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previous record label: wintage		there are 9 titles on winter and winter in stock. they are listed below.		next record label: woodsist

$29.22

new to stock as of
december 1st, 2008

threads:
film-video
modern-composition
fluxus

winter and winter (germany) #ww 915 006 dvd

mauricio kagel “ludwig van” digital versatile disc

ludwig van (90:41)

2008 release ; very nicely done reissue of this early mauricio kagel film, shot during september & october of 1969 & assembled at the wdr studio in köln ...

features a who’s who of 60s contemporary art as its cast :: joseph beuys, dieter roth, robert fillou, and kagel himself, all set to kagel’s original score ...

comes in a lovely textured stock amaray (ala the winter & winter cd series) with an accordion fold-out with tons of production notes & photographs ... essential.

winter and winter press release...

ludwig van

mauricio kagel (born buenos aires, december 24, 1931) is a german-russian-jewish composer, conductor, author and film maker who lives in cologne, germany since 1957. he is most famous for his interest in developing the theatrical side of musical performance. mauricio kagel is one of the most distinctive 20th and 21st century classical performing and recording artists and he is also an extraordinary director who has made various wonderful motion pictures and short movies for television. kagel's major film work »ludwig van« is a surrealistic report about ludwig van beethoven's return to bonn for his 200th birthday. with a cast of hundreds including the joseph beuys, diter roth, robert filliou and many, many permutations of the titular star. "the door (of beethoven's house) is opened by the house visitors' guide (führer). under the stiff cap, a shock of light grey hair falls across the right eyebrow. even the tiny, rectangular moustache has become almost white." kagel describes one of the first scenes of his movie: "his (beethoven's) music will sound as if he could still hear it in 1826. pretty badly."

beethoven enters in kagel's film »ludwig van« the world of the 20th century which is mainly driven by marketing and selling aspects of his music to "celebrate" his birthday. but kagel's film is not just a satire about the consumer society, the black and white movie is intentionally dislodged, disturbed, disrespectful, even aggressive. »ludwig van« is definitely neither a documentary reportage nor a biographical film or anecdote, kagel provokes his audience, takes the listener by surprise, irritates with surrealistic pictures. here, there is no story. the film is constituted of a series of scenes. at the beginning we are in the presence of a half deaf beethoven, represented in a subjective way, so that the spectator becomes the composer. thus we tour the places where beethoven lived: his home town, his streets, his house, his garden, his kitchen, his desk, covered entirely with pieces of music, his cellar, his storeroom filled with bottles of wine; his hay loft, where he stacks the scores of composers of the 19th and 20th centuries; his bathroom, in which the bathtub is full of busts of... beethoven, which we take one after the other. then, we are present, in the confusion, at a laughable televised dispute over beethoven and his music; an evaluation of his physical capacities, morale and psyche of the music of beethoven on the performers; in one interview, in a field, of a descendant of beethoven... there are many other scenes, which cover subjects such as the hearing of the composer, the analysis of his skull, the course of musical television, the analysis of the texts of beethoven (notably his conversation notebooks)... the film ends at the zoo, by the scenes presenting the animals in cages and the sound track plays music adapted by mauricio kagel after "fidelio", beethoven's only opera, an ode to freedom sung by a chorus of political prisoners.

»ludwig van« was produced by the german television station westdeutscher rundfunk (wdr) to celebrate beethoven's birthday in 1970. winter & winter has produced the dvd »ludwig van« to celebrate mauricio kagel's 75th birthday in 2006.

$62.91

back in stock as of
december 1st, 2008

first in stock on
december 14th, 2006

threads:
modern-composition
film-video
fluxus
sound-art

winter and winter (germany) #ww 128 cd

mauricio kagel “the mauricio kagel edition” double compact disc and digital versatile disc set

amazing 3+ hour double-disc and dvd set !!!

cd i kagel plays and sings

pandorasbox bandoneonpiece (12:13) 1965
tango alemán (9:28) 1978
bestiarium i (10:35) 1976
bestiarium ii (10:36) 1976
bestiarium iii (13:39) 1976

cd ii (hörspiel) ein aufnahmezustand

speak softly (6:29) 1969
lullaby (3:03) 1969
spinning top (9:12) 1969
acoustic lessons for children (1:18) 1969
ethnophonation (5:32) 1969
excursus about the love in the christian theology (4:52) 1969
onomatopoeia and musical pictures (12:28) 1969

dvd-video ludwig van

ludwig van a report by mauricio kagel (90:41) 1969

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "onomatopoeia / bestiarium"

super-deluxe edition to coincide with mauricio kagel’s 75th birthday. for those of you already enamored with kagel’s specific pranksterisms and fluxus-lineage radio pieces; this box is something of a holy grail (or at least a pandora’s box) in that it contains (on disc two) “(hörspiel) ein aufnahmezustand” recorded at wdr during the spring of 1969 with peter brötzmann, michael vetter, christoph caskel, etc...

just an amazing assortment of 20th century experimental music and art figures christen the pieces in the set: carlos roqué alsina, mesías maiguashca, peter brötzmann, michael vetter, christoph caskel, joseph beuys, robert filliou, dieter roth, etc...

winter and winter press release...

the mauricio kagel edition

mauricio kagel celebrates his 75th birthday on december 24th 2006, which is the occasion for winter & winter to bring out a special edition with important works for film and radio, created in the sixties and seventies in collaboration with the wdr. music, film, set design, theatre and literature are some of the creative realms for this artist whose great significance extends way beyond post-war germany, and who, at the turn of the century, was distinguished with the ernst von siemens music prize. mauricio kagel, whose origins are german-russian-jewish, is born on the 24th december 1931 in buenos aires. although he gets private music lessons, he ultimately remains self-taught, since he is denied admission to the conservatory. alongside musical studies, he also turns to literary and philosophical subjects. at the age of 18, kagel, who in his youth starts as correpetiteur at the teatro colón, where erich kleiber too is active, becomes artistic director to the avant-garde group "agrupación nueva música", and makes preliminary electro-acoustic experiments. in 1950 he co-founds the argentinean cinematheque, and in 1955 kagel becomes a tutor at the chamber opera, and conductor at the teatro colón, while teaching at the university in buenos aires.

