Meredith Monk / The Recordings                                      ECM New Series 2750 

“Monk has mapped a world that never quite existed in the history of the arts. At once visceral and ethereal, raw and rapt, her works banish the spurious complexities of urban life and reveal a kind of underground civilization, one that sings, dances, and meditates on timeless forces.”

Alex Ross, The New Yorker

The Recordings, a box set edition compiling all Meredith Monk ECM New Series discs to date, is issued on the occasion of the composer and singer’s 80th birthday.

Included here are the albums Dolmen Music, Turtle Dreams, Do You Be, Book of Days, Facing North, ATLAS, Volcano Songs, mercy, impermanence, Songs of Ascension, Piano Songs, and On Behalf of Nature. Each album is a revelation.

The box set also incorporates a 300-page book reprising all original liner notes, plus new texts and interviews, many photographs, archival documents, quotes from the press, and more.

From Manfred Eicher’s preface: “Meredith Monk is one of the truly original artists of our time and we are proud to present this edition of her collected recordings on ECM. It has been a great inspiration and a real joy to have worked with her on the projects included here, a voyage of discovery. From Dolmen Music to On Behalf of Nature, Meredith’s ensembles have expanded and contracted to meet the changing needs of the music … But whether orchestral forces are involved (as on ATLAS and Songs of Ascension) or just two musicians (as on Facing North and Piano Songs), Meredith’s artistic signature is unmistakable. As assuredly as fellow outsiders and independent thinkers such as Henry Cowell, John Cage or Harry Partch, she has created her own universe, and in the process changed perceptions of contemporary music.”

Composer, singer, director/choreographer and creator of new opera, music-theatre works, films and installations, Meredith Monk was born November 20, 1942, in New York City. Recognized as one of the most unique and influential contemporary artists, she is a pioneer in what is now called “extended vocal technique” and “interdisciplinary performance.” Monk creates works that thrive at the intersection of the idioms, discovering and weaving together new modes of perception. Her ground breaking exploration of the voice as an instrument, as an eloquent language in and of itself, expands the boundaries of musical composition, creating landscapes of sound that unearth feelings, energies, and memories.

Meredith Monk has been an ECM recording artist since 1981.

Ensemble members and contributing musicians on The Recordings include Theo Bleckmann, Bruce Brubaker, Allison Easter, Julius Eastman, Robert Een, Ellen Fisher, Katie Geissinger, Ching Gonzalez, Andrea Goodman, Wayne Hankin, Bohdan Hilash, John Hollenbeck, Ursula Oppens, Allison Sniffin, Nurit Tilles and Collin Walcott, among many others.