im sefinental
Stefan Thut 'Aussen raum' (2008). Manfred Werder '2008(3)' (2008). A field recording near a river divided in two parts.
two . too (for erwin-josef speckmann)
two . too (for erwin-josef speckmann) two: two, who are at one with anotherzwei, die sich einig sind too: two, who are at one with another (twice)zwei, die sich einig sind (zweimal) text: “as the full moon rises / the swan sings / in sleep / on the lake of the mind” (kenneth rexroth)indes der vollmond steigt / singt der schwan / im schlaf / auf des geistes see
Selected Works 1982-1992
A fascinating, often dizzying insight to the primitive industrial minimalism of Italian siblings Giancarlo and Roberto Drago aka The Tapes, sourced from original tapes and pressed to vinyl for the first time ever. This set surveys a blind spot in most people's knowledge of early-'80s Italian underground music, framed against a backdrop of the Anni di piombo or Years of Lead -- a period of domestic political turmoil between the late '60s and early '80s -- and the mushroom shadow of nuclear war. L…
Singulacra
Bristol, England-based sound artist and producer Sophia Loizou presents Singulacra, the follow-up to her 2014 debut, Chrysalis, which is itself a staggering exploration of the conflict between nature and technology and the space between natural and synthetic sounds. With Singulacra, Loizou builds on the framework of Chrysalis for her most ambitious offering to date. Ghostly remnants of hardcore and early jungle percolate throughout while fragments of radio transmissions seep in and out through t…
Zauberberg
**restocked** "A few years ago, an idea germinated while readingThe Magic Mountain (Der Zauberberg) by Thomas Mann. An idea not driven by the narrativity of the book, but by the traces and the aura invoked in it. That was it: an audible aural journey through the memories of a place lost in the heights of the Swiss mountains. A century after the events depicted in the book, we went to where the story took place, trying to capture the remaining sounds that could have been heard at the time, and th…
II (Machinery)
Going is a double duo: 2 drums, 2 keys. They bring fat groovy beats, warm and distorted rhodes, mixed with dirty organ sounds and silly 80’s synths. Odd rhythms and polyrhythms go hand in hand with free improvisations and loose compositions.313 hand-numbered copies, laser-printed covers, hand-folded and hand-packaged
Exercise 15
"Exercise 15" was made out of and invites transformations or transcriptions. It's for piano or ad hoc instrumental arrangement. Its material is from a 1920s song "Union Maid" (as I found it in Edith Fowke and Joe Glazer's collection "Songs of Work and Protest") by Woodie Guthrie using an earlier popular song tune. The tempo of the music is not specified. Sometimes it's played rather fast, as the original tune probably was, sometimes at a deliberate, 'prosaic' tempo. Here it's in a slow motio…
string quartets
Material can be anonymous. Consider, for example, the middle voices in medieval hymn books: unadorned, not artful, a simple handiwork, a leisurely alternation of single notes. It might be a scale, or, beyond music, the stones of a wall, not artfully stacked, but simply and properly, the formal idea being nothing other than that of a wall. When I was working on the String Quartet (1988), I encountered the painting of Agnes Martin. I saw clear-cut forms, not overgrown with rhetoric and figuratio…
musik fur orgel und eine(n) tonsetzer(in)
2013 release **
"what do you do, if you work with just intonation and wish to write a piece for organ? you have to deal with the relation between equally tempered and over- or undertonal (just) intonation. 2001 i had several opportunities to make a study of some wonderful instruments. this eventually put me on the path towards this composition.in this piece only those frequencies of the organ sound that have close to whole-numbered ratios (+/- 6 cents) to a fundamental (in this case C’ at about …
for seven players
Seven (1988), 15 similar events (2002) Let’s assume, that art music as a field of creative cognitive activity is interrelated with the scientific paradigm and that its structure, therefore, at least partially reflects the contemporary way of looking at the world. The essential paradigmatic elements of the early 21st century would then entail all kinds of demands on music. Having lost certainties, for example, the issue of probabilities should be broached. Fields of possibilities should be desi…