in 1957 kagel comes 'back' to germany on a scholarship from the german academic exchange service. cologne becomes his home. close and extraordinarily successful collaboration with the wdr begins. up to 1961 he directs the rheinland chamber orchestra, from 1960 to 1966 he teaches at the international summer courses in darmstadt, from 1967 he is guest lecturer at the film and television academy in berlin, and in 1969 and following years he directs the institute for new music at the rheinische musikschule in cologne, the cologne new music courses, and the cologne new music ensemble. during these years kagel collaborates with joseph beuys, stefan wewerka, schuldt and other outstanding artists, and »ludwig van« is created. kagel makes films, writes libretti, hörspiels and books, and composes. he chooses music as the main medium for his creativity, but this doesn’t mean that his films or even his texts can be seen as secondary works. in 1975 he is appointed professor of "new music theatre" at the cologne musikhoschule. in 1981, for his fiftieth birthday, the hebbel theatre in berlin puts on a varieté by and with mauricio kagel, directed by werner herzog, and later shown in paris, strasbourg and geneva.

kagel experiments with electro-acoustic and audio-visual media, directs his own works on stage, and makes surrealistic and near-realistic films. part of his work can be designated as 'theatre with instrumentalists', since mime and gesture are consciously incorporated into the musical performance. kagel is one of the few musicians to be aware that recording, with all its possibilities of manipulation, represents a new art form, which can certainly document what is performed live, but in doing so only represents one possibility of this technique. for kagel, the art of recording is, like the art of film or photography, a new 20th-century medium, and so in 1969 he produces »(hörspiel) ein aufnahmezustand«. on commission from winter & winter, he has reworked, re-edited and dig-italised this work, which was originally produced by the wdr. markus heuger, the wdr producer, is to be thanked for drawing stefan winter’s attention to this extraordinary kind of tape art; this has led to the first publication of »(hörspiel) ein aufnahmezustand«, in optimal, new quality. but the first cd in the mauricio kagel edition is called "kagel plays and sings". the works selected to feature mauricio kagel as a performer are the remarkable, historically very valuable productions of »tango alemán«, »pandorasbox« and »bestiarium«. once again, mauricio kagel has reworked and re-edited the recordings for this first cd issue. the 60-page booklet accompanying this hard-cover limited edition includes texts, along with historical photographs, drawings by kagel, and reprints of manuscripts. the third part is devoted to the film »ludwig van«, conceived in 1969 in the lead-up to the beethoven year 1970: a humorous, satirical report about beethoven’s return for his "commercially highly successful" 200th birthday to his home town of bonn. the booklet contains kagel’s script, along with photos from the shooting of the film. the film »ludwig van« has likewise been resampled, reworked and digitalised, and is now available on dvd for the first time.

kagel’s deep-seated humour, his unexpected showmanship, his inexhaustible energy, his subversive compositions, his affectionate sophistication, his art and his love of detail have all often been described, criticised, decorated and honoured, but for us, for listeners and viewers, and for him too, the greatest honour is go get to experience these works. winter & winter is pleased to be able to present this special edition.

as a further gift, winter & winter is producing and issuing a cd of mauricio kagel’s new works »quirinus' liebeskuss«, »serenade« and »doppelsextett«, with the schönberg ensemble conducted by reinbert de leeuw. it will appear in december 2006, just in time for birthday celebrations, adding to »the mauricio kagel edition«. all these productions have been supported by the nrw art foundation, whom winter & winter cordially thanks. mauricio kagel is celebrating his birthday in amsterdam with the schönberg ensemble, whose winter & winter cd of »die stücke der windrose« gained the celebrated edison award. not least, winter & winter thanks mauricio kagel for an exciting, artistically highly stimulating, and deeply cordial collaboration.

all best birthday wishes, dear mauricio kagel!

- stefan winter (translation: richard toop)

...

mauricio kagel the mauricio kagel edition

n° 910 128-2
cd
2006
details
a co-production with wdr, köln with the kind support of kunststiftung nrw

the guardian: "it's fascinating, and a wonderful reminder of how fresh and unique kagel's place in the history of music in the last half-century is." four starsoctober 27, 2006 musicians

2 audio-cds
1 dvd-video

cd i: mauricio kagel, alejandro barletta, jorge risi, carlos roqué alsina, beth griffith, mesías maiguashca

cd ii: peter brötzmann, heinz-georg thor, michael vetter, alfred feussner, deborah kagel, mauricio kagel, william pearson, christoph caskel

dvd-video: joseph beuys, günther boehnert, carlos feller, werner höfer, mauricio kagel, rudolf körösi, linda klaudius-mann, klaus lindemann, heinz-klaus metzger, josé montes, schuldt, victor staub, otto tomek, ferry waldoff, ursula burghardt, robert filliou, diter rot, stefan wewerka

$15.81

back in stock as of
april 7th, 2008

first in stock on
june 14th, 2007

threads:
modern-composition

winter and winter (germany) #ww 126 cd

mauricio kagel “quirinus' liebeskuss” compact disc

quirinus' liebeskuss [für vokalensemble und instrumente]
serenade [für drei spieler]
doppelsextett [für instrumentalensemble]

winter and winter press release...

quirinus' liebeskuss

in 2006 the schönberg ensemble, reinbert de leeuw and winter & winter received the prestigious edison award for the album »die stücke der windrose« by mauricio kagel. on december 24th, 2006, the great jewish-russian-german composer mauricio kagel celebrates his 75th birthday together with the schönberg ensemble in the musiekgebouw in amsterdam.

