Irmin Schmidt - Nocturne (live at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival) - Japan Mini LP UHQCD

Credits:

Irmin Schmidt

Description:

The album includes three songs performed partly on prepared piano and partly with pre-prepared sound sources. The piece "Klavierstuck II" (M1) is a melancholy improvisation that builds on important aspects of the original, while "Nocturne" (M2) begins with an ambient sound and builds into a full-length meditative piano solo as the piano tone blends into the soundscape. The third track, "Yonder," is a more dramatic piece than those, and is overwhelmed by the looming church bells. It has a poetic sound that is as radical, moving, and shuddering as "Dies Ire"-like apocalyptic thought. Irmin Schmidt talks about "Nocturne": "Just as there are people who look at clouds and see their shapes as human faces or animals, there are sometimes people, especially when they are somewhere between sleeping at night and being awake, who can see the music in the noise around them. As for "Yonder," he said, "During the war years when I lived surrounded by ruins all around me, only the church tower was intact, and probably every hour of every day, the bells of that church would ring in these ruins. Actually, the memory of this time in my life is strongly emotionally connected to the sound of the church bells.The memory came back to me when I was watching the TV coverage of Notre Dame burning to ashes, and that's when I decided to write this 'Yonder,' and three weeks later the song was done." From "All Gates Open" (Faber & Faber), co-authored and published by Schmidt and Young, Irmin Schmidt performs, "One day in the early afternoon, you hear the beautiful bells of St. Martin's Church. Standing for a few minutes, the sound of this bell encompasses all the sounds that ring in this city where I am and brings them together in a single soundscape. Harmonies and tones, shimmering and shimmering, all around me. I stand up and listen. Sometimes, when I am in a place where I can hear the sound of church bells, I feel calm and protected for some reason. I may be an atheist, but I am still a Christian.

Tracklisting:

1.Klavierstuck II
2.Nocturne
3.Yonder