some bests part i : recorded music

I've heard so much excellent music this year that I can't remember it all. But three cds come to mind that have really impacted me, all in different ways. These didn't come out this year, I simply encountered them in 2k9.

Revelation: Music In Pure Intonation by Michael Harrison.
It's kind of like hearing Debussy or Satie (or Migot, a fave) but microtonally so. I'm sure there's a Lou Harrison influence there, too. The music seems exceptionally spacious, even when the textures are sometimes more dense. And the microtones have a magical effect...

Ancient Greek Music by Atrium Musicae & Gregorio Paniagua.
I'm not at all intersted in whether this is in anyway authentic: it's a fabulous album. The sonorities alone are worth hearing (clanging, banging, plucking, singing...) while the pieces themselves remind us that Greece was not really 'Western', or wasn't yet: Eastern, Medieval and Plainchant all seem represented.

Gagaku: The Imperial Court Music of Japan by the Kyoto Imperial Court Music Orchestra.
I've always found it somewhat lame that Jazz musicians always hold up Indian music as a great non-Western exemplar. Not that Indian music isn't fabulous, but I feel that Jazzers often like it because of its sameness (the regular though complex rhythms, the improvisation using ragas, etc). If you're interested in hearing some non-Western music that doesn't really bear any similarity to our music try gagaku (雅楽 literally elegant music). Technically it's the oldest orchestral music on the planet, and draws elements from China, India, and Korea.

By the way listening to gagaku (or actually many other forms of traditional Japanese music) can be a great way of easing into modern 'classical' music such as George Crumb, Morton Feldman and so on. At least it was for me. Not everyone needs (or wants!) a way into these composers, but for me listening to Japanese music made Crumb's Songs, Drones and Refrains of Death make more sense. Perhaps due to the plucked intruments and the dispersion of musical events...