winter & winter presents the debut recording of »quirinus' liebeskuss«, »serenade« and »doppelsextett« performed by the schönberg ensemble and the nederlands kamerkoor conducted by reinbert de leeuw. special thanks to kunststiftung nrw for their great support to make this project possible. mauricio kagel himself directed the recording session, supervised the editing session and created the sound design. with the following text he explains with intriguing and worth knowing background information these three new works:

quirinus' liebeskuss (for vocal ensemble and instruments), 2000/2001
years ago, after a concert in hong kong, i started writing down monosyllabic german words. it struck me that this accumulation of short, meaningful words – pronounced with appropriate nasal delivery and a bit of sing-song – sounded strangely chinese: "buzz off!", "leave me!", "look out!", "not now!", "take care!". for chinese ears, such expressions of command would be incomprehensible; on the other hand, for others who had mastered german, the scanned rhythms might clearly set the stage for an imitated language. could this idea be turned into the basis of a vocal composition?

after that, with no great hopes, i began looking for literary texts or poems already based on the principle of monosyllables. that lasted quite a while. (...)

one day, i received a private edition from my friend ernst brücher. it was a collection of the poems that had accompanied him throughout his life. this anthology for personal use might be comparable to a self-produced compact disc made by a music lover, stringing together just those parts of pieces that touched his heart. and what do i see? "the change of human affairs", "xli. libeskuss" by quirinus kuhlmann (1651-1689).

the poem was mainly written in single-syllable words, but really had nothing to do with my original idea of setting texts in a sort of phonetic pidgin-german.

who on earth was quirinus kuhlmann?! from the simple figures 1651-1689 i could deduce that he died at the rather young age of 38. born in breslau and influenced by the writings of jakob böhme, kuhlmann became a fanatical adherent of millenarianism, the doctrine of a thousand-year rule of christ on earth at the end of historical time, in a paradisial kingdom of peace and earthly joys. after studies in jena, he wrote his "libesküsse" at the age of only twenty.

one can't read kuhlmann's late poems without thinking of hölderlin. his chief work "der kühlpsalter" is already modern lyric poetry, with a wealth of obvious and hidden references, baroque mannerisms, all kinds of number relationships, playfully mechanical combinations of letters, and a fondness for techniques that genealogically go back to the ars lulliana of raimundus. the arts of language and poetry are rubbed against each other like two millstones. considering the radical nature of their mysticism, one could describe these texts as expressions of a "surrealistic religiosity". here, eloquence and fundamentalism have become inseparable: the surrealism arises from an excessively private reality, which no longer pays attention to the ecclesias-tical strategies of his time. it takes shape autonomously, beyond reality, grows imaginary and bizarre; as so often, a stable canon of superstition takes over from the active function of belief.

this "xlith loving kiss" that i was lucky enough to happen upon is a typical product of kuhlmann's 'combinatorial art', in which objective opposites determine the content of the poem, but subjective automatisms undermine the traditional structure of the sonnet. the rattling sound of the monosyllabic concepts is reminiscent of a – somewhat old-fashioned – railway, where the start of each new listing involves a change of track. the succession of word is not bizarre, but poetic, not arbitrary, but purposeful. but to what end? yes, what end? to the last two lines, hastening towards narrow, interlacing paths, so as to proclaim a 'morality of life' that "embraces human wisdom".

so now i had found my text, far removed from the initial chinoiserie, but just as playful. so what to do? a good question, if one has decided to turn a poem of such transcendence into music. in this case, the main focus for me, since the words of the text were mainly monosyllabic, was to find a compositional method that, as far as possible, served to assist comprehensibility. in the poem, the oppositions of good and beneficial concepts, and bad and reprehensible ones are, admittedly, conceptually fused and strictly interrelated, but one must keep their rhythmic succession in mind if one seeks to maintain the lines' forward progression.

i decided to compose two successive versions of my original text, up to the point where the last two lines of the sonnet combine as a chorale. in the first reading, the 'positive' concepts are coupled with a 2/4 metre, and the negative ones with 3/8. in the second reading, though, i reversed this, so that everything pleasant was in 3/8, and its opposite in 2/4. through this dual metrical interpretation, i was seeking to make audible the relative significance of good and bad; the lapidary interchange of bar divisions struck me as an appropriately specific way of doing this.

the work ends with a third, compressed reading of the poem: here the scanning of the poem is no longer mainly homophonic, but cluster-like. concurrent intersections occur only on words that link basic concepts: "from", "comes", "the", "loves", "seeks", "what's", "avoids", "and", "where".

»quirinus' liebeskuss« is now complete, and i keep trying to reread the poem as if it was for the first time. of course, i don't succeed: i often spend ages staring at these letters. but whenever i think of rewriting the composition, my ideas about shaping the music are quite differently focused. that's how it has to be. ultimately, the "change of human affairs" is a pendulum in perpetuum moto. but the eternal tick-tock gets slightly disturbed.

serenade (for three players), 1994/95
my work on this composition opened with a rash of questions:
what sort of piece actually warrants being called a serenade? is this a genre that only permits narrow exegesis? or is it more closely allied with atmospheric qualities – with music-making beneath clear, cloudless skies (italian: sereno), out of doors (al sereno) and generally in the evening (alla sera)? is the genre's defining feature its setting or its contents?

when we reflect on familiar terms and reexamine the meaning and spirit of their definition or underlying principle, it often happens that the answers we receive spawn further questions. such was the case here.

our notion of what constitutes the essence of a serenade is quite vague. this is probably for the best, for it allows us to seek out hidden aspects lurking at its roots. to write a serenade can never be a less than joyful occupation. i envisioned a poetic divertimento admitting various explanations, associations and presumptions. there were three players, but a wide range of flutes, percussion and plucked instruments. it is as if the theme latent in every serenade – the love's song to his beloved – is made manifest here in trios of contrasting origin and scoring.

