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CD
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RZ 1030CD
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Edition RZ presents Jakob Ullmann's Fremde Zeit Addendum 5, a supplement to Fremde Zeit Addendum (RZ 1026-28CD, 2011). CD comes in carton sleeve with flap (to be added to Fremde Zeit Addendum box -- CDs 1-4), with booklet in German and English.
"Do we hear what we know? How, if this is obscured? Sent on a journey of discovery into the audible, at first almost nothing appears here. But once the ear has become accustomed to the intermediate realm of the pianissimo, an abundance of timbres becomes apparent, everyday noises unexpectedly dispersing in their non-spatial aura, then the surprising appearances of short tonal shapes, which enter the flow of time standing still as if they were revelations of the ear itself with no possibility to guess their origin, verifiable on the instrument. After all, it is in fact the tone which is the improbable, out of all that is weaving in and out within the grounding, static sound, like a distant army of constellations below, taking place uneventfully at the level of the permanent. 'solo V' is not an instrumental piece for a soloist in the ordinary sense. The grand piano becomes an unknown sound body. Although there is a soloist, they could hardly carry out the performance on their own, requiring either pre-produced electronic playback or, as in the present recording by Lukas Rickli, the participation of three assistants sustaining a soundscape. Ullmann conceived a sonic space in which sound is subjected to the laws of a specific 'gravity'. Its meridians range continuously from noise to tone and from shortest single event to sustained continuity, but what constitutes the true aura of this space is its reduced dynamics, and a rhythmic sense that is averse to any kind of melody in the usual sense. 'solo V' is also 'solistic' in another way: there is no fixed notated score, it must first be created individually, and so hardly ever will any performance score be the same as another. Rickli and his partner Zora Marti had a variety of graphic and notated material at their disposal for the development of the temporal form. Following the composer's graphically notated glissandi, Rickli and Marti modify the sound of the centers and generate transitions with them. The piece to be heard unfolds in a pulsating, breathing pianissimo. Hardly bringing any instrument to mind, it opens up a harmonic cosmos, urging the listener into it -- because other than through listening to the barely recognizable, nothing is revealed. --Rainer Schmusch, translated by Peter Gebert.
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2CD
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RZ 1038-39CD
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From the liner notes by Hans-Peter Schulz; Translation by Peter Gebert: "... SOLO II: Solo II is part of a group of works with the title Buch der Stille 1 ('Book of Silence 1'). This is a series of solo pieces for flute/oboe da cacchia (solo I), trombone/bassoon (solo II), organ (solo III), low string instrument (solo IV), and piano (solo V), all of which were developed from the same compositional idea; the series is a generