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xyzzzz__
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« on: 11:03:16, 22-03-2007 » |
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What do we generally think of the records released on this label? Picked up a couple last weekend. Burkhard Schlothauer's "Chamber Events": three compositions with the basic idea of combination of sounds - gap of silence - more combinations, and so on, with no particular thought as to any kind of ending (the music runs out, or the CD switches off). The liner notes go into detail as to the lenght of the duration, with "55 similar sounds.." having fixed duration, while "organic microtonal polyphonia" does not. Not that it really matters, as dissolving attention/pushing any thresholds is a kind of a mission for these people, working away at a continuous discontinuity, like some of Cage/Wolff/Feldman music kind of would -- the recordings of Wolff's "Exercise 15" and Cage's "Cartridge Music" are very enjoyable, but I wanted to focus on guys like Jurg Frey, Antoine Beuger, Tim Parkinson, etc., people who are composing and playing each other's music somewhere (for the most part, it seems) in Central Europe.
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TimR-J
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« Reply #1 on: 11:17:10, 22-03-2007 » |
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I don't (yet) own any of Wandelweiser recordings (must see to that), but the concert Parkinson and James Saunders gave of some of the Wandelweiser composers at the Warehouse last year was one of my musical highlights of the year. Live it was a very powerful experience; I'll admit I have trouble imagining how well that would transfer to CD.
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xyzzzz__
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« Reply #2 on: 11:33:54, 22-03-2007 » |
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"Live it was a very powerful experience; I'll admit I have trouble imagining how well that would transfer to CD."
Yes, I'd really like to catch any of this on the stage, been wondering how it would work out (my thoughts are quite conflicted at this stage), so I'm glad to hear that it ws 'powerful'.
The first thing I got from that label ws Radu Malfatti's String Quartet. As an improviser I think he was great, but he took a complete turn away from improv, he's probably the only musician I've come across who went to free improv, got dissatisfied with that particular scene, and then went on to do work that ws almost as good (or interesting, if that description doesn't sound too boring) in this other scene, as well as in improv with other musicians. This quartet is basically a kind of atomization of the strings into musical boxes, if you like, the microphone becoming very central to everything. As I describe its not something that would work on recording, but its probably a distant cousin to Nono's "Fragments of Silence" (which I came across later) and maybe even Lachenmann's 2nd sq.
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TimR-J
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« Reply #3 on: 11:58:24, 22-03-2007 » |
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The pieces I saw were by Manfred Werder, Michael Pisaro and Antoine Beuger. I think the thing that struck me most about them was that on a very superficial level they all seemed to be attempting similar things with similar means (finely shaving that border between sound and silence, music and non-music, something like that), but in actual effect each work had a strong identity all of its own. A large part of that feeling came I think from the live experience - there was something tangibly different between the silences in Pisaro and those in Beuger, eg. And only Werder's (for me, at least) came close to 'Cageian' silence.
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Evan Johnson
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« Reply #4 on: 13:43:37, 22-03-2007 » |
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What do we generally think of the records released on this label?
Whatever you may think of the rest, the disc of Jurg Frey string quartet pieces played by the Bozzinis is required listening (tip of the hat to Aaron Cassidy for that) - Frey's II. Streichquartett is heartrending, and the "Untitled" piece, mostly monophonic scale fragments, is extremely affecting as well. |
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aaron cassidy
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« Reply #5 on: 20:16:38, 23-03-2007 » |
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I have quite a large collection of Wandelweiser discs, but these are my favorites: the aforementioned Frey String Quartets disc (and, you're welcome, Evan) Antoine Beuger: silent harmonies in discrete continuitythe brilliant recital CD of Clemens Merkel, which features (among various other things) Thomas Stiegler's fabulous (and audacious) Sonata Facile (which has also just been released, again w/ Clemens playing, on a Stiegler portrait disc on Wergo) Michael Pisaro: mind is moving IClemens Merkel & Joanna Becker, violins: Frey ohne titel (a stunning work, but one that's better live, in my experience) and Nono "hay que caminar" sognando (a similarly stunning work, of course) Btw, if anyone is interested in any of this sort of thing, Wandelweiser has an internet radio station that plays various works from their catalog (and, actually, misc. bits of work by other composers who are in some way connected to the Wandelweiser composers (influences, friends, students, etc.)) here: http://www.timescraper.de/ Probably the only 'radio station' I know of that broadcasts more silence than sound. |
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« Last Edit: 21:15:26, 23-03-2007 by aaron cassidy »
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xyzzzz__
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« Reply #7 on: 11:20:11, 30-03-2007 » |
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That concert looks excellent..shame I won't make it. And yes, I love Frey's 2nd string quartet. Another radio show that (apparently, from what one of its presenters told me) broadcasts a lot of silence is this one: http://www.auditionradio.info/(Resonance fm, 7-8 pm on sundays) Sound 323 is the record shop where I've bought all of the Wandelweiser stuff. |
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TimR-J
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« Reply #8 on: 12:46:49, 30-03-2007 » |
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Sound 323 is the record shop where I've bought all of the Wandelweiser stuff.
Dammit, I'm gonna have to go there this weekend... No point fighting temptation. |
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xyzzzz__
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« Reply #9 on: 14:41:10, 30-03-2007 » |
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Its well worth it, went last week for the first time in months -- great if you want improv (old, as well as electroacoustic improv) at fair prices. They also had one-hour gigs downstairs, usually saturday at 3pm (might have one tomorrow, you might wanna check), though apparently its their last one at that space
Classical-wise Sound 323 can be a bit thin, they won't sell anything on NMC or Metier, but they have a nice box of Wandelweiser CDs. As well as a few things on Kairos, ed.RZ, Durian, and they let you listen to most things on sale (depends on how its packaged). Discovered plenty by just picking and asking for a play.
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aaron cassidy
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« Reply #10 on: 21:23:04, 30-03-2007 » |
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There are also, of course, several places online to buy Wandelweiser discs, for those for whom a trip to the Sound 323 record shop is impossible or impractical: (search for Timescraper, not Wandelweiser) http://www.cdemusic.org/ http://www.metamkine.com/?malang=en Both also carry all sorts of other interesting small labels. I can also very highly recommend http://www.forcedexposure.com/index.html, though their site structure is lousy (one has to know what one is looking for or be willing to search through the listings of thousands of labels). |
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« Last Edit: 21:32:25, 30-03-2007 by aaron cassidy »
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Biroc
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« Reply #11 on: 15:08:40, 28-04-2007 » |
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I like the Wandelweiser Wolff "Stones" CD.
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"Believe nothing they say, they're not Biroc's kind."
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xyzzzz__
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« Reply #12 on: 17:15:30, 28-04-2007 » |
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Why, if you don't mind me asking? I'm interested how it would pan out in performance but what do you get out of that CD?
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Biroc
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« Reply #13 on: 12:42:44, 29-04-2007 » |
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Why, if you don't mind me asking? I'm interested how it would pan out in performance but what do you get out of that CD?
Hi, I like the space and fragility of the sound of the stones. In this instance, I think I like the piece because I can have it on while I do other things (hopefully not heresy...), rather than being intensely involved in a concert hall - though I culd see how this might be a rewarding experience also. |
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"Believe nothing they say, they're not Biroc's kind."
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aaron cassidy
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« Reply #14 on: 16:44:39, 29-04-2007 » |
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It's quite a nice recording, though there is in this case really no substitute for performing the work yourself.
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