Todesraten
The black widow and the farmer’s son thrown off track by an addiction to steroids often hold forth on their views, insights and the absurdities of life. Every now and then, however, the simul-taneous utterance of text and the very complexity of their relationship create the impression of their having a real conver-sation. The texts are taken from Elfriede Jelinek’s Sportstück, who takes a cynical look at two “favorite sports” of the apparent interlocutors: The woman tells about nursing retirees …
Der Tod und das Mädchen II
The tale of the Sleeping Beauty set somewhere between science fiction and biting social criticism. In her texts Elfriede Jelinek explores the states of sleep, of apparent death, of semi-consciousness, or of being barely awake – and in doing so investigates Austrian everyday life in all its uniqueness, including all the petty power games and battles of the sexes. Jelinek's grim texts, recited by Anne Bennent, Hanna Schygulla and an artificially generated voice, are combined with Olga Neuwirth's t…
Three Voices
This piece is sung by the Swiss “deep voice”, Marianne Schuppe in trio with herself, a feat made possible by playing back recordings of her own voice. This is not minimal music; melodic lines arise, sensual, beautiful, and undoctored, swaying like a lullaby, yet boosting the overall rhythmic intensity. There cannot be many works which demand of the soloist such careful timing, intense concentration and voice control.
For Bunita Marcus
For Bunita Marcus was written in 1985. "This work, which I have dedicated to Bunita Marcus, [...] deals with the death of my mother, and with the notion of a slow death. I simply didn't want the piece to die. So I used this unwillingness compositionally in order to keep the piece alive, like a patient suffering from an terminal disease, for as long as possible." (Feldman) It is not the loud raging, the last furious revolt of a dying human being that Feldman depicts here, but a slow nodding off a…
Triadic Memories
In other works, such as For Philip Guston, which continues for several hours, Morton Feldman actually would go beyond the bounds of possibility, also overtaxing the concentration of both his musicians and his audience. Nevertheless, like these other words Triadic Memories also requires contemplation, listening without restlessness. Though perhaps not intended by Feldman, a strong contemplative element is inherent particularly in this composition, settling like a haze on the tones that seep in sl…
Violin and Orchestra / Coptic Light
Morton Feldman dedicated a whole series of compositions to the relationship between solo instruments and the orchestra: after Cello and Orchestra (1972), Piano and Orchestra (1975), Oboe and Orchestra (1976) and Flute and Orchestra (1977/78) his Violin and Orchestra (1979) marks the conclusion of these "relationship works." The variety of sound accumulated around the violin, or through the violin, in less than an hour's time ranges from delicate whispers to cantilenas in rich tones and sharp rep…
Orchestral Works & Chamber Music
In the early 1970s Feldman increasingly turned his attention to works for orchestra, in most cases combined with a solo instrument, like Piano and Orchestra (1975). One aspect that was important to him in all of these works was a research into sound, an "unceasing effort to create, by way of exclusion and integration, by operating with colored projection surfaces and various spatial levels, a kind of self-supporting structure elastic enough to take up the exactly fixed initial impulse and contin…
Piano and Orchestra, Palais de Mari, Piano
In the early 1970s, Feldman increasingly turned his attention to works for orchestra, in most cases combined with a solo instrument. The compositions dating from this period include, among many others, Cello and Orchestra (1972) or Oboe and Orchestra (1976). One aspect that was important to him in all of these works was a research into sound, an "unceasing effort to create, by way of exclusion and integration, by operating with colored projection surfaces and various spatial levels, a kind of se…
Neither
An opera? An anti-opera? A monodrama? Whatever it may be: Neither (1977) marks the meeting of the kindred artistic souls of Samuel Beckett and Morton Feldman.