double sextet (for instrumental ensemble), 2000/2001
six woodwinds and six strings combine in this piece to make an ensemble which lacks precisely those instruments that normally function as intermediaries between high and low registers. that is, no clarinets and no violas, but instead two flautists (playing piccolo, flute and alto flute), two oboists (oboe and cor anglais) and two bassoonists (bassoon and contrabassoon), plus two violinists, two cellists and two double bassists.

this is one of a few works in which i have tried to create an organic musical form in which the musical ideas expounded at the start are the sole source of everything that develops later. in order to do this, it seemed to me that a severe restriction of the means was necessary. there is a long tradition to support this idea, especially if the discipline needed to invent new combinations of the material is maintained consistently to the very end. so i decided to write the piece using only two metres throughout, namely 2/4 and 3/8, and to give each of them different musical material.

there is a very close connection between the »doppelsextett« and my piece for vocal and instrumental ensemble »quirinus' liebeskuss« (»quirinus' loving kiss«). in that, choir and instruments alternate rapidly in an incessant dialogue, as if giving commentaries on commentaries in an endless spiral. from the first, i had an idea of the greatest possible independence of the choral and instrumental parts; of writing a work in which the vocal and instrumental ensembles with their different sounds would be interdependent but would simultaneously preserve their individual identities. the paradox was what enabled me, in the end, to compose the »double sextet«. the outcome was in truth my second kammersymphonie.

text by mauricio kagel, translated by richard toop

...

mauricio kagel quirinus' liebeskuss

n° 910 126-2
cd
2006

musiciansschönberg ensemblenederlands kamerkoorreinbert de leeuw

$15.09

back in stock as of
april 7th, 2008

first in stock on
december 14th, 2006

threads:
modern-composition

winter and winter (germany) #ww 109 cd

mauricio kagel “die stücke der windrose” compact disc

südwesten
norden
westen

winter and winter press release...

mauricio kagel - die stücke der windrose

the pieces of the compass rose

while still working on the sketches for the cycle of works, i made the decision to change the geographical locations of my musical contemplation often. it may be that this has something to do with being born in the southern hemisphere. when one has spent the first and formative part of one’s life there, particular experiences, yearnings and schematic pictures and illusions become associated with the different points of the compass - and these are diametrically opposed to the corresponding emotions and feelings of europeans.

even today, i do not regard the south as the embodiment of heat, but rather of cold: patagonia, tierra del fuego and antarctica. the north, on the other hand, is anything but cold: relentless sun and sharply defined shadows, sultry humidity, desert landscapes and drought. to some people, the term "the middle east", for instance, means an eastern or oriental cultural area, but to others who live in the far east it evokes the exact opposite. our conceptions tend to be simplifications composed of fleeting or permanent impressions from journeys, lectures and experiences, from likes and dislikes. if, after a few bars, one feels transported to the place intimated, we, as listeners, can perhaps then enrich the atmosphere of the piece by recalling fragments of our musical memories or experiences at the place itself.

one may interpret the places of the salon pieces as a compositum sui generis, where analysis and synthesis meet prudently in order to emphasise the relativity of the points of the compass. it was hardly to be expected that all 32 sub-divisions of the compass would inspire me to just as many pieces: but at any rate i did want to write eight pieces. every point of the four quadrants north, east, south and west threw down a challenge to carry out a difficult reconnaissance. and it remained a constant challenge in the realisation of the cycle to compose again and again for the same line-up of clarinet, piano, harmonium, two violins, viola, cello and double bass, with only the percussion instruments changing from one piece to the other.

südwesten (south-west)

in this piece - a composition commissioned by the kyoto contemporary music forum and the tokyo goethe-institute - my journey begins on the west coast of mexico and ends in new zealand. the society islands and fiji, western samoa, new caledonia and tuvalu lie along this route. it is these regions, still mysterious in terms of music, that particularly attract me, because as yet i don't know them personally. yet another reason to turn the fascination of far away things into musical notes, and from far away.

it's in the percussion instruments in particular that one hears sounds characteristic of this region. slit drums or log drums, conch trumpet, tam tam and gongs, bull roarer, and angklungs, as well as some noises produced on instruments that are hard to describe. it's a matter of being inspired by this region to write a free transcription. the listener will have to judge whether this has been successful enough to set his own imagination in motion.

norden (north)

is it mere coincidence that my work on the compass pieces closed with this composition? even though there is no particular order in which the cycle's eight numbers have to be performed, i was by no means indifferent to the sequence of cardinal points while writing them. sometimes my sonic imagination was sparked spontaneously, and ideas seemed to come in a flood. a few regions of this geographical circuit gave me a welcome opportunity to look into the obvious yet puzzling correspondences that link cultures and continents acoustically.

but with the most northerly north - as with the most southerly south - comparisons are mainly unsure, and lead to dubious pigeon-holing. here, where sheer rien-ne-va-plus holds sway in every respect, it's not music that one thinks of first, but white infinity, incessant wind, and an almost complete absence of human life.

since i find even the cold of a mild winter hard to cope with, the idea of making a mental excursion along the polar circle came as an enjoyable challenge. beginning in mongolian siberia, i would end my winter's journey by attending a ritual ceremony of the inuit eskimos, at canada's hudson bay. but: every time i was actually in canada, resolutely determined to fly to the most northerly destination possible, unexpected rehearsal problems and interviews, or wretched weather for travelling, forced me to delay the plan once again.

i think that the real motivation for realising my wish was something else. over forty years ago, taking part in a seminar on the history of religion, i had read a treatise on siberian myths concerning the origin of shamans, the symbolism of their costumes and the transcendental role of the omnipresent magic drum. in particular, i could never get the function of music in magic healing out of my head. alas, after so many years, i couldn't remember the author's name, or the text's title.

