This disc gathers five works by Gerhard Stäbler in which percussion is the centre of gravity. In his music percussion instruments never have a merely rhythmic function: their magical and ritual possibilities are explored, and the aim is to wake the listener's senses to unexpected ways of perceiving and thinking.

The performers are the Schlagquartett Köln, a percussion quartet, and the soprano Annette Robbert, who sings in the two works for voice. Stäbler's interest goes beyond sound alone: Schott's notes mention gestures and dance movement, the direction of light, uncommon instruments and even smell as part of his means. Stäbler, a German composer and organist, was born on 20 July 1949 in Wilhelmsdorf near Ravensburg and trained in serial procedures. IRCAM's biography notes that he sometimes submits details such as the angle at which instruments project, or the temperature of the hall, to compositional calculation. Political vigilance runs through his catalogue, from a piece for the dead of Sabra and Chatila to works on German unification.

Kybele, subtitled a Kassandra study for percussion, opens the programme. ]DESIRES[ and ]ROSES[ are both written for soprano and percussion quartet, the voice set against the four players, and the second is the longer of the two at about fourteen minutes. X für Verschlüsse (X for fasteners) is not a fixed score but a conception for any number of players, built on fasteners rather than on conventional instruments, and at over eighteen minutes it is the longest piece here. Spices (3) is scored for three percussionists and tape, and its title adds a sharper element: it comes with the stench of “salvation-promising war prayers”, the olfactory side of his work turned to a political image.

The five pieces together show a composer who treats the percussion ensemble as a theatre of sound and action rather than as a rhythm section. The bracketed titles of the soprano works, the open form of X für Verschlüsse and the smell prescribed in Spices (3) all point the same way, toward music that acts on more than the ear. The total running time is 65 minutes.

CD, Wergo WER 6715 2, released in 2009.