Music from Germany

*2022 Stock.* Inori is a large scale work for orchestra which portrays the formation of a theme, one parameter at a time (rhythm - dynamics - melody - harmony - polyphony). Essentially, slow-moving sound masses in the beginning evolve into dramatic, complex gestures by the end. Two dancer-mimes are listed as soloists, but obviously they can't be heard on the CD. Inori is a further development of the formula concept Stockhausen first began exploring in Mantra,and would eventually be fully explore…

*2022 Stock.* The Stockhausen Edition 21st CD features 2 performances of the open-form work YLEM, which musically portrays the birth and death of the universe through the progressive motion of handheld instruments through a performance space (or in this case, the stereo field). The word "ylem" ("eye - lum") comes from a 1940's science term for "matter", specifically the sub-atomic plasma initially created at the Big Bang which continues to spread outwards forming the boundaries of the universe. …

*2022 Stock.*  "Am Himmel Wandere Ich..."documents a cycle of 12 mystical male-female vocal duets based on traditional American Indian song texts. Am Himmel Wandre Ich's text-influenced melodies could possibly be viewed as Stockhausen's version of the madrigal tradition, mixed with ancient ritual and a glorification of nature (I suppose the fact that they are typically performed between a man and a woman makes them come across as love songs as well). The idea of having almost innumerable possibl…

Tip! New collaborative work by two veterans of the European experimental scene, Dirk Serries + Asmus Tietchens. Dirk Serries and I have long been colleagues and friends. Since the 1990ies we have exchanged sound materials to be reworked and published on an on and off basis. "Die Höfner Akten" are something new and special to in so far as the source material with its basic structure has been improvised exclusively on an acoustic guitar (of the 'Höfner' brand). Dirk and I had agreed upon the follo…

*2022 Stock.* The Stockhausen Edition No.19 contains two recordings of the enigmatic orchestral work Trans, which highlights sometimes comic soloists playing against a backdrop of percolating winds and slowly-modulating strings. The imagery and general sonic characteristics of Trans came to Stockhausen in a dream he had in 1970. The result was an orchestral work where the most active members of the orchestra are hidden from view, and a slow-moving wall of string players hosts several comically b…

*2022 Stock.* Sternklang features a roaming studio recording, documenting the five spacially-separated electro-acoustic chamber groups of Sternklang, a harmonically-modulating piece structurally similar to the all-vocal Stimmung. Some soloists are also highlighted in the mix as they migrate from one group to another. This 2 CD recording features members of the English new music groups Intermodulation and Gentle Fire, as well as Annette Meriweather (vox), Harald Bojé (synth), Michael Vetter (vox,…

*2022 Stock.* Für kommende Zeiten is a relatively contemporary recording of some intuitive music pieces from Stockhausen's second collection of text scores, recorded by the Ensemble for Intuitive Music Weimar (Michael von Hintzenstern (piano/harmonium), Matthias von Hintzenstern (cello), Hans Tutschku (synthesizer), Daniel Hoffmann (trumpet)) on May 28, 2005. During a period of personal upheaval and crisis, Stockhausen wrote a set of texts, Aus Den Sieben Tagen, which are essentially verbal inst…

*2022 Stock. Includes 124-page booklet in German and English.* “Stimmung” was a commission from the City of Cologne, for an ensemble at the Rheinische Musikschule; Collegium Vocale Köln. It was written early 1968, in February and March, in a house on Long Island Sound in Madison, Connecticut, where Stockhausen and his wife Mary Bauermeister and their children lived a couple of months. This commission for a vocal work took on a completely new direction when Stockhausen – out of consideration for …

*2022 Stock. Includes 32-page booklet in German and English.* On volume no. 5 in the ongoing Stockhausen Edition we meet large-scale orchestral works for the first time in the series. The first piece on this CD originates in a commission that Stockhausen received from the WDR, but nobody – perhaps not even Stockhausen – could foresee the kind of music that would eventually come out of this commission. The end result was no less than revolutionary, in its totally new concept of music moving in sp…

*2022 Stock.* The best, most efficient way to hear Stockhausen's works is through his official record label and publishing house. The Stockhausen Edition CDs are meticulously assembled with often voluminous booklets in English and German, filled with sketches and other documentary artifacts. Almost all of the recordings originally released on Deutsche Grammophon, Wergo, Nonesuch and other labels were reacquired by Stockhausen, and then remastered and repackaged under the Stockhausen Edition cata…

Four revolutionary orchestral works from 1951-52 showcase Stockhausen's bold transition to large ensemble writing. Featuring Formel, innovative Schlagtrio, theatrical Spiel, and the composer-conducted Punkte, this collection captures his pioneering experiments with orchestral pointillism and percussive techniques.