i now resolved to go in a quite different direction, namely to make the excursion into myself. instead of attempting an authentic approach to the topic, i decided to turn my impressions at the time i had read the text into music - to reconstruct the sounds and rhythms that i had imagined back in those days, without knowing a note of the original music. so north was created as if i were writing an acoustic review of a book that had long since been lost, with fragmentary memories as the only remaining working materials.

this music does not relate to anything experienced physically in situ, or to ethnomusicological recordings; it thus makes no claim to authenticity, on whatever grounds. and yet: in the percussion instruments, for example, the listener can recognise instruments and other objects that represent concepts fundamental to those latitudes: animal skins, stones, wind, fire, water, the crunching of snow, and ice breaking either occur explicitly, or are imitated in a way that is - to use the jargon of noise makers - more real than reality. while writing, i was not guided so much by specific knowledge of the subject matter; rather, i just let my memory set the stage. the result is a palpable dramaturgy, and a state of trance probably underpins the work.

when the composition was nearly finished, i was in a bookshop, and read the title of a book which was one of many lying on a table. it seemed familiar, and, hey presto, i had rediscovered the source of my imaginings*. since i don't really believe that there is anything coincidental about coincidence, i welcomed the book as a friendly gesture from an aiding spirit whose resurrection had come a little late.

north, commissioned by the ensemble intercontemporain, is dedicated to karl rarichs. the first performance was given at the cité de la musique in paris, on 23 april 1995.

*mircea eliade: "le chamanisme et les techniques archaiques de l’extase", paris 1951

westen (west)

if there were a point of the compass called wosten or eosten, i would have chosen it as the title of my piece. for the wind rose does not point to a single destination which one always reaches by the same course. it is similar to a guide which points to opposite destinations like the face of janus. the subject of the composition west is the mutual give and take of two musical cultures, which first expressed itself in a profound africanisation of north america and later, but only to a certain extent and in a much attenuated form, in the americanisation of african music. music of the blacks? of the whites? of the whites-blacks?

it has become increasingly difficult to find unambiguous answers to these questions, for the cultural identity of peoples is not focused on aesthetic considerations, but mainly, and quite virulently, on the social and political sphere. perhaps it is an irony of the god of revenge that from a musical point of view, the african slaves made the americans into a primitive people. measured in degrees of long-term influence at least, the blacks colonised the whites. this has always interested me, perhaps because the emphasis of purity in connection with the concept of culture has seemed to me to be often somewhat insipid and tasteless, even suspect. only at that point do i become aware of the fundamental extra value of the overt and covert influences which reveal themselves visually and acoustically.

in august 1970, i submitted the outline of a television production which was not accepted for various reasons, but mainly because of the way the question was approached. the film bore the title of weiß auf schwarz ( = white on black). i would like to present the plot of white on black for the listener of west because it can help to clarify some of the thoughts and ideas outlined above: "a music-cum-anthropological expedition from europe arrives in africa. the purpose of the research trip is to record the music and dance tradition of a black tribe, which has had little contact with the civilised part of the black continent due to its unfavourable geographical position. the whites are well-armed with presents - hand mirrors, marbles, pocket knives and transistor radios - which they hand out immediately on their arrival. after days of negotiation, the work can begin. the agreement provides for a careful procedure: at first the older people, then the younger ones, are to perform their songs and dances. several weeks later, the blacks notice with horror that the number of unexplained deaths has suddenly started to increase. this is surprising because the people of this particular tribe normally live to an exceptionally old age and diseases and epidemics are unknown. the blacks gather around their medicine man and hold an animated discussion over the course of several days. they discover that the only ones who have died are those who had performed all the melodies they knew for the white men. an incensed crowd confronts the scientists, who, however, manage to calm them down by distributing more presents and promising to leave behind all the kitchen utensils and equipment. the work continues, but the blacks’ behaviour has somehow changed. now they seem to have much greater powers of memory than before. an undreamt of oral tradition spreads. the meetings become longer and longer, and the earlier simple and clearly defined folklore starts to become more comprehensive and complicated. however, the scientists are relentless when there is any repetition, calling a halt immediately and demanding new melodies. afraid that if their fantasy dries up they will have to pay with their death, the blacks begin incorporating elements of western music which they have culled from records a sound engineer plays in his tent in the evenings. gradually, an unnoticeable and unstoppable transition to a complete imitation takes place. several weeks later, the researchers are satisfied and leave the village. they not only keep their promise to leave behind the kitchen equipment, but are also generous enough to give the blacks a record player and records as well. years later a music-cum-anthropological expedition from africa arrives in bavaria…"

west, a piece commissioned by west german television, is dedicated to my friend and editorial midwife klaus schöning, who in the many years of our work together has shown me that the art of the acoustic really can help to hear the grass grow.

-mauricio kagel (translation: richard toop)

...

mauricio kagel die stücke der windrose

n° 910 109-2
cd
2004

musicians

schönberg ensemble
pierre woudenberg [clarinet];
marijke van kooten [violin];
wim de jong [violin];
susanne van els [viola];
hans woudenberg [violoncello];
thom de ligt [double bass];
marja bon [piano];
ger de zeeuw [percussion];
gerrit hommerson [harmonium];
reinbert de leeuw [conductor]

total time: 57:42

$15.09

back in stock as of
june 14th, 2007

first in stock on
december 14th, 2006

threads:
free-improvisation
guitar-themed

winter and winter (germany) #ww 108 cd

noël akchoté “sonny ii” compact disc

blind willie [sonny sharrock]
sonny [noël akchoté]
melvins [daniel humair]
gary's step [sonny sharrock]
peanut [sonny sharrock]
she's only fourteen [sonny sharrock]
number one free [noël akchoté]
marpassa dawn [sonny sharrock]
there is a mountain [donovan leitch]
joe [noël akchoté]
dance with me montana [sonny sharrock]
soon [linda sharrock]
dick dogs [sonny sharrock]
portraits of lynda in three colors
all black [sonny sharrock]
black woman [sonny sharrock]
terry [noël akchoté]
bialero [french trad.
arr. s. sharrock]
young and foolish [a. hague/a. horwitt]
long tale [noël akchoté]

winter and winter press release...

