Ivo Malec - Triola, Bizarra - 24-bit (Avant Garde Project 148)

The Avant Garde Project is a series of 20th-century classical, experimental, and electroacoustic torrents digitized from LPs whose music has in most cases never been released on CD, and so is effectively inaccessible to the vast majority of music listeners today. This is wild stuff, so check it out if you've never heard this sort of music before. The analog rig used to extract the sound from the grooves is near state-of-the-art, producing almost none of the tracking distortion or surface noise normally associated with LPs.

AGP1-147 are now available for direct download in the archive at www.avantgardeproject.org

Other recent AGP installments are also available at http://thepiratebay.org/user/loudav

AGP NEWS: The AGP is reaching the end of its tether, and will be too preoccupied with other matters to release installments this summer. AGP148 may be the last till September, or there may be one or two more next weekend. In the meantime, enjoy the 150 hours of music already available.

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AGP148 is a 24-bit transcription of an amazing pair of electroacoustic works by the Croatian composer Ivo Malec, who has worked in France since 1959 and has been a longtime member of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales. The LP transcribed for this installment was released originally in the INA-GRM Collection in 1979. Like everything else I have in that collection, this is one of my most prized LPs. The works were also released by the INA on CD, but that release appears to be out of print.

If you like this music and AGP75, 125, 139, and 140, you can find much more of the same brilliant electroacoustic music at www.electrocd.com and www.ina.fr, including other works by Bayle, Parmegiani, and Malec.

The composer recommends that part 1 of Triola be listened to very, very loud. I have had good results with a level that elicits equal parts rapture and blind panic. You can then keep it at that level for the rest of the work. If your ears start bleeding during part 3, you should probably dial it down a bit. There are longish silences after each movement.

The LP transcribed for this installment is in excellent condition, on the INA-GRM's chaaracteristically excellent vinyl. There is no noticeable tracking distortion, even in the most sonically challenging passages. The LP was mastered at a high enough level that I actually got a bit of digital clipping in the loudest passages, but not enough to distract. The torrent includes a PDF file with scans of the notes in French on the LP inside cover.

01 - Triola 1: Turpituda [9:54]
02 - Triola 2: Ombra [12:09]
03 - Triola 3: Nuda [12:04]
04 - Bizarra [7:34]

Equipment used for A/D conversion: Lyra Helikon phono cartridge, Linn LP12/Lingo turntable, Linn Ittok tonearm, Audioquest LeoPard tonearm cable, PS Audio PS2 preamplifier, Kimber PBJ interconnect, M-Audio Audiophile USB A/D converter.

NOTE: To the best of my knowledge, these recordings are not currently available commercially. If you know otherwise, please let me know ASAP, as I do not wish any artists to be deprived of the royalties that they so richly deserve.