One9
“sounds brushed into existence as in oriental calligraphy" (Cage) the sounds in one9 are single tones and chords, up to six part harmonies. how do sounds come into existence, how do they gain focus, how do they resolve, how do they merge into one another, how can one quietly and attentively, in all modesty, follow their unfolding? these are the questions that guided edwin alexander buchholz in his interpretation of the piece. over the years he played one9 time and again - for himself an…
early music
“The room I entered was a dream of this room.” “It wasn't the hole in the landscape that gladdened us, it was the invitation to the weather to drop in anytime.” John Ashbery (both quotations from: Your Name Here 2000) “...all the hard dry studied Rules that ever was prescribed, will not enable any Person to form an Air any more than the bare Knowledge of the four and twenty Letters, and strict Grammatical Rules will qualify a Scholar for composing a Piece of Poetry, or properly adjust…
Empty Words
"Empty Words" begins by omitting sentences, has only phrases, words, syllables and letters. The second part omits the phrases, has only words, syllables and letters. The third part omits the words, has only syllables and letters. And the last part ... has nothing but letters and sounds. A mix of words, syllables, and letters obtained by subjecting the Journal of Henry David Thoreau to a series of I Ching chance operations. What was interesting to me was making English less understandab…
Transparent city (volumes 1 and 2)
Field recordings, electronic sound. Field recordings made in greater Los Angeles from December, 2004 to August, 2006. Each recording is an unedited ten-minute take from a single location. Sine tones and mixing completed in Michael Pisaro's home studio in Santa Clarita, California. Each ten-minute piece is followed by two minutes of silence. Recordings were mastered with home stereo playback in mind. In general, it is best to set the volume control on your system to a normal level (that is,…
Harmony Series 11-16
In the 'Harmony Series 11-16', very small events are happening in every nook and cranny of the music, and these subtle changes give magical effects to the music. This is in fact not magic at all - all the events are due to the theoretical structure of the music, but the way Pisaro incorporates them into his compositions is so subtle and natural, that the whole impression on his music becomes poetic. When I listen to each piece while carefully paying attention to the details, I feel that the nuan…
aus den fliegenden blttern eines fahrenden waldhornisten
'aus den fliegenden blttern eines fahrenden waldhornisten' (2013) ('from the flying leaves of a traveling horn player') for horn (F. Wilfried Krüger, horn).
EVA-MARIA HOUBEN (born 1955) studied Music Education at Folkwang-Musikhochschule Essen and the organ with Gisbert Schneider. Following her exams she taught both German and Music Education at Secondary School. She received her doctorate and postdoctoral lecturing qualification in musicology and was called for lectures at Gerhard-Mercator-Un…
Air - works for flutes and organ
'ein schlummer (a slumber)' (2013) for flute(s) and organ. 'aufhören (coming to an end)' (2013) for recorders: g-bass, c'-tenor, c-bass (1 performer). 'atmen V (breathing V)' (2014) for recorder(s) (1 performer) and organ. Ruth Walser, recorders. Barbara Müller-Hammerli, organ. Eva-Maria Houben, organ.
EVA-MARIA HOUBEN (born 1955) studied Music Education at Folkwang-Musikhochschule Essen and the organ with Gisbert Schneider. Following her exams she taught both German and Music Education at Se…
Orgelbuch
14 five-minute pieces from Eva-Maria Houben's 'Organ Book'. Eva-Maria Houben (organ).
Works for piano
Composer: Eva-Maria Houben. Performer: Eva-Maria Houben (piano). 'the sound of the piano decays. it cannot be sustained. I let it loose time and again. it appears by disappearing; starting to disappear just after the attack. in disappearing it begins to live, to change. the piano: an instrument, that allows me to hear how many ways sound can disappear. there seems to be no end to disappearance. I can hear, how listening becomes the awareness of fading sound.' 'Klavier' (2003). 'Drei chorle…