noël akchoté - sonny ii

why sonny ii as a title? it could be sonny too or 2 or...sonny the second! no it is indeed the second version of a long long process of recordings (the " sessionography" also shows sonny, sonny ii, iii, iv and even the beginning of v plus side recordings for over one year). this happened with no particular angle else than a deep, almost intimate feeling to play sharrock's music as other people would do with gesualdo, the shaggs or maybe bartok's own piano recordings. what i reflect here in this recording is my very personal view on sonny sharrock's music and i would never dare to say it is like sharrock, the truth of his music, a version or statement. i always heard and saw sharrock as a composer, but as a composer of gestures, body movements and force. i remember seeing him in paris in the late 80s, his mouth full of these colourful guitar picks, each of them being played for less than a minute as they all broke permanently. sharrock would throw them in the air and take a new one from the mouth. i collected some after the show from the floor. each of these broken guitar picks had a shape like a piece of art - broken in two pieces, destroyed on the edge - and gave me a feeling of the music caught deep inside or a note that could still be heard. a painter goes to the louvre and copies the masters until his own style appears in the frame and at the same time the model transforms into a subject, a position, a view. the point is not the copying itself but to restart, to reflect and to jump into the painted surface.

when i was 14 i was confronted with technique, how to master the instrument, how to hold the pick, place the fingers, how to play a scale. of course there were so many masters and guitarists i could go to and listen (from tal farlow to freddie green, from jimmy gourley to bb king), but one day i found a mysterious lp in a shop - »monkey pockie boo«. the photos showed a huge black guitarist with his wife linda, grabbing the instrument like i had never ever seen it before. in sharrock's hand you felt the instrument could also be transformed into a bunch of smoking wood and iron pretty soon. that wasn't hendrix, that was something else, something no theory or exercise books ever mentioned. of course at that time i was already aware of the fact that in written music the subjectivity of one's inner sound and gesture was missing (listen to bud powell's recordings of bach). then i started to hang all the lp covers i had that showed a guitarist's gesture. jim hall held his instrument this way, charlie christian, al casey, pat martino or derek bailey in a completely different way. who you are when you start is a mystical question and i always have to come back to it. now, almost twenty years after these experiences i felt that i was now ready to tell this story. i started to collect all the albums i could find of sonny sharrock, listen again to his recordings from the late 60s and to his last ones. all of them said the same thing to me which is something beyond knowledge, perhaps it's a mystery. was it just a guitar or maybe just music? one thing my intuition tells me clearly: in my eyes sharrock always has been the only free jazz guitarist, the first and last one. why? because no one ever dared to free himself to this extent. everything in him was ready to break conventions, to explode, to burn...your fingers are not fluent enough? - sonny would just run the fingers all over the place and the neck, up and down, aside, behind, under etc. recently i checked out marc ribot's web site which has filed photos of musicians and i saw that in every second photo marc had a different guitar in his hands. i knew exactly what he meant. who never tried an old archtop from framus, hofner, harmony or silvertone or somebody else does not understand. the other day we played a show with steven bernstein, max nagl and brad jones where i was using an old gibson es 175 almost acoustically throughout the whole gig. during the break vernon reid ( living colour) came to see us. his first comment is still ringing in my head: "ah, these big guitars are so great but they have too much history!" i wonder which history - like ghosts inside the body of the instrument? - probably yes.

the more i try to explain things here, the more i feel i can't really reach this point of a physical presence of a piece of wood with tied strings on it. that is probably the reason why i just shut up and went to a small studio in vienna to record sonny sharrock's music day after day, piece after piece. i recorded over 30 of his original compositions and i listened over and over again, not to hear myself, but in order to find out if someone else could also hear what i hear in this music. all the mistakes are not mistakes, they are windows to the tripe of that music and piece of wood. wrong is right, less is more and here is how sonny sharrock changed my ears and gestures.

-noël akchoté...

noël akchoté sonny ii

n° 910 108-2
cd
2004

musicians

noël akchoté [guitars]

total time: 54:53

$17.97

back in stock as of
december 1st, 2008

first in stock on
december 14th, 2006

threads:
modern-composition

winter and winter (germany) #ww 099 cd

mauricio kagel “tantz-schül” compact disc

entrée
folie d'espagne
trionfo di bacco
il dolzor
novelle fantastiche
sarabande
cogi
turco con tamburino
scaramuzza…e donna
riguadon/rigadon
galiarda
galiardo
disegno furia
satyro
cicona
fenochio
scotin/scapin
rackett- und hexentanz
statue & figure
finale

winter and winter press release...

mauricio kagel tantz-schul

n° 910 099-2
cd
2003

musicians

rundfunk-sinfonieorchester saarbrücken
mauricio kagel [conductor];
margaret chalker [soprano];
christoph späth [tenor] i.

total time: 76:45

ballet d'action 1985/87

this composition is based on gregorio lambranzi's treatise neue und curieuse theatralische tantz-schul (new and curious theatrical school of dancing), first published in 1716 in nuremberg, with engravings by johann georg puschner. the venetian dance-master presents about 70 ballet scenes or scenarios, with commentaries supplemented by illustrations and the relevant melody. the illustrations and dance tunes from this collection were the starting point for the 18 pieces that comprise my ballet d'action in three parts, premiered at the vienna staatsoper on 18 september 1988.

