Aural Diversity

Ulrich Schnauss presents ‘Now is a Timeless Present’, a career-spanning retrospective encompassing key works from the past two decades. The German electronic composer will be selecting fundamental music from his back catalogue.

Radio Massacre International is a trio of English musicians (Duncan Goddard, Steve Dinsdale, Gary Houghton) known for their extended concerts of epic aural excursions. Their performances are largely improvised and often veer off into areas dictated by mood, circumstance or whim. RMI's recorded output reflects the diversity and complexity of this work, which is often compared to that of the Berlin School of cosmic music that emerged in Germany during the 1970s. But RMI is not simply re-creating the music of this era, but rather further exploring and contemplating the expressional mode and the instruments that made it possible - in hopes of realizing new ideas. Their album "Solid States" is an audio document of their bi-coastal 2002 tour of the USA, including the track "Nov(embers)" recorded live on Star's End.

This release offers a liturgical reconstruction of the Vespers office. The five Vesper psalms and Magnificat belong to different periods in Charpentier's life and the six antiphons are by his organist-composer contemporary, Nivers. The reconstruction works well and Le Concert Spirituel, under Hervé Niquet, demonstrates its rapport with Charpentier's music. The vocal sound is fresh and the wide range of musical Affekt shows off a greater diversity of tonal colour.