Browse by Artist: RILEY, TERRY

Artist:	RILEY, TERRY
Title:	In C
Label:	CELESTIAL HARMONIES
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	CH 13026CD

1989 performance of the 53-part minimalist masterpiece originally written by Terry Riley in 1964, performed here by the Shanghai Film Orchestra, along with two other compositions by David Mingyue Liang: "Music Of A Thousand Springs" & "Zen (Ch'an) Of Water". The version of 'In C" is the first performance of a Western new music work by a Chinese ensemble in mainland China (performed on only indigenous instrumentation: various lutes, zithers, mouth organs, flutes and percussion). This version has been mixed by Brian Eno, Jon Hassell and Terry Riley and adds a whole new layer of Eastern mystic to this undisputed pulse classic.

Artist:	RILEY, TERRY
Title:	The Harp of New Albion
Label:	CELESTIAL HARMONIES
Format:	2CD
Price:	$25.00
Catalog #:	CH 14018CD

1986 release, in stock for the first time. "The Harp of New Albion is a transfixing solo piano recording, conceived and performed by world-renowned minimalist composer, the ever-innovative Terry Riley. His inspiration for this work came from a legendary harp, left behind in the New World in 1579, on the shores of Nova Albion, which is now called San Francisco Bay. A Native American medicine man is said to have found the harp and placed it on a cliff where the westerly winds played upon it and temperature and humidity changes created an ever-shifting set of tonalities. Riley bases the ten movements of The Harp of New Albion on the concept of tonalities. The liner notes enclosed in both the compact disk and cassette explain the complicated ratios Riley devised for tuning his octaves. He says, 'The idea of piano as harp influences my method of playing, as does the tuning from which the particular consonances and dissonances determine the emerging energies that flow through both instrument and performer.' Although Riley improvises throughout The Harp of New Albion, each movement is defined by structural or composed elements. Astonishingly, the halo of harmonics drifting above his solo piano creates an orchestral sound, complete with horns, reeds, strings and voices. At times, the melodic interplay is ethereal, the micro-tonal relationships within the standing waves of sounds creating a haunting spectrum."

Artist:	RILEY, TERRY
Title:	A Rainbow In Curved Air
Label:	COLUMBIA
Format:	LP
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	P 749408HLP

180 gram exact repro reissue of this minimalist masterpiece, originally released in 1969. "All the music on this recording is played by Terry. In 'A Rainbow' he plays electric organ, electric harpsichord, rocksichord, dumbec and tambourine. 'Poppy Nogood' is for soprano saxophone and electric organ. The spatially separated mirror images were adapted for studio recording by Glen Kolotkin and resemble the sound Terry gets in his all-night concerts."

Artist:	RILEY, TERRY
Title:	Descending Moonshine Dervishes/Songs For the Ten Voices...
Label:	KUCKUCK (GERMANY)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$24.00
Catalog #:	KUCK 12047CD

...Of The Two Prophets. "2CD pairing two LPs released by Terry Riley on Kuckuck in 1982 and 1983 respectively. Descending Moonshine Dervishes is actually a live solo performance in Berlin from 1975, where Riley utilizes his signature tape delay device, the 'time lag accumulator', to process improvisations on a Yamaha YC 45D organ, chopped so it can be tuned to just intonation. His works 'Shri Camel', 'Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band', and 'Rainbow in Curved Air' all utilize this device on assorted instruments, but this piece has most in common with the classic 'Persian Surgery Dervishes' (Shandar, 1972) in process and intent. 'Descending...' is dedicated to Guruji a.k.a. Pandit Pran Nath, the masterful Indian vocalist with whom Riley started studying with in 1970, and though this is not a vocal piece, Guruji's influence shines through as it becomes apparent that not only does this music have a pulse, it breathes. With his left hand creating a series of drones, and his right comping on a pre-selected group of scales, it is quite easy to forget what instrument one is listening to after a while. Not as stunning as 'Persian...', this is a fine, fine listen nonetheless. The second disc is a group of three vocal and keyboard pieces (recorded 5/10/1982), with lyrics composed and sung by Riley himself. He rarely sings on his records, and judging from this it's a shame, he's an accomplished Eastern-style vocalist. With that said, the accompanying music played on a Prophet 5 synthesizer is actually a bit tough to take. It has nothing to do with the status quo ante position of 'back to analog', but there is something about this particular keyboard sound that puts me back in my yellow beanbag chair watching Space 1999.That said, it's still worth the price of admission for the first disc..." -- Billy Kiely

Artist:	RILEY, TERRY
Title:	Keyboard Studies
Label:	MDG SCENE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.50
Catalog #:	MDG 6131135CD

"Performed by Steffen Schleiermacher (keyboard realization and programming) & Bernd E. Gengelbach (sound projection). Minimal music and its strangely fascinating suspended sound animation has long held cult status in the musical world. On this CD Schleielermacher offers more new innovations with Terry Riley's 'Keyboard Studies #1' and '#2'. The keyboard studies are a few pages with short musical formulas and a long 'user's guide' requiring a lot of thought and organizational energy before things can be put into practice. Schleiermacher soon recognized that one interpreter alone couldn't realize the tricky polyphony of the keyboard studies. Schleiermacher arranged the pieces for electronic keyboard. A computer exercises the proper control, so that the voices are never heard simultaneously and the tones occur in rapid succession. An oscillating sound fabric is the result -- in dimensions creating the impression of eternity."

