#peter ablinger

Peter Ablinger — Speaking Piano

Masterpiece for computer controlled piano (programmed and built by Winfried Ritsch). Spoken language projected on and played by a piano.

The Necks — Mosquito / See Through

One of the most fascinating bands on the planet; difficult to pick a favorite album since the 90's releases like Hanging Gardens are also great, though in a very different way.

Ground Zero — Consume Red

One of the most intense pieces ever put to tape, by a seminal band whose influence/importance cannot be over-exaggerated. Otomo Yoshihide is a genius.

Boredoms — Super æ

No comment, this has to be experienced (turn up loud).

Art as Art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt (Edited by Barbara Rose)

Some of the most inspiring and mind-changing texts about art.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe — Complete Vol. 2 (1943-47)

In case anyone ever doubted Rock'n'Roll is sacred music here is the proof ;-)

John Cale — Sun Blindness Music / Dream Interpretation / Stainless Gamelan

Thanks so much to Table of the Elements for putting out these compositions/tape/drone-pieces by John Cale. Music at least 30 years ahead of its time, and with contributions by other favorites like Tony Conrad and Angus MacLise.

My Bloody Valentine — Loveless

A classic, and one of the prime examples of when songwriting, performance/playing and studio production come together in a magic way.

Hans Reichel — The Death of the Rare Bird Ymir

<a href="http://destination-out.bandcamp.com/album/the-death-of-the-rare-bird-ymir-bonobo-beach-lp-versions">The Death of the Rare Bird Ymir & Bonobo Beach [LP versions] by HANS REICHEL</a>

Is this free improv? Or some twisted type of world music? Definitely a groundbreaking solo guitar record that sounds like nothing/nobody else.

Prince — Sign o’ the Times

Well there had to be some Prince in there. RIP

Morton Feldman Says: Selected Interviews and Lectures 1964-87 (Edited by Chris Villars)

The piece, written for ONCEIM, is built from a list of 180 events consisting of vocal whispers, slow scales for solo instruments, improvisations, use of objects (rustling bags, cans in a cardboard box), instrumental colors and duos of noise. In the score, Ablinger notes that “theoretically the montage of the score is a version or a suggestion or a starting point. theoretically everything could be re-arranged, shortened, extended, while the general idea - density, horizontal and vertical collage - remains similar.” The 30-minute piece is scored for 28 performers with instrumentation for clarinets, saxophones, trumpet and euphonium, accordion, piano, electric guitar, string players, electronics and percussionists, providing basic structures coordinated through a central clock. Ablinger specifically stipulates the piece should not be directed by a central conductor, leaving open options for the ensemble during performance within specified parameters. Detailed notes are available on Ablinger’s site here.  

Starting with quiet murmurs, drum rolls, and fractured reed lines, the ensemble traverses the 30 minutes with aplomb. Sonic events appear, snippets of melodies and fragments of scales float in and out, all woven in to the score’s  “horizontal and vertical collage.” A key element that emerges is the lack of differentiation between non-tonal texture which Ablinger refers to in the score notes specifically as noise, tonal color, and melodic line. Little flurries of solo voices emerge for a moment and then are quickly subsumed into the encompassing whole. But even in short duration, these statements are striking breaks in the overall ensemble textures.  

The members of ONCEIM balance the score-based instructions and improvisation with steadfast assuredness allowing the piece to hold together so well, never devolving into episodic shambles. Their keen balance of density and volume is also critical to the success of the piece. Sections may burst forth with forceful energy while others are introduced at an almost subliminal level, only to emerge as other events subside. This is particularly evident in short canons that occur throughout the piece, where the low strings play off of each other in countervailing rising glissandos. The chatter and hum of voices, always with words or meaning veiled to create what Ablinger notes as “a continuous fabric,” provides an undercurrent that supplies a persistent thread. The ending of the piece occurs as various subgroupings complete their events, decisively unwinding density as progressive layers subside until insistent percussive patterns and the chatter of voices bring the piece to a riveting close.