Karlheinz Stockhausen's pivotal 1950-51 works reveal his transition from traditional forms to revolutionary serialism. Featuring Chöre für Doris, Drei Lieder, Sonatine, and groundbreaking Kreuzspiel, this collection captures the composer's systematic deconstruction of harmonic language while pioneering new approaches to musical time and space.

The second album from Birth Control, originally released in 1971, captures the band at a crucial turning point - moving from their blues-rock foundations into far more adventurous progressive and experimental territory. Led by vocalist Bernd Noske, with Bruno Frenzel on guitars and keyboards, Reinhold Sobotta on drums, and Bernd Koschmidder on bass, the group delivered one of the most powerful statements in early German rock. Operation showcases Birth Control's remarkable ability to blend heavy,…

The Munich band Embryo was founded in 1969. "Opal" was her first album. Released on the OHR label in 1970. The band led by Christian Burchard (2018) combined numerous genres into one huge crossover project. Jazz rock, folk, blues, soul, contemporary music, and world music. Even if "Opal" doesn't sound as perfect as later recordings, the album is considered to be very influential. Embryo themselves describe their style as follows: Pop music is the appropriate level of communication for Embryo, ju…

*Issued in gatefold digipak with clear tray and 16-page booklet.* 'In the long run, this album will establish Klaus Schulze as an outstanding composer of electronic music', said the reviewer of Record World back in 1977 when he heard Mirage. Mirage is a masterpiece. Schulze's flexibility in terms of spirit and final production is shown here in a bizarre electronic winter landscape. The music used for this re-release was carefully transferred from original old analog master-tapes to digital equip…

*Released in 6-panel Digipak. Includes a 24-page booklet.* This re-release has some little differences from the formerly available CD version. The former CD of "X." was altered in sound and some tracks were a bit shorter as on the original vinyl album. The music used for this re-release was carefully transferred from original old analog mastertapes to digital format. There is a version of "Ludwig", played and recorded live in concert in September 1978 during a show by Klaus Schulze who was accom…

*The CD re-release includes the 33-minute bonus track "C'est Pas La Meme Chose" as well as a 16-page booklet.* "Picture Music" is Klaus Schulze's fourth studio album. It contains two tracks, "Totem" and "Mental Door", which were recorded towards the end of 1974. The LP was released in January 1975 on the legendary Brain label. A British journalist attested to the publication's "hypnotic quality" at the time. In addition to the strong rhythm emphasis, the chirping, rising and falling synthesizer …

With "Big Moog" and Harald Grosskopf on drums: The cult album from 1976. For many fans of cosmic music from Germany, Schulze's sixth album "Moondawn", originally released in 1976, is considered a highlight in the musician's oeuvre, which is not exactly lacking in showpieces. Its cult status was due in particular to the use of a "Big Moog" for the first time, which draws attention to itself with a particularly fat sound. Furthermore, "Moondawn" was the first Klaus Schulze production to be made as…

*Released in 6-panel Digipak. Includes a 16-page booklet.* Award-winning Wagner homage from 1975 – the hour of birth of "classical Schulze". With the two titles "Bayreuth Return" and "Wahnfried 1883", Klaus Schulze clearly dedicated his fifth album to Richard Wagner, his great musical role model. Released in August 1975, Timewind was awarded the Grand Prix Internationale du Disques by the French Charles Cros Academy in 1976. This award is similar to the German Record Prize and is usually reserve…

*Released in 8-panel Digipak. Includes a 20-page booklet in German and English.* The eighth part of "La Vie Electronique" contains a selection of titles that were created in the years from 1977 onwards, outside of the productions for the albums "Mirage", "Dune" or "Dig It". These showed a significant change in Klaus Schulze's way of playing and composing. This was not least due to the renewal and expansion of his instrument pool. This gave Schulze the opportunity to play and record his music wit…