The Rara Requiem
Added to these are bits and pieces of first names of real people and opera characters, and numerous quotes from older works by Sylvano Bussotti – who combines it all to a work that is also a grand opera: The Rara Requiem was written as the third part (acts 4 and 5) of Lorenzaccio (1968-72), the story of a renaissance man. A pandemonium of sounds, the subtotal of Bussotti's previous oeuvre – and the celebration of a proud renaissance man who confronts death with the courage of contempt. "The musi…
Donaueschinger Musiktage 2000
The annual collegno offering from the Donaueschingen Music Festival, for the millennium year2000, runs to 4 CDs and just under 5 hours of new music, for combinationsranging from a straightforward string trio, to 4 soloists, 4 ensembles, andlive electronics! All the works areperformed 'live', and all are world première performances, so that this set,with its illuminating notes by each of the 11 composers, constitutes aninvaluable historical document.
Der Engel der Geschichte
Vinko Globokar advises listeners to "make up their own movies to the music." The Slovenian-French European does not believe in explaining music. And the deeply moving expressiveness of his orchestral trilogy Der Engel der Geschichte, "The angel of history," inspired by Paul Klee's painting "Angelus Novus" and now documented by this recording of the exemplary SWR production, certainly speaks for itself. The listener encounters three disturbing sound images: the first, "Zerfall," refers to the dis…
Eisenberg
Archaic sounds, songs as psychodramas, plowing through the depths and shallows of the orchestra: experience Globokar's cosmos of original, intense music.
Interluder
On their album Interluder, AkkoSax are busy fathoming the depths of musical history: MedievalRenaissance meets FolkJazz.
Ecstasy of the Angels
The formidable trio recorded live. Michel Henritzi creates bleak, fractured landscapes with snare drum, wood and metal junk, turntable and feedback. Cult favorite Masayoshi Urabe adds uneasy atmosphere with alto sax and guitar. The banshee vocals of Junko bring almost undescribeable dread to the mix.
Musica Electroacustica
New release in this great series, dedicated to charting "unheralded classics of electronic music: 1947 to 1983". Every release comes beautifully packaged in perfect shrunken replica sleeves with an embossed sticker with each title pressed in a limited edition of 100 copies. The series puts back in print a number of record collector fantasies alongside a ton of unlikely idiosyncratic one-offs, and taken together it makes for one of the most ambitious and consistently dazzling series-runs of the e…
Estórias para Voz, Instrumentos Acústicos e Eletrônicos
One composition from 1967 (the first), the rest from the late 70s. Here we have patiently forming compositions of a variety of means, although to be fair, the order in the title is clearly in order of importance. The voice is the most important element in three of the four compositions (the second is mostly ambient and dominated by piano and atmospherics), while the last is most likely where Jocy draws the electronics (although their appearance is fleeting and only used as window dressing). Thro…
Cortical Art III
Boston's best cdr-label is run by a fine gentleman named K., and it's dedicated to reissuing obscure 20th century avant garde electronic music in shrunk down replica sleeves, complete with inserts, etc. Follow up to the brainwave recordings made our fave man in the ivory tower, Pierre. It's also on Creel Pone. This one's a performance of the piece given for French brain doctors, who presumably used similar equipment to track the neurological problems of their patients. In addition, the brain whi…
Slaapkamers Met Slagroom
The Dutch title that literally translates to "Bedrooms with Whipped Cream" and harkens back to the band's experimental days. On three tracks spread over 28 minutes, Sonic Youth work out extended, hypnotic themes for non-existent psychological case studies. The title track, the longest of the three "songs" included here, opens with a swirl of sound before eventually settling into a 17 minute cavalcade of guitar effects overlaying a particularly "in-your-face" drum sound. The results are simultane…
Les Maledictus Sound
(Originally released in 1968) this is one of the most bizarre records ever released and one of the most sought after titles on the collectors' market. The Maledictus Sound are to instrumental rock what Frankenstein was to science... a laboratory monster... a strange creature assembled from a mish-mash of diverse musical sounds. Psychedelic pop, romantic ballads, musical tongue-in-cheek, drugged out chipmunks, near-delirium sound effects, horror movie screamadelia and a mega-twisted '60s vibe. Ec…