Deutsche Grammophon has added two landmark recordings to its Avantgarde vinyl series: Luc Ferrari’s Presque Rien No. 1 and Mauricio Kagel’s Acustica. Both albums are now available on vinyl for the first time in decades.
Originally launched nearly six decades ago, Deutsche Grammophon’s Avantgarde series documented one of the most radical periods in contemporary classical music, spanning works by composers from Kagel to John Cage and ranging from orchestral pieces to electronic and improvisational music. The series quickly ascended to cult status, and the current reissue project is returning many of its titles to vinyl alongside other key recordings of 20th-century repertoire.
Ferrari’s Presque Rien No. 1 (Daybreak at the Seaside), composed between 1967 and 1970, is among the most influential works in the experimental canon. Recorded with Konstantin Simonovitch, it drew on untreated environmental recordings of a Croatian fishing village at dawn — what Ferrari called a “soundscape” — and helped establish the template for sonic minimalism and ecological listening that continues to influence experimental artists today.
Kagel’s Acustica (1968–70), performed by the Kölner Ensemble für Neue Musik under Mauricio Kagel, is equally boundary-pushing, combining electroacoustic tape material from WDR with live performances using roughly 200 graphic-score cards and another 200 invented instruments and found objects.
Both releases are pressed on 180g vinyl, mastered from the original analogue quarter-inch master tapes at Emil Berliner Studios, and presented in newly designed collector’s sleeves with fresh liner notes by Bradford Bailey. Each is a limited, numbered edition.
