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2CD
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IMPREC 535CD
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American percussionist and composer Michael Ranta is a legendary figure who has worked with some of the most significant names of 20th century music but despite this and impressive body of work of his own, he has remained an obscure figure. Important Records presents Transits Volume 1 the first in a series of releases by composer/percussionist Sarah Hennies documenting never-before-heard chamber works mostly composed in the 1970s while Ranta was living in Taiwan. Mastered by Tom Eaton at Sounds & Substance. Based overseas since the late '60s, Ranta is known primarily as a percussionist who worked closely with Harry Partch, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Helmut Lachenmann, Toru Takemitsu, and Jean-Claude Éloy but is also an accomplished artist himself with a vast body of work spanning improvisation, electronic music, and composition. The works in the Transits series comprise a dozen works of scored compositions for solo and chamber ensembles almost all of which are completely unknown with no known performances or recordings since their original premieres. Volume 1 includes "Mharuva," a 30-minute marathon tour-deforce for solo marimba, "Seven Pieces for Three Percussionists," and the 40-minute "Continuum II," a stunning display of virtuosity for two bass clarinets, percussion, and electronics. Transits, Volume 1 features performances by Sarah Hennies, NYC clarinetists Madison Greenstone and Katie Porter, and the Bard College Conservatory Percussion Ensemble.
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CD
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METAPHON 008CD
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2019 release. 11 track album of previously unreleased music for a ballet choreographed by Philippe Talard. Composed, performed, and recorded by Michael Ranta in 1988-1989. Mixed by Michael Ranta and Stefan Deistler. Mastered by Earlabs. Program notes for the ballet by Karla Nieraad. Translation by Christoph Heemann. Production and artwork by Timo van Luijk. Design by Meeuw. Triple gatefold card sleeve.
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CD
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METAPHON 009CD
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2021 release. More than any other of Michael Ranta's releases, this album shows his multiple roots and ideas as a composer, percussionist, and concrete/electronic musician, building a seamless bridge between Eastern and Western avant-garde. Ranta is one of those rare composers able to organically melt his wide artistic span into a singular but yet diverse universe morphing his rich vocabulary as a percussionist with the Oriental esoteric tradition, the psychedelic underground, and the realm of electronic minimalism. Michael Ranta: performance and mixing; Recording engineers: Shigeru Sato, Tsutomu Kojima; Mastered by EARLabs; Painting: Wayne Jacob Production: Timo van Luijk; Design: Meeuw. 12-page booklet in gatefold cardboard sleeve.
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CD
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METAPHON 006CD
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2015 release. 16 track composition for pre-recorded sounds and live percussion performed by Michael Ranta. Entirely different work from the Yüen Shan CD released in 2005 on Ms Classic. All material previously unreleased. Yuen Shan ("Round Mountain" in Chinese) was conceived in 1972 and finalized in 2014. A musical cosmogony in four movements expressing different stages and cycles in life, The Ritual of Life. A major work in Ranta's oeuvre. Includes 12-page booklet in gatefold cardboard sleeve.
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CD
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METAPHON 013CD
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Even though only being fully terminated 50 years after its conception, Azabu can be regarded as the starting point of Michael Ranta's creative self-discovery. The recordings that form the base of Azabu were mostly made in the Tokyo district with the same name (Azabu-Juban). Next to abstracted field recordings, Azabu is also pervaded by a rich variety of percussion, string, and wind instruments, all played by Ranta himself. Subsequently Ranta edited, layered, and processed the recordings at the NHK electronic music studio in Tokyo. Both pieces display a vast array of acoustic, electronic, and concrete sound events meticulously sequenced to a complex fusion symbolizing the entire spectrum of earthly and heavenly sounds. Dynamic extremes evoke a restless flight through space, or through the depths of human subconsciousness, between dream and reality. Ultimately the music disappears, like a dot in the sky gradually fading into nothingness -- an "ascension" that closes the loop in a ritual of life that can begin anew again at any time. Michael Ranta: composition, performance, mixing (1971). Stefan Deistler: final mixing and mastering (2021). Painting: Wayne Jacob. Production: Timo van Luijk. Design: Meeuw. Gatefold cardboard sleeve; eight-page booklet.
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CD
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ROBOT 048CD
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Michael Ranta has collaborated with Takehisa Kosugi, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Jean-Claude Eloy, Conny Plank, Mike Lewis, and Hartmut Geerken, just to name a few. He was also assistant to Harry Partch and performer in the Gate 5 Ensemble in the 1960s. Additionally, Ranta performed in Stockhausen's ensemble during the 1970 World Expo in Osaka. Ranta's resume also includes recordings by Helmut Lachenmann, Herbert Brün, Toru Takemitsu, Josef Anton Riedl, Mauricio Kagel, among others. Throughout his extensive recordings and live performances, Ranta has furthered the trajectories of contemporary percussion composition alongside works for tape and electronics. His works are fully immersive which evoke vast spaces, ritual, and create an expansive presence for his accompanying multimedia commissions. For this CD release, two of Ranta's longform pieces are included: "The Great Wall" and "Chanta Khat". Originally scored for the HT Chen Dance Company as a theater production, "The Great Wall" premiered in 1984 at the La MaMa experimental theater in New York. This highly detailed composition for electronics, voice, percussion, and tape offers a massive drone-based accompaniment for Chen's stage presentation of the legend of Meng Jiangnu. Yet, Ranta's composition also creates a fully formed soundtrack that stands beautifully on its own. The atmosphere is very much in the spirit of Kosugi's multimedia masterwork Catch Wave and Jean Clade Eloy's large-scale production Yo-In which also features Ranta. "Chanta Khat" was completed in 1973. An early version of this piece originally premiered as part of a multimedia installation at the 1972 summer Olympics in Munich. This powerful work for tape and electronics includes Ranta's field recordings documenting his travel in Laos during a lunar eclipse earlier that same year. The piece is a haunting and equally frantic work where the local villagers are heard responding quite emotionally and viscerally to the celestial event of the day. "Chanta Khat" was later reworked and remixed in 1973 at the NHK electronic music studio in Tokyo. This version is featured here in its entirety. Packaged in a six-panel digipak with fully remastered and restored audio. Includes detailed notes by Michael Ranta and features new artwork by Timo van Luijk.
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