one of the most amusing aspects of lambranzi's book is the countless errors in his musical orthography. every composer knows from painful experience how important it is to read proofs. even tiny shortcomings can lead to major distortions of the original idea. hence one's constant tracing and rectifying of inadequacies, in the hope of putting perfect materials at the performers' disposal. and yet: there's not one rehearsal of new music where there aren't ambiguously placed note heads, durations that are too short or too long, missing accidentals, and mysteriously overwound metronome markings. yet in this case i welcomed such imperfections, since i went to work without any quasi-scientific intent, and even today i can't summon up any philological curiosity about them.

so what did i actually do with the single-line melodies? to start with, i embedded them in a harmonic context that i had to invent. this in itself gave me a good opportunity to regard the notational mistakes in the original as characteristic components of a new musical environment. since i have no interest in sentimentalising, historicist aesthetics, but mainly quite the opposite, namely fearless confrontations between present and past, i didn't attempt to complete or continue the melodies in a stylistically correct way. the extent of this compositional work is clear if, for example, one compares the number of bars in the sources with the new score: dance tunes of 16, 24 or 36 bars give rise to pieces with 54, 105 or 155 bars. sometimes these melodies appear incomplete, like fragmentary recollections, and not always at the beginning of the piece, but also towards the end, like a reconstruction. and polyphony was created from transpositions of the same melody. the rhythmic elements are brought out so as to stress an omnipresent dance orientation. the models in the new and curious school of dancing offered attractive material in this respect: here court and folk music stand side by side, measured only in terms of how artistically viable they are. for lambranzi it was always the effect of the dances that mattered, not their social provenance. and so for me too, it was possible to think up all kinds of symmetries and asymmetries without being too arty about it.

- mauricio kagel (translated by richard toop)

$17.97

back in stock as of
december 1st, 2008

first in stock on
december 14th, 2006

threads:
modern-composition

winter and winter (germany) #ww 090 cd

mauricio kagel “schwarzes madrigal” compact disc

trio in drei sätzen
schwarzes madrigal

winter and winter press release...

mauricio kagel - trío in drei sätzen, schwarzes madrigal

mauricio kagel: trio in three movements for violin, violoncello and piano 1984/85

in composing a piano trio, i fulfilled a long-fostered desire. this is a genre which, like the string quartet tradition, can slightly intimidate any composer. i too waited patiently but anxiously to make my own contribution. the pre-history of the piece is closely tied to my music epic about the devil, la trahison orale (oral betrayal), which i wrote in 1981-83. when conceiving this work, i had already decided to compose character pieces, relatively short numbers with a particular mood, which could be compared gesturally to songs without words. it may seem strange that today, one can once again compose music with this kind of literary background; yet the development of music history shows that things don't go in a straight line, but are stirred and tangled up by aesthetic needs.

i didn't specify an instrumentation for trahison orale, instead, i produced a sort of piano score, since this seemed to me the most suitable way of realising what i had in mind. one of the essential lessons we can learn from the romantic era is the primacy of musical substance over specific timbres. so long as the power of imagination is sufficiently impressive, it can be truly expressed by a variety of sonic resources. from the very start, i had in mind a paraphrase of my music epic for the classical combination of violin, cello and piano. i now worked this up as a three-movement composition, with a hint of a rondo about it. one might compare this piano trio to a polyphonic web of character pieces, in which prominent features keep emerging, following through, stopping abruptly, coming up from the background to the surface, and slowly disappearing. nevertheless, this is absolute music in the classic sense - concealing the true causes of the absolute.

mauricio kagel: schwarzes madrigal (black madrigal) for chorus and instruments 1998/99

with the exception of a few words in german (wo? (where?), in, ja (yes), nein (no), und (and), nach (to), wohin? (where to?)) the textual basis of this work is the names of african towns, villages and settlements. thus the title black madrigal is directly connected to my intention to limit myself to words with this geographical origin.

my attitude concerning correct interpretation is something i already sought to clarify in the work's opening bars. here the word 'timbuktu' occurs several times, always with different stresses. this was intended to make it clear from the outset that scientifically verifiable reproduction of african dialects, and rare tribal or bantu languages was not at stake here; on the contrary, it was meant as acoustic proof of the impossibility of stressing all words impeccably, or giving them a perfect phonetic representation. even though these words are imperfectly reproduced, their beauty is not reduced thereby, but enhanced.

this composition is dedicated in memoriam to the cuban poet nicolás guillén (1902 - 1989), whom i first heard in may 1947 in buenos aires. his reading made a great impression on me at the time, because the lines were delivered with a passion and intensity that only inspired renderings possess. today, half a century later, my focusing on names from the continent of africa reflects my desire to draw attention to unfamiliar vocal sounds without fear of blunders or clumsy accentuation. at no moment did i make a programmatic attempt to imitate rhythmic or melodic patterns from african music. but nevertheless, the result is a work in which very gentle allusions to it are audible, like muffled sound waves coming through the walls. schwarzes madrigal, which was commissioned by the berlin radio chorus for its 75th anniversary, was first performed on may 21st 2000, at the berlin konzerthaus.

-m. k.

