Starkland is an independent record label based in Boulder, Colorado that specializes in alternative classical music. It was founded in 1991 by Thomas Steenland.
Starkland’s first two CDs offered all the principal 1960s music from the “organized sound” pioneer Tod Dockstader. These releases led to major acclaim for the composer and increased recognition for his music, which stimulated Dockstader’s return to composing and further releases of his music in recent years.
Most of Starkland’s recordings are devoted to the music of single composers, including Charles Amirkhanian, Phillip Bimstein, Jay Cloidt, Paul Dresher, Robert Een, Roger Kleier, Guy Klucevsek, and Pamela Z.
Starkland’s two most ambitious projects have focused on surround sound. For the label's Immersion DVD (released in 2000), Steenland commissioned 13 leading-edge composers to create pieces for high-resolution surround sound. The recording is playable at standard resolution on standard DVD players, and at high resolution on DVD-Audio players. Sources such as Pro Sound News and Billboard have recognized Immersion as the first such recording in history. The commissioned composers, all of whom created their first high-resolution surround-sound pieces, are: Paul Dolden, Paul Dresher, Ellen Fullman, Phil Kline, Lukas Ligeti, Ingram Marshall, Merzbow, Meredith Monk, Bruce Odland, Pauline Oliveros, Maggi Payne, Carl Stone, and Pamela Z. Immersion has been praised in such major publications as Stereophile and Sound & Vision, and at times has been the #1 bestselling DVD-Audio at Amazon.com [1].
Starkland's other surround sound project involved commissioning a major, 65-minute surround sound composition from Phil Kline. Released in 2009, Around the World in a Daze is a ten-movement work, presented in four audio formats along with 80 slides from the composer, found on the first disc of the double-DVD release. The second disc offers an extended 34-minute interview with Kline about this music (conducted by John Schaefer) and a music-video MEDITATION (run as fast as you can) with music and video by Kline.
Musicians on Starkland’s recordings include: The Kronos Quartet, Ethel (string quartet), Turtle Island String Quartet, Todd Reynolds, Paul Dresher Ensemble, Modern Mandolin Quartet, and Basso Bongo. Starkland also distributes CDs from other labels, including Paul Dresher’s Slow Fire, Steven Mackey’s Ravenshead and Erling Wold’s A Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil.
Publications praising Starkland’s releases include The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Stereophile, Wired, Stereo Review, Village Voice, Fanfare, and England's The Wire. Starkland’s recordings have been featured on such major radio programs as National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” and “Weekend Edition.”