Oxana Omelchuk

This CD plus DVD is the portrait of Oxana Omelchuk, a composer born in Belarus whose music lets classical-romantic tradition collide with jazz, pop, electronics and cartoon. For her, taking up the old as something new is the true motor of artistic creativity. Nine acoustic compositions on the CD are joined by two video works on the DVD, written between 2004 and 2018.

Most of the pieces were recorded specially for this release. The Ensemble für Neue Musik Sankt Peter plays Sieben Intraden under Jonathan Stockhammer, and Ensemble Musikfabrik plays Quodlibet. The group Studio Dan appears with the trombonists Matthias Muche and Daniel Riegler, who also conducts. Annegret Mayer-Lindenberg plays viola d'amore, Rie Watanabe percussion and sample pad, and the Schlagquartett Köln performs on the DVD. Omelchuk herself plays percussion, theremin, music box and an EMS VCS-3 synthesizer alongside the bassist Constantin Herzog. Productions came from Feedback Studio, Deutschlandfunk and Studio Dan with the German Music Council.

Sieben Intraden (2004) is scored for clarinet, trumpet, two trombones, percussion, organ and double bass. Quodlibet (2006), for flute, clarinet, horn, percussion, harpsichord and string trio, has movements titled Fricassée, Centone and Ensalada, all names for old musical medleys. Wow and Flutter (2017), for two trombones and ensemble, runs through sections called Schellack, Long Play and Medium Play, with ragtimes, Chaliapin and the Saint Louis Blues as reference points. Between them sit short intermezzos for electric bass with percussion, theremin, music box or synthesizer, and Böhmisches Lied // 3. Versuch (2017) for solo viola d'amore.

The two video pieces show the comic and magical side of everyday life that runs through her work. Ballare (2014) is for percussion quartet and video, with video by Jens Standke. Staahaadler Aff (2010) is for percussion and sample pad. Collage, style imitation, an enlarged instrumental set-up, harsh genre mixes and improvisation are all among her means.

CD plus DVD, Wergo WER 6430 2, released in 2019 in the German Music Council's Edition Zeitgenössische Musik.