Artist:	RILEY, TERRY
Title:	Chanting The LIght Of Foresight
Label:	NEW ALBION
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	NA 064CD

Beautifully droning work composed for a saxophone quartet, performed by ROVA. "Although extremely difficult to accomplish, I wanted to have part of the quartet's movements in 'resonant intonation' with pure intervals combining in the saxophones radiant timbres. After composing the music, I made a tape on the Prophet 5 synthesizer of the tuning so that the players could match the intervals in their rehearsals. Rova has taken this challenge seriously. The result is sounds that I have not heard previously coming from saxophones and is right in the tradition of Rova cutting an alternate groove in contemporary music."

Artist:	RILEY, TERRY
Title:	Lisbon Concert
Label:	NEW ALBION
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	NA 087CD

Solo piano works, composed and performed by Riley, recorded live on 7/16/95. "Riley's travels across the musical map find a home base in these solo piano pieces. This album distills a career of experience as a barroom piano player, student of Indian and Western classical traditions, founder of minimalism, advocate of just intonation, composer/improviser, and master of many keyboards. Interestingly, this synthesis takes place in each piece. Ideas shift and transform organically and seamlessly, one melting into another by imperceptible increments, until you realize the music has metamorphosed radically into something very different. It's astonishing that such a diverse range of elements can coalesce, across the entire keyboard, from a visceral rumbling bass to ecstatic figurations in the highest register." --Sarah Cahill.

Artist:	RILEY, TERRY
Title:	Persian Surgery Dervishes
Label:	NEW TONE (ITALY)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$23.00
Catalog #:	NT 6715CD

1993 CD reissue, original recordings from 1971/2. Terry Riley: electric organ + feed back. "This is the reprint, in CD format (2 CD), of one of the masterpieces of American minimal music: Persian Surgery Dervishes by Terry Riley. Originally issued by Shandar in France as double LP album, the recording went out-of-stock in the early eighties and since then became a collector's item. Recorded in two different concerts in 1971 and 1972 in Los Angeles and Paris, Persian Surgery Dervishes presents two different versions of the title track. Terry Riley, all alone with his keyboards and feed-back, improvises on a basic structure strongly influenced by the emotion and the relationship with the audience. The results are two very different versions: one, the American, very dynamic with moments that reach trance-like peaks resembling the dance of whirling dervishes. The other one, recorded in Paris, is more meditative and thoughtful, dominated by a deep sense of quietness. The music is organized in the typical minimalism vein but it is rich in emotion, an element not always present in such intensity in the music of any style. The emotion is strictly related to the high degree of improvisation we can find in Riley's music that mixes the traditions of the Western and Indian Classic Music. Persian Surgery Dervishes is also one of the milestones of the psychedelic era of the '70s."

Artist:	RILEY, TERRY
Title:	Atlantis Nath
Label:	SRI MOONSHINE MUSIC
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	SMM 001CD

The debut release on Terry Riley's new label, from 2002; no longer available as a limited/signed edition, this is now released in mass market fashion, but with the same deluxe packaging. "Sri Moonshine Studios is happy to announce it's first release, Atlantis Nath, recorded, mixed and edited during the period of 1993-98 in Nice France at the CIRM studios. Terry's first big studio production since the 1978 Shri Camel is a 74-minute seamless journey featuring voices, strings, synthesizer, piano and loops from India. The CD is packaged in a natural paper 6-panel foldout with radiant Asian inspired illustrations meticulously designed and rendered by New York artist, Chris Harvey. Included on the recording is the final scene of Terry's opera based on the life and works of Adolf Woelfli, 'The Crucifixion of My Humble Self' as well as 'Emerald Runner,' 'Ascenci�n' and 'Remember this O Mind.' Produced by Terry and the masterful CIRM Studios team of Luc Martinez and Michel Redolfi, this recording shines with state of the art sonics and performance. Terry sings and plays all voice, piano and synthesizer parts on these tracks with guest appearances by the Nice Opera String Quintet and Fr�d�ric L'Ep�e, Guitar."

Artist:	RILEY, TERRY
Title:	Lisbon Concert
Label:	VINYL LOVERS (RUSSIAN FEDERATION)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$37.00
Catalog #:	VL 901004LP

"Recorded live in Lisbon, Portugal at the Festival Dos Capuchos, 16th July 1995." "This gorgeous set of piano improvisations reflects minimalist composer Terry Riley's lifelong study of Indian music. It is an outstanding recording which captures Terry Riley at an inspired peak. Performances of such spontaneous and beautiful music are scarce and even less-frequently performed by the composer himself at such a late stage in an extraordinary career. To sound so inspired and inventive some 40 years after defining minimalist music is quite a feat. Coming from such a consistently brilliant composer, who would expect less?" -- Skip Jansen

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