...

mauricio kagel schwarzes madrigal

n° 910 090-2
cd
2002

musicians

schönberg ensemble:
marijke van kooten [violin];
hans woudenberg [violoncello];
marja bon [piano]
rundfunkchor berlin [choir];
robin gritton [choir conductor]; sigurd brauns [choir production];
christopher dicken [trumpet];
mark reynolds [tuba];
thomas ringleb [percussion];
matthias doelling [percussion];
mauricio kagel [artistic director and conductor]

total time: 51:38

$15.09

back in stock as of
june 14th, 2007

first in stock on
december 14th, 2006

threads:
electro-acoustic-composition
modern-composition

winter and winter (germany) #ww 043 cd

barry bermange “[composition 17] opera mundi” compact disc

opera mundi (48:33)

winter and winter press release...

barry bermange opera mundi

n° 910 043-2
cd
1999

musicians

barry bermange [electronic sound composition, conception, realization] 1. opera mundi [composition 17]

total time: 48:33

...

barry bermange - opera mundi

opera mundi is an acoustic work composed from o-ton materials. o-ton materials used in its construction come from the acoustic world. some were found, others produced electronically.

these source materials are used to produce new materials. these new materials will become the sound of opera mundi.

the new materials will become the acoustic artwork, components in the content, profile and texture of the work. their role will be democratised, their origin subordinated. the key material into which they are absorbed will emerge as the leading artistic statement.

opera mundi is a step towards an autonomous acoustic artwork. the work began as a series of micro-pictures of a modern technical world riven with natural and man-made tragedy. this offered a resonance upon which the elements of the new work could play, react, seek responses from in order to produce a new musical voice giving flesh and muscle to its theme and manifestation.

noise art may express purely cerebal themes. it may subvert themes altogether, favour abstraction and poetry. it may work in a political or social perspective, connect to fundamental issues of our time.

music takes flight from the orchestra! a resonance is produced moving us closer to an awareness of its themes: the struggle of individuals in the face of terror and adversity, the bleakness of continents in the grip of famine and drought, oppression by war, by invasive forces, the loneliness of the human voice in conflict with itself and others in the urban and rural wastelands of a hostile planet.

creative acoustic art offers an opportunity to work with found and produced materials democratised in a re-creative process. they become the sum of a new acoustic material and statement.

opera mundi is an acoustic response to the human voice at the extreme edge of existence, each sequence a sound window comprising variable components sometimes linking or responding to other windows, breaking into smaller windows, forming composite windows.

opera mundi is not rooted to the source materials of its origin. to remain so rooted is to remain within the realm of narrative art: the work becomes musical illustration, acoustic literature.

materials make the work. materials are the work: materials unrelated to history.

we must accept the requirements of our materials. when our materials speak, we must listen. to impose our will upon our materials is to resort to the conventional role of composer in its weakest, most servile sense. to work with preconceptions is the death of art.

the liberation and self-expression of materials is the true task of art.

i must liberate myself from preconceptions. i must think of the material itself as an autonomous voice. this is the struggle.

the material is responding to chance.
chance plays its part in the overall structure. chance must be invited and received in this and all other forms of creative art.

acoustic art is open to change, invites accident. accident is oxygen to the creative organism. accident breathes life into material.

silence is a fourth material.
with silence the work does not stop: it begins.
how will it end?

[excerpts from opera mundi, composition 17: parallel notes by barry bermange]

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june 14th, 2007

first in stock on
december 14th, 2006

threads:
modern-composition

winter and winter (germany) #ww 035 cd

mauricio kagel “kagel / solowerke” compact disc

rrrrrrr...
metapiece (mimetics) (1961)
à deux mains (1995)
episoden figuren (1993)
mm 51 - a piece of film music (1976)
passé composé (1992-1993)

winter and winter press release...

mauricio kagel kagel / solowerke

n° 910 035-2
cd
1998

musicians

teodoro anzellotti [accordion];
luk vaes [piano]

total time: 67:43

...

mauricio kagel, teodoro anzellotti und luk vaes - solowerke für klavier und akkordeon

he challenges with humor and composes with the pleasure of experimentation: a man who attempts to step over the limits of the common, of the feasible. every musician who has worked through the compositions of mauricio kagel is transported into a physical state of emergency, be it through performing on unknown, exotic instruments [i.e. exotica] or - as on the present recording - through the battle of the pianist against a metronome [mm 51], slowly tipping from side to side, through the changing figures on the accordion, which wander from side to side and correspond thus to the register and tessitura [episodes, figures], or through the dense content of improvisation of the impromptu for piano [for two hands]: »reforming the instant appears especially important to me, because it can lead to stressing the unexpected, to surprising expressions. the transparency of the spontaneous becomes more convincing for the listener.« [mauricio kagel: passé composé]

two musicians were found who accost kagel's solo works without timidity and are able to transform them masterfully and expressively: teodoro anzellotti, an accordionist from italy, who currently lives in germany, and who has already made a recording for winter & winter, an interpretation of the piano works of erik satie [erik satie: compositeur de musique, teodoro anzellotti: jouer d'accordéon, no. 910 031-2] and the belgian pianist luk vaes, a skilled specialist in new music and patron of the piece passé composé on this recording as well.

specially for the publication of his »solo works for accordion and piano,« the composer wrote texts in german to each individual piece contained therein. the texts are found in the original and in english translation in the booklet of this production.

artist ursula burghardt works with various materials such as wood, metal and zinc and creates stage sets for various theater and film productions - particularly for various works of mauricio kagel. she has provided a further impression of the not-solely musical cosmos of mauricio kagel. much more so, the alternating stimulation of artistic work herein becomes audible, visible, sensual.

mauricio kagel
born in buenos aires, argentina. after studying music, the history of literature and philosophy, he composes for the first time in 1950. in 1957 he moves to cologne. since 1958 he participates in the darmstadt summer courses for new music, and since 1960 as an assistant professor. from 1964 to 1965, he is the slee professor of composition on the state university of new york in buffalo; in 1968 he heads courses for new music in göteborg, sweden. from 1969 to 1975 he heads courses for new music in cologne; since 1974 he is professor for new music theatre at cologne's music university. composer-in-residence of the cologne philharmonic orchestra in 1989 and tanglewood in 1998. in the same year he receives the erasmus prize in the netherlands.

ursula burghardt
born in halle/saale. lives in argentina up until 1957, where she gets to know mauricio kagel. studies graphic arts and painting at the »escuela superior de bellas artes« in buenos aires, sculpture in »studio ossip zadkine« in paris. in 1957 she moves to cologne, studies working with metal at the »kölner werkschule.«

previous record label:
wintage

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woodsist

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