Klaus 2019

2019 – An Anniversary Year. For three exceptional musicians 2019 brings cause for great joy and gratitude for several reasons. Ton Koopman, internationally renowned as a harpsichordist, organist, conductor, professor and musicologist, celebrates his 75th birthday.

Hans Pfitzner was one of the most important composers of Lieder in the Romantic period. Many of the songs on this album address subjects associated with withdrawal and introversion: the recollection of the happiness of past love, melancholic images of nature, and an awareness of the finite nature of human existence. Included is the world premiere recording of Weihnachtslied, his only setting inspired by a genuine folk song. But at this collection’s heart are the two remarkable cycles, Opp. 35 and 40, that are full of harmonic sophistication, impassioned expression, technical daring, and profoundly human understanding.

Praised by Quentin Tarantino as one of the greatest films from Australian New Wave cinema, Next Of Kin (1982) was a highly stylised psychological thriller in the bloody tradition of European art-Horror. Scored by none other than ex-Tangerine Dream/Ash Ra Tempel drummer and German electronic music pioneer Klaus Schulze, the music featured in the film was a unique hybrid of pulsing Giallo-moods and hypnotic Berlin-School electronica. Due to the limited availability of the film over the years, rumours have long circulated amongst horror film fans as well as 'Krautrock' enthusiasts alike that a lost Klaus Schulze soundtrack existed. Commissioned to write the score, it is true that Schulze composed an original full-length soundtrack for Next Of Kin, although for editorial reasons the complete score was rejected at the last moment by the filmmakers in favour of using pre-existing tracks from Schulze's studio albums.

In 1992 and '93 Klaus Schulze recorded ten hours of music, actually not intended for record release. The first set of ten CDs, Silver Edition was released on the 4th of November 1993, and the praise it immediately received was overwhelming. One year later the set was sold out. The present box is the first of five. Together it's 50 CDs of music by Klaus Schulze. It includes the former sets Silver Edition (10 CDs), Historic Edition (10 CDs), Jubilee Edition (25 CDs), and five new albums made especially as bonus for The Ultimate Edition.

Accordionist Klaus Paier and cellist Asja Valcic have been making music as a duo for ten years. Their playing has kept audiences delighted and critics enthralled: "Breathtaking," said the magazine Der Spiegel; they are "a captivating match" (The Guardian). During this time the two have recorded four albums which have received numerous awards. The duo’s journey together began in 2009 with their debut album "À Deux", and since then Paier and Valcic have proceeded to make their unique accordion-plus-cello sound into a thing of wonder. The titles of the previous albums by these two musicians, who live in Austria, give pointers to the elements that go into the making of their acts of musical creation: in 2013 their path together continued with "Silk Road", followed by "Timeless Suite" (2015), which in turn led to the more opulent "Cinema Scenes", for quartet. The sound is always their starting point: they have a finesse and eloquence from classical music, combined with the free-thinking, quicksilver instinctiveness of jazz, and influences from many parts of the world. And what results is capacious, widescreen music.