ULRICH KRIEGER (b.1962): Histoire de l'œil for Electric Guitar in Scordatura and Live Electronics, GYÖRGY KURTÁG (b.1926): A kis csáva for Piccolo, Trombone and Guitar, Op. 15b, STEVE REICH (b.1936): Nagoya Guitars, TOSHIO HOSOKAWA (b.1955): Renka I for High Voice and Guitar, GEORGES APERGHIS (b.1945): Conversation No. 20, HUGUES DUFOURT (b.1943): La cité des saules for Electric Guitar and Sound Transformation, TORU TAKEMITSU (1930-1996): Toward the Sea for Alto Flute and Guitar, EVE BEGLARIAN (b.1958): Until it blazes for Piano or Plucked String Instrument.

Description: Eight very different contemporary composers' explorations of the possibilities of various different types of guitar, electric and acoustic, in combination with other instruments, or electronics, or alone. The Krieger is fluid, improvisatory, ambient. The Kurtág, by complete contrast, is solid and declamatory, exploiting the characteristics of three instruments as diverse as possible, in three typically aphoristic movements. Reich originally composed his piece for 2 marimbas; on this recording the soloist plays both parts on acoustic guitar, overdubbed in the studio; the music employs typical Reichian processes, built on more diverse and melodic material than would have been the case in the earliest minimalist experiments. Hosokawa's microtonal work for acoustical guitar and high voice is based on a haiku love poem, the music spare, intimate and oblique. The Aperghis is theatrical, based on a text vocalized by the guitarist, elaborated with a wide range of sounds drawn from the guitar. Dufourt greatly expands the timbral palette of the guitar through electronic transfiguration of the sound, producing a range of ethereal, harmonically rich, spatially presented effects, making Takemitsu's flowing, melodic piece of water music (inspired by some of the evocative descriptions of light and water in Melville's 'Moby Dick') sound quite conventional by comparison. Beglarian's Until it Blazes leaves a great deal to the discretion of the performer; using overlapping patterns with a very limited pitch range, the piece operates somewhat according to minimalist principles, creating an hypnotic effect, originally the accompaniment to a multimedia video presentation. Emanuele E. Forni (guitars), Simon Röthlisberger (trombone), Angela Tschanz (piccolo), Tatiana Durisová (alto flute), Noe Ito (voice).