专辑简介

by François CoutureThis release combines two pieces, "Redshift" (30 minutes) and "Abscheid" (20 minutes), realized in 2001. Although they both fit Bernhard Günter's aesthetic, they share no common conceptual bond, which prompted the artist to include two interchangeable covers. "Redshift" was put together from old samples dating back to Günter's beginnings (circa 1993). The music mainly consists of three separate layers: a faint humming background, almost inaudible, and two tracks of rattling sounds (which could be contact microphones) placed far away in the left and right stereo channels. In headphones it produces a schizophrenic effect; on loudspeakers it transforms the room into a wide sound field you can lose yourself in. Settings change in the course of the first three movements, but the basic idea remains the same. The last seven minutes leave a lone horn calling long notes in the distance. This mournful finale turns out to be the perfect introduction for "Abscheid," composed in memory of the deceased aunt of the composer's wife. Sustained tones, calm and discreet, weave an ever-changing pattern, inducing a state of meditation. Are they strings or horns? At one point, through a short transformational process reminiscent of Trevor Wishart's "Red Bird" or Bernhard Gal's works on Relisten, the sounds of a city street at rush hour appear. Instead of casting some light on the piece, this makes it more puzzling and beautiful.