mimaroglu music sales ☞ artists ☞ michael j. schumacher

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previous artist: franziska schroeder		there are 4 titles featuring michael j. schumacher in stock. they are listed below.		next artist: schurer

$33.61

new to stock as of
february 11th, 2009

threads:
digital-musics
sound-art
sound-installation

experimental intermedia (usa) #xi 133 dvd
xi records (usa) #xi 133 dvd

michael j. schumacher “five sound installations” digital versatile disc

room piece twenty-four
noema
steiner suite
unintending
scene

experimental intermedia press release...

michael j. schumacher
five sound installations

a dvd-rom (for mac and pc) that contains 5 sound compositions generated in ‘real time’ by a computer algorithm.

note: these compositions must be installed on a computer to be heard. instructions are enclosed. minimum system requirements: pc: windows xp, vista, 1 gig processor speed, 5 gig free disc space. mac: os 10.3 or higher, 1 gig processor speed, 5 gig free disc space.

sound art, algorithmic composition, chance operations, multi-channel sound systems, immersive installations, computer music; these terms all intersect at a point defined by the new xi release "5si" by mjs. schumacher is a composer, curator (he runs diapason, ny's only "sound art" gallery), and performer, and has been creating computer-generated installations for close to 20 years. his output includes 5 solo cds, but these were by necessity adaptations of works designed for more or less "permanent" listening situations, in which auditors could explore various modes of listening within sound environments. these works were composed with installation settings in mind, they had no "beginning-middle-end" (even out of order) in the traditional sense. for the cd releases, the pieces needed to be manipulated in various ways to accomodate the medium. a better way needed to be found.

schumacher has always been interested in creating algorithmic works that extend the boundaries of the genre, investing them with 100s of constituent parts that form sonic mobiles in space and time. now he presents the ambitious (and technically savvy) listener with a means to experience schumacher's installations in the home, through up to 8 separate speaker channels and for as long as the computer keeps running. no question, this is not an ipod experience! for some, just understanding the reason for such a project will be difficult. but the composer and xi believe that the time is apt for challenging a complacent public and industry.

this release, more than anything else, is a challenge to break boundaries in both content and distribution, a call for a new way of thinking about sound in the home, which is more than ever the predominant place for listening. think of the ipod shuffle: "life is random". cage said it (more or less), 50 years ago. the pieces on 5si are random as well, but within limits defined by the composer. each piece has its own character, exploring a group of sounds that interact both temporally and spatially, continuously recontextualizing each other. each piece is also quite distinct from the others, each an exploration of a particular mood, feeling, or soundscape. though not "interactive" in the narrow sense of the word, 5si makes considerable demands on the listener in terms of setting up and refining the sound system.

part of the reason for this release as a dvd, as opposed to a web release, is the size of the files. each piece contains, in addition to the algorithmic "instructions" that "play" the sounds, up to 1.5 gigabytes of high quality soundfiles. these include recordings of improvising musicians that are manipulated in real time, field recordings, and recordings of analog synthesizers, an obsession of the composer's. mjs was uncompromising about the soundfiles, many are long, so that no "looping" is apparent. they are all 44.1, 16bit, no compression. even so, given the increasing speeds of the internet, it is presumed that in the future, as operating systems are updated, that new versions of the pieces will need to be made available through download. already, an itunes movie is often 1+gigabytes.

so the key issue of updates is addressable. each time a piece is played it will be different. though the mood and sounds will be recognizable, the specifics will change. as the piece plays, more and more combinations of the elements will reveal themselves, more and more interesting and unpredicted simultaneities will occur. the listener will also discover new experiences, as different modes of listening become apparent. the pieces are at times ambient or immersive, and much in between. in short, they acknowledge the complexity of the listening experience. schumacher has created a page on his website devoted to 5si, where he will post, if necessary, answers to questions about installation and playback, as well as updates to the program as operating systems change.

