[tuning] Quartertone music by Ivan Wyschnegradsky on CD

Although not listed in the MUZE and apparently not distributed in the U.S., I recently obtained two Canadian-made CD's through a colleague with a contact there. At $25 Canadian ($18 U.S.), they are not inexpensive, but well worth your consideration.
One, issued recently (copyright 1999) features two pianos and bass-baritone Michel Ducharme, with pianists Pierrette Lepage and Bruce Mather and also includes two of the latter's works, just over half an hour out of almost 71 minutes. Mather's songs are in French and Wyshnegradsky's (1893 - 1979) six are in Russian, three of which are settings of Nietzsche poems including a homage to Richard Wagner. (I heard no allusions to Wagner's music.) The album title is that of I.W.'s longest song on this disc (almost 15 minutes), "L'Evangile Rouge" (The Red Gospel). Although a communist revolutionary song, its text is more full of idealism than polemics. The disc is SNE-647-CD (Societe Nouvelle D'Enregistrement), a trademark of Techni-Sonore Inc., 10175 rue Meunier, Montreal, Quebec H3L272, Canada. The music shifts back and forth between 12 tet and 24 tet.
The other, SNE-589-CD, "Homage to Ivan Wyshnegradsky" (copyright 1994), is conducted by Bruce Mather and includes one of his pieces (just over 19 minutes) and one by Serge Provost (with soprano, to a poem by Rilke, 8 and a half minutes, out of almost 71 minutes altogether, with four pieces by I.W. The music on this disc never lets you forget it is not in 12 tet. It features pianos and Ondes Martenot. It does not sound like Partch's 43 tone just intonation, although there are two brief glissandos in "Cosmos" (1939) reminiscent of a type Partch wrote for his harmonic canon instruments.
But as has been said of Partch's music, it is impossible to be apathetic about this. If you are unaccustomed to quartertone music, I suggest you not hear it for the first time in the dark. Some others may disagree with my subjective opinion, but I would rather give it than be uninformative. Even for me (and I've been into hearing the music of Partch, Varese and Messiaen for some 45 years, but not exclusively), this is far out. I really like it.

John F. Sprague wrote:

> The other, SNE-589-CD, "Homage to Ivan Wyshnegradsky" (copyright
> 1994), is conducted by Bruce Mather and includes one of his pieces

[snip]

I'd just like to chime in and agree with John Sprague's recommendation of
this CD - I heard the Bruce Mather piece he mentions at the premiere, in
Montreal. It's for four pianos, in quarter-tones, and four Ondes Martenot.
Actually we heard most of the piece twice that evening, because one of the
Ondes Martenot players skipped a system and got ahead by several bars, and
Mather stopped the performance and started again from the top...