Klaus Schulze

 Second solo album of Schulze with a Cosmic Orchestra (12 cellos, 3 basses, 30 violins, 4 flutes) from 1973 (originally issued on Kosmiche Musik). This is a longer, ninety-minute odyssey into the strange musical world of Klaus Schulze as first unveiled on Irrlicht. Electrical sounds, synthesizers and manipulated recordings of classical instruments (cello, violin) combine to create chamber music for the electronic age, divided into four side-long works that each balance the equation differently. On Synphära, the effect is that of a radioactive church mass for a post-apocalyptic world. On Conphära, the listener rides on a pulsing stream of electricity while strange shapes pass as though glimpsed through the window of a fast-traveling train. Throughout, Schulze sculpts the sound, divining the musical essence from the electrical flow.