IRMIN SCHMIDT has announced
5 Klavierstücke, an album of five piano pieces recorded last year by the influential composer, musician and founder of Can.
5 Klavierstücke is out on Mute in conjunction with Spoon Records on
November 16. The album – which will be available on vinyl, CD and digital formats – coincides with events centered around his works occurring later this year including the Braunschweig International Film Festival and the Volksbühne in Berlin.
Pre-order
5 Klavierstücke and listen to “Klavierstück III”
here.
Irmin Schmidt explains,
“The tracks are spontaneous meditations, only played once and recorded simultaneously – no edits or corrections. They are formed from an emotional memory in which Schubert, Cage, Japan (Gagaku) and Can are equally present.”5 Klavierstücke, was recorded and produced by Gareth Jones in the South of France on Irmin Schmidt's two grand pianos. Schmidt partly prepared his Pleyel piano, in the way he was taught by John Cage himself, and the other piano – Schmidt’s 100-year-old Steinway – remained unprepared. Several pieces were recorded in one session on the prepared piano only, others contain recordings from both pianos. All ambient sounds were recorded on site – around Schmidt's studio – and there are no other instruments or electronics of any kind.
As a composer and as one of Can’s founding members, Schmidt has scored more than one hundred soundtracks. Outside of his work with Can, he has released over a dozen solo albums and written an opera,
Gormenghast, based on the novels of Mervyn Peake. In 2015, he was made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his contribution to art and culture, one of France’s highest honors. In 2018, Faber Social published
Can – All Gates Open, a two part book – the first section is Can’s biography, written by Rob Young, and the second section is Can Kiosk, a collage of diary entries and interviews edited and written by Irmin Schmidt.
The work of Schmidt will be a large part of Braunschweig’s International Film Festival this autumn, with events including a retrospective of his work for film. Schmidt will also present two new compositions for orchestra he wrote in collaboration with Gregor Schwellenbach:
Can Dialog – featuring motifs from Can, which premiered at London’s Barbican in 2017 – and the suite
Filmmusiken – an orchestration of several of Schmidt’s soundtracks. Later this year, the Volksbühne in Berlin will honor Can’s work with a performance of Can Dialog and Filmmusiken. Further details below.
This is Irmin Schmidt’s first solo release since
Electro Violet – a collection of his entire solo work – in 2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment