Karel Goeyvaerts - Pour Que Les Fruits Mûrissent Cet Été, etc (2013 compi, recordings from 1973 & 77)

Great reissue of all of one album and his half of a shared album by Belgian composer Karel Goeyvaerts (1923-1993).  Goeyvaerts studied at Darmstadt in the 50s, striking up a friendship with Stockhausen, and went on to work in serialism, electronic music and latterly minimalism.

Three works in excess of 20 minutes each give a nice immersion in Goeyvaerts' sound in the 1970s, starting with Pour que les fruits mûrissent cet été (1975-6).  Written for an ensemble of Renaissance instruments in an "evolving repetitive technique", it's a really enjoyable, mellow listen that brings to mind Julius Eastman if he'd decided to go pre-baroque.

Ach Golgotha (1975) is next, and was originally paired with Pour que... on LP in 1977.  Named after a part of Bach's St Matthew Passion that it very loosely morphs around, it's a slow, minimal percussion piece with organ and harp that again isn't far off Eastman's DIY-minimalism, or even the track at the end of that Jon Gibson album.  Lastly, we get to hear Goeyvaerts' electronic/tape music in Op Acht Paarden Wedden, from a 1973 split LP with fellow Belgian Lucien Goethals.  Lots of great queasy drones, electronic whines and tape manipulation of instruments make for an engrossing end to a highly recommended collection.

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pw: sgtg