Plötzlichkeit. Gesten
Christopher Dell
Plötzlichkeit. Gesten
limited edition 200 signed
A retroactive manifesto! This legendary recording with the great Hyperion Ensemble Salzburg constituted the first publication of edition niehler werft in 2001. 24 years later and meticulously remeastered by Arne Schumann, Plötzlichkeit.Gesten is from today available on digital platforms such as quobuz. I am very grateful to the exceptional musicians Annelie Gahl, Wolfgang Neugebauer, Petra Stump, Firmian Lermer and Detlef Mielke, everyone who made the recording possible then and to Arne for doing a great job in actualizing the material sonically. A big thanks also to Ruth Hommelsheim for the outstanding cover design.
high res download at quobuz
cd order hard-copy at the enw shop
recorded March 2000 at WDR Funkhaus, Kleiner Saal, Cologne
Concept by Christopher Dell
© & ℗ Christopher Dell
Design by Ruth Hommelsheim
All Compositions by Christopher Dell (GEMA)
With essay by Christopher Dell
Produced by enw and Christopher Dell
track list:
01 Gesten 11:51
02 Sandzeit 8:38
03 Aphorismen 8:01
04 Feld 7:30
05 Kalkwerk 3:38
06 Eidos-Telos 2:17
07 Atem 3:28
08 Zwischengesicht 8:07
total time: 61:54
Line Up:
Christopher Dell – vibraphone, conduction, composituion
Hyperion Ensemble:
Werner Neugebauer – violin
Annelie Gahl – violin
Firmian Lermer – viola
Detlef Mielke – cello
Petra Stumpf – clarinet
The choreography of musical space is divided into numerous options. Composition and improvisation, closed and open form, stand side by side. They provide the material out of which the musical gesture is able to unfold itself. To communicate the relational affectivity and perceptivity of the material,
I have tried to create a musical language of “Plötzlichkeit”, suddenness. It is a language that combines the
individual autobiography of the players with the complexity of the musical thought. Conceptually, it refers to the idea that affect and percept are not a matter of isolated mental states, but of relational dynamics between human and non-human actors, actions and discourses on a site. Taking this into account, a special sound is created: the open form of improvisation finds a structural mix with a musical language influenced by Béla Bartók, György Kurtág, Luciano Berio and Morton Feldman. This music demands the total, intense presence of each player. Gestures become as fast as the musical thought. The music then operates precisely in the interval between the constructed and the deconstructed, the composed and the improvised, the determined and the just found in the mode of “Plötzlichkeit”, suddenness.
[Concept text for the recording Christopher Dell Plötzlichkeit.
Gesten, published in a booklet by enw, Berlin, 2002.]