Out of stock
2 CD
Michael RANTA
“Transits Volume 1”
2024 release
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.
16,00€
In stock
CD
Michael RANTA
“Azabu”
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)
14,50€
In stock
CD
Michael RANTA
“Taiwan Years”
Three previously unreleased works from the 1970’s recorded and mixed in Japan and Taiwan.
1-Kagaku Henka (1971) 18’40”
2-China Filch (1975) 27’06”
3-At Night (1978) 23’06”
More than any other of 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 tradition and avantgarde. 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.
14,00€
Out of stock
CD
Michael RANTA
“The Great Wall / Chanta Khat”
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 Claude 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.
16,00€
In stock
CD
Michael RANTA
“Die Mauer”
11 track album of previously unreleased music for a ballet choreographed by Philippe Talard.
Composed, performed and recorded by Michael Ranta in 1988/1989.
CD in 6 panel fold out sleeve. Edition of 500 copies
14,00€
In stock
CD
Michael RANTA
“Yuen Shan”
16 track composition for pre recorded sounds and live percussion performed by Michael Ranta (entirely different work from the Yuen Shan CD released in 2005).
All material previously unreleased.
Yuen Shan (Round Mountain in Chinese) was conceived in 1972 and finalized in 2014. It’s a musical cosmogony in four cycles based on different levels of ancient Asian spiritual principles and mechanisms. A major work in Ranta’s oeuvre (his first solo release in almost 25 years), highly personal and spiritual.
12,50€
Out of stock
2 LP
Michael RANTA
“Yuen Shan”
16 track composition for pre recorded sounds and live percussion performed by
Michael Ranta (entirely different work from the Yuen Shan CD released in 2005).
All material previously unreleased.
LP version : 2 LP’s in gatefold sleeve with insert. Edition of 300 copies.
Yuen Shan (Round Mountain in Chinese) was conceived in 1972 and finalized in
2014. It’s a musical cosmogony in four cycles based on different levels of ancient
Asian spiritual principles and mechanisms. A major work in Ranta’s oeuvre (his
first solo release in almost 25 years), highly personal and spiritual.
34,00€