$12.61

back in stock as of
february 11th, 2009

first in stock on
march 9th, 2007

threads:
modern-composition
minimalism-drones
digital-musics
sound-art

experimental intermedia (usa) #xi 127 cd
xi records (usa) #xi 127 cd

michael j. schumacher “room pieces” double compact disc set

room piece xi (2002)
piece in 3 parts (2002)
still (2002)
untitled (1999)
still (2002)

experimental intermedia press release...

michael j. schumacher
room pieces

much music has been written to guide listeners through the course of a preconceived form. although michael j. schumacher's music is distinctly his own it has been inspired by david tudor and morton feldman as well as la monte young. like their music it is about hearing sounds in themselves, about allowing the ear to register sonorities and then the hearing imagination may go to work, navigating amongst temporal realities and imaginary spaces, negotiating between a sense of control and perceived randomness, stasis and movement, finitude and limitlessness, schumacher thrives on those creative tensions. at its most personal and expansive his singular music has the capacity to convey "intimate immensity." (julian cowley, from the liner notes).

room piece provides a unique solution and musical experience in reference to "the room." generated by a specific method and possessing a decidedly emotional character, room piece is not merely "ambient music" but creates a bridge between the "eventfulness" herad in cage-ian and serial music, and the new american drone music that has arisen intuitively to create the sound of a vibrant universe with rich interior activity.

piece in 3 parts uses two 30-second samples of violinist jane henry improvising and a 40-second sample of percussionist tim barnes playing a gong. the samples are then processed by computer. part i is a dense and passionately executed body of layered mutations of the source string sounds. variations on the gong source begin part ii with bass tessitura resonances that fold into each other. the sounds gradually accumulate into a surreal polytextured mobile. the first still is an exquisite and static density with interior movement, a quiescent and serene soundscape that "the listener can explore in his/her own rhythm." the second still presents wonderfully crafted sounds compacted of different internal rhythms as constant and and fixed and thus ultimately "still" in their effect.

untitled offers a musical image where the "still" is now a drone consisting of multiple frequency-modulated sine tones beating against each other to create a richly dynamic rhythmic counterpoint. ("blue" gene tyranny, from the liner notes)

$12.61

back in stock as of
september 9th, 2010

first in stock on
may 18th, 2003

threads:
musique-concrète
electro-acoustic-composition

sedimental (usa) #sed 032 cd

michael j. schumacher “four stills” compact disc

14:53 featuring charles curtis
15:41
13:39
23:01 featuring tim barnes

sedimental press release...

for this recording, tim barnes played percussion and charles curtis played cello. george bishop, jr. read a text by daniel schmid, gertrud aigner danced on a creaky floor, and the composer played electric guitar and midi grand piano. oberheim and yamaha synthesizers made additional sounds, and recordings of radio static, a steam heater, and e. e. cummings reading a poem were used. the music was executed in “real time”, direct to stereo, using algorithms written in max/msp software.

charles curtis’ cello recorded at regenbogenstadl, polling, germany, by uli schägger. tim barnes’ percussion recorded at quakebasket, new york city. midi grand piano recoded at avatar, quebec city, canada, thanks to jocelyn robert.

sedimental’s first release for 2002, four stills, is from new york composer/guitarist michael j. schumacher. schumacher has a strong presence on the experimental scene with his refined guitar “drone” compositions but parallel to this activity he has been working with number system applications of sampled material through electronics, a direct extension of his audio installations. schumacher is also internationally recognized along with his wife and artist ursula scherrer, who designed the artwork for this release, for the outstanding studio 5 beekman space (now diapason on 6th ave.) that provides a sympathetic environment for audio artists to execute installations. the participants in this project read like a who’s who of leading-edge composers and experimental musicians.

our reaction to material originally considered for four stills was nothing short of breathtaking. where as much digitally generated material succumbs to a hermetically closed world of glitches and electronic landscape schumacher’s work opens up this environment, despite the density of the material, into a breathing, organic spaciousness while still maintaining the intimacy inherent in the form.

“the four stills are expressions of the number system that i have used since 1989 in my electronic compositions. these numbers form the basis for dozens of rhythmic processes executed by the computer, from playing a midi grand piano, to deciding a range within a sample buffer to play, to determining larger structural aspects such as the alternation of sound and silence within a particular part. the fact that they are prime numbers prevents predictable patterns from emerging. the limit of six maintains structural coherence. the four stills were recorded direct to stereo in real time. though the sounds used in a given piece are predetermined, their interaction with each other over time is left to chance.

"these pieces are extensions of my installation pieces, which evolve over long time periods, and are also created in real time by generative algorithms. however, in contrast to the installations, which utilize distance as an important perceptual feature and employ as many as 16 independent channels of sound, allowing for meaningful variations in texture, these recordings, being limited to two channels, are more compact in their presentation of the sonic material. they therefore remind me of certain styles of painting, which present the spectator with a static field of color that is experienced in no particular order. though the music obviously unfolds over time, the analogy seems appropriate to me, since the dense textures (sometimes as many as 27 simultaneous parts) invite a contemplation of the many layers of sound and their relation, not in time, but in space.”

sedimental is honored to make available the rarely heard digital works of schumacher to a wider international audience-a dynamic composer who has provided a unique aesthetic forum for some many like-minded composers as well.

$18.01

back in stock as of
june 13th, 2011

first in stock on
june 22nd, 2005

threads:
1950s-electronic
1960s-electronic
1970s-electronic
1980s-electronic
electro-acoustic-composition
musique-concrète
digital-musics

best of 2005 !!!

sub rosa (belgium) #sr 220 cd

“an anthology of noise & electronic music • third a-chronology 1952-2004” double compact disc set

bernard parmegiani de natura sonorum : matières induites (1975) 3:44
hugh le caine short presentation of the 1948 sackbutthe sackbut blues (1953) followed by a noisome pestilence (1958) 3:25
keith fullerton whitman / hrvatski stereo music for serge modular prototype (2003) 5:30
ilhan mimaroglu the last largo (1989) 9:33
michael j. schumacher room pieces excerpt (2003) 4:41
justin bennett ovipool (2003) 3:25
scott gibbons / lilith stone : reciprocal (1992) 3:30
fred szymanski / modular flume (2003) 6:41
francisco lopez untitled #148 (2003) 10:03
zbigniew karkowski execution of intelligence (2004) 8:20
masami akita / merzbow birds and warhorse (2004) 11:30
michel chion requiem : dies irae (1973) 6:00
erkki kurenniemi sähkösoittimen ääniä #4 + #1 (1971) 5:26
carsten nicolai / alva noto time..dot (3) (2000) 4:26
peter rehberg / pita early work 6 (1984) 3:00
herbert eimert + robert beyer klangstudies ii (1952) 4:43
günther rabl eve (1987) 6:00
asmus tietchens teilmenge 35 c (2004) 4:40
michael rother feuerland (1976) 7:20
faust the faust tapes: untitled #16 + #17 (1973) 2:55
to rococo rot contacte (2004) 4:30
rune lindblad till zakynthos (op. 205) (1988) 13:39
cm von hausswolff + erik pauser / phauss eternal love #3 (1993) 13:07

third volume in this series... as always a great way to learn about the splendour of the early electronic music construction modus while being tipped off to the present-day candle-holders; all while not interrupting too many of the butterflies nestling in your wallet. i’m both psyched and mortified to have a piece on here alongside my idols; parmegiani, mimaroglu, le caine, eimert + beyer, faust, etc... just about everything is unreleased or an alternate version/mix/out-take to the previously available. quality all around...

sub rosa press release...

an anthology of noise & electronic music vol. 3 - third a-chronology 1952-2004
bernard parmegiani - hugh le caine -faust - to rococo rot - keith fullerton whitman aka hrvatski - ilhan mmaroglu - michael j. schumacher - justin bennett - scott gibbons aka lilith - fred szymanski - francisco lopez - zbigniew karkowski - masami akita aka merzbow - michel chion - erkki kurenniemi - carlsten nicolai aka alva noto - peter rehberg aka pita - herbert eimert + robert beyer - gunther rabl - asmus tietchens - michael rother - cm von hausswolff + erik pauser > phauss - rune lindgrad
digipack 2 cd + 40 pages booklet / sr220

this 3th volume continue to show all the aspects of electronic music from the early beginning until now - including 2 pieces of historical concrete music (of the 70's), several piece of american tape music (columbia university) with a special focus on all the electronic music from germany - wdr early works - krautrock - electronic from 90's...

featuring too some recent work of the greatest noise artists + several unsung electronic pioneers ....

previous artist:
franziska schroeder

...and that's everything in stock featuring michael j. schumacher.
(why not take a look at the previous and next artists?)

next artist:
schurer