Zeitkratzer

The Zeitkratzer international soloists ensemble does their own take on Volksmusik: literally, the "people's music" of the Alpine regions of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, etc. However, Zeitkratzer comes up with their own sound, and their own interpretation, immersing themselves into folk music as still existing today, not some leftover phantom of older days and older traditions. To prepare for this material, they focused their research on the music of the Danube abutters and used every kind of found material that proposed itself for further use: waltz-reminiscences were inescapable, zither and dulcimer were tested for their capability to produce pure noise, and the trumpet sings the pure and naive overtones of mountain solitude. Influences from the lower Danube valley are felt within the pieces' rhythmical eruptions, with everything leading to a wonderful, free uprooting. Listen, be wild, enjoy! Der Standard newspaper in Vienna has high praise for the first performance at the Donaufestival: "It tested folk music from the Danube region by means of classical modernity and for its capacity for moments of humor." All music by Reinhold Friedl and Maurice De Martin.