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electro-acoustic-composition
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| | | trente oiseaux (germany) #toc 053 cd bernhard günter / heribert friedl “ataraxia” compact disc recordable - untitled (7:09)
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| the most recent (as of winter 2007) release on trente oiseaux; a “through-the-mail” collaboration between bernhard günter and heribert friedl consisting of 6 pieces based around friedl’s cymbalom and günter’s “electric cellotar” and xiao-shakuhachi flute.
notable in that, for the most part, this is acoustic music; the sounds appear to be treated only lightly, and are, for the most part, sounding continuously / distinctly throughout. no, not your expected anti-thrash of hums and buzzes punctuated by 60 seconds of silence in either direction; in fact nothing expected about it at all...
due to the instrumentation my closest reference is to the organum’s “aeo b/w shining star” single, albeit executed with considerably more space ...
professionally printed/duplicated compact disc recordable in a slimline cd-case with a rather lovely insert. |
| | trente oiseaux press release... |
| artists: bernhard günter / heribert friedl
title: ataraxia
label: trente oiseaux
cat#: toc053
format: cdr
release date: july 05
tracks: 6
time: 50:24 min
ataraxia is the result of a through-the-mail collaboration project featuring bernhard on electric cellotar, xiao-shakuhachi, and (self-made) traverse shakuhachi, and heribert playing the hackbrett (cymbalon). the music combines improvisation and construction as well as instrumental playing and the use of sparingly applied digital treatments. flutes and cymbalon are played in rather non-conventional ways more often then not, and, as the title suggests, the overall atmosphere of ataraxia is quite calm and contemplative while not missing a some intense moments. a detailed description of its genesis is included in the pdf liner notes found on the disc, along with some close-up photos of our instruments.
we are both very happy with the outcome of our collaboration, a kind of music neither ofus has played before, and that has grown from our working together. we will soon continueto work on our second collaboration project 'transformer'.
...
although ataraxia is the result of a through-the-mail collaboration, it nevertheless conserves the aspect of two musicians playing together. we started by me recording and sending heribert a generous amount of material improvised on electric cellotar and bamboo flutes. heribert then recorded his parts, playing with me virtually present on cdr. i then proceeded to edit and arrange the duo material to become a series of seven pieces. the basic structure of ataraxia being defined, i will now play in a virtual trio with heribert, adding some bamboo flute to two of the parts (this will be my first time using two of my self-made flutes for recording), 'polish' the tracks, and master the cd.
i am exceedingly happy with the music we have created, and ataraxia, once the final touches added, promises to become an excellent work of music on the border between improvisation and composition, both contemplative and expressive, and exploring a new musical territory.
those of you who have read the trente oiseaux newsletter i/2005 will remember that we had also started to work on a long piece based on a field recording of three power transformers. this piece is still on our agenda but not completed yet - it will be released on trente oiseaux later this year, adding a quite different facet to our collaboration work.
bernhard günter...
i began to study the cymbalon when i was seven years old, and at that time only used it for folk music. it remained an integral part of my musical instrumentation until i was approximately 15 years old, when it was more and more replaced by the guitar and was left unattended until two years ago.
looking for new sound sources i decided to raise the cymbalon from oblivion. suddenly my ears were filled by wonderful new sounds: i perceived its sound as much delicate, softer, and, warmer than before, i rarely hit it with the cymbalon beaters any more, but only fondled it with a violin bow or plucked it with my fingers. again and again fantastic overtones arose from playing a single note, and wonderful new musical sound-worlds opened up to me. right after my first experiments with cymbalon and computer i sent the results to bernhard.
when bernhard wrote me to propose a collaboration i was quite surprised, but at the same time felt really flattered and was enormously pleased: bernhard, whose work i had held in high esteem for years had asked me to collaborate with him.
ataraxia to me constitutes the extraordinary effect of various beautiful sentiments: there is the harmonious coming together of the three instruments and the sentimental journey one undertakes, and that not only manifests itself in a conglomerate of sounds, but also raises a powerful imagery in my mind that perfectly describes my current 'state of soul'. i am exceedingly glad to have taken yet another new artistic path, both motivated by bernhard and following my own intuition!
i wish to explicitly thank jossy, who continually reinforces my faith in my own work.
thanks to: bernhard, raphael, odile, zoé, eugen, lelo, eva, tom und mia.
herbert friedl, vienna, june 2005
my first contribution to the creation of ataraxia consisted of recording approximately one hour of improvisations on my electric cellotar and two xiao-shakuhachi flutes, keeping in mind that they would be the basis of the collaboration with heribert, and sending the recording over to vienna. heribert then added his parts playing along with my track and sent the result back to me. i was very pleased with the outcome and began editing and arranging the still one hour long track to the effect of forming seven pieces, sometimes layering heribert's to form a trio. i also came to think that one of the duo tracks (no. 4) might lend itself to the addition of a flute part, an idea i realized playing one of my self-made traverse shakuhachi. once all parts had been recorded and arranged i started fine-tuning and polishing the the tracks and sent heribert a rough-mix of the master. he commented on the master and proposed a few changes that i then incorporated in the final master.
the result that emerged from this process is a kind of music neither of us has created before, and that we both are highly pleased with. the instruments' perfect blending into each other, the contemplative pace of the music, and the smooth interaction between heribert and me (over a distance of several hundred kilometers) don't cease to amaze me. heribert has proven to be a great collaboration partner and i'm looking forward to our next collaboration project that will give us a new occasion to explore uncharted musical territory.
thanks to heike (for her continuous support) and heribert (for the manifold aspects of his contribution to this project).
bernhard günter, koblenz, june 2005 |
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