deutsche Grammophon Avant Garde series in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They are wonderfully clear and detailed, and the LPs transcribed are both in excellent condition. The other side of the Ferrari LP, Presque Rien No. 1, is available on CD and so has not been included. The installment includes a PDF file with liner notes of the two LPs.

To download AGP104 files, right-click on each of the following links and select SAVE LINK AS.

01 - Luc Ferrari, Société II [27:21] (back in print on CD)

02 - Mauricio Kagel, Der Schall, side A [14:14]

03 - Mauricio Kagel, Der Schall, side B [22:58]

AGP104 description

FLAC fingerprints