Went to a book sale at the public library today. Came away with first editions of Michael Moorcock's "Dancers at the End of Time" trilogy: An Alien Heat, The Hollow Lands, The End of All Songs (1974-76).

[The title of the series is taken from a poem by a fictitious 19th Century poet, Ernest Wheldrake (a pseudonym used by Algernon Swinburne).]

I also scored three unbelievably rad compact discs:



Alina, by the astounding Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. Performed by Vladimir Spivakov, Sergej Bezrodny, Dietmar Schwalke, Alexander Malter, and Sergei Bezrodny. (1995)

OMG. If you have not yet heard this album, you must. I guarantee you will have a human experience.

In the cd booklet, Hermann Conen opens his notes with a quote from Pärt:

"I could compare my music to white light which contains all colours. Only a prism can divide the colours and make them appear; this prism could be the spirit of the listener."

Béla Bartók, The Two Sonatas for Violin and Piano

[Except I actually got the Hungaroton imprint (1986), with Gidon Kremer & Yuri Smirnov performing, for which no comparably cool-looking cover art exists]







The Big Gundown:
John Zorn Plays the Music Of Ennio Morricone
(2000, the re-issue with six extra songs not included in the original 1985 edition)

[performed by over forty musicians and vocalists]