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CD
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PD 011CD
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2000 release. Croatian composer and pianist Dubravko Detoni is a name barely familiar to even the most hardened and fanatical followers of avant-garde composition. Although he has managed to consistently escape almost all forms of wider public recognition, Detoni has, since 1970 -- both in the solo context and with his Acezantez ensemble -- doggedly pursued a singular and unique musical path. Drawing on the conventions and traditions of modern composition, avant-garde electronics, musique concrète and group acoustic improvisation, and liberally embellishing them with breathtakingly idiosyncratic sonic inventions, Detoni has carved for himself a body of work as toweringly significant as it is hopelessly obscure. This is the first time his music has appeared in Western Europe since his LP on the legendary Philips Prospective series. As this long overdue and timely release shows, he is eminently deserving of the adulation and acclaim afforded his more celebrated contemporaries. The five pieces on this CD are all reissued from 3 LPs that appeared on Jugoton in the mid-'70s. The pieces explore a broad stylistic palette with a strong use of electric organ to create a manically-conceived parade of sound effects, replete with passages of blinding instrumental clarity, and exuding his trademark sugary, almost campy melodic sensibility. Elsewhere, a strong sense of theater mingles aggressively with brut sonic components -- cross-fade drones, harshly clanging "industrial" repetition -- with musique concrète, and extensive cut-ups and manipulation of female voices. Brilliantly arranged and executed throughout, all four pieces display Detoni's highly sophisticated ear. Acezantez fuse the intellectual awareness of the avant garde with influences drawn from theater to create surreal and dream-like settings, in a manner reminiscent early Nurse With Wound (suitably the cover lettering has been done by Steve Stapleton). Remastered from original tapes, this could be the release to finally earn Detoni the audience he so richly deserves.
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