T.D.

Discussion on ECM New Series thread reminded me of this old CD:

Just remembered this good one: I particularly like the Dutilleux piece 3 Strophes sur le nom Sacher. However, that (w. different performer) is also on the Erato Dutilleux box, which IMO is worth separately acquiring. (Or the bigger box, which is new to me.)

Few random impressions: I generally prefer discs devoted to a single composer, which may be a reason I don't buy so many ECM NS. Agreed that the Kurtag stuff is good. Re. Arditti, I recommend the Ruzicka, but happen to dislike Gavin Bryars's music (YMMV). In Renaissance polyphony, I generally find the Hilliard Ensemble best avoided (better alternatives elsewhere). Holliger is good, though I cut back because my appetite for 12-tone art songs is limited. B.A. Zimmermann is a favorite of mine; the Bach/Zimmermann disc with Thomas Demenga is good. The Lachenmann stuff is worth a listen, perhaps also the Scelsi (esp. the disc with Uitti) if you don't already own recordings. ECM NS records a lot of Tuur; I liked a couple of his recordings (rock-influenced classical) but had limited appetite. Ustvolskaya (for sure) and Gubaidulina may be worth investigating, subject to my comments on multi-composer CDs. The disc "Voci" with Berio's Folk Songs would be good if you don't already have recordings of the Folk Songs (the non-ECM with Cathy Berberian is preferable IMO).

Though ECM New Series is a good label, for whatever reason I don't buy nearly as many as I once did. If you like Herbert Henck's piano playing, he's recorded a whole lot* a fair amount of the contemporary repertory for ECM NS. [FWIW, my opinion is mixed; I find he has a very light touch and isn't that suited to works with wide dynamic range. For instance, I like his recordings of Hans Otte's Das Buch der Klange and Mosolov (though the Mosolov pieces are more "interesting" than memorable), but would look elsewhere for Nancarrow and Barraque discs.] * [Added] Damn, shows how out of touch I am: I thought for a long while that Henck was practically ECM's "house pianist", but he seems to have stopped recording for them in the early oughts! His Mompou is probably worth checking out (though I haven't heard it).

The list seems kinda disorganized! I can't tell how (or even if) it's sorted. Granted, sorting would be tough considering that many of the titles feature multiple composers. [Added: It's pretty much in numerical order (not exactly chronological), except for a lot of weirdness on pp. 1 and 5.]

Discogs has a list of 459 titles, but I can't swear to its accuracy.

RIP. Sad to hear, though he certainly had a long run. I have and enjoy two of his books: Chess Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes (retrograde chess analysis) and The Riddle of Scheherazade... (various puzzles).

Definitely, and timings per disc generally well over an hour. Same is true of the big sets (of course), and no one seems to mind paying $16-17 per disc for those. I miss the Selects.

Interesting 2-disc set I hadn't listened to recently. Along with composers including Nancarrow, Carter, Adams,Rzewski and Wuorinen, Julius Hemphill and Anthony Davis are also represented!

+1! Not really into the big boxes (though I own a few) - big $ investment and inconvenient packaging. All IMO of course, and yes, I'm generally out of touch.

Dipping into a few discs (best-known material) from this box:

Thanks for that info. Seems like good news. I recently bought some classical box sets on the Ricercar label (part of outthere) and got the impression of a high-class operation.

I was thinking the same, but he very recently posted on this thread.

I reordered (from a more respectable dealer), but the vendor is out of stock. Order still not cancelled, but I don't expect to receive the discs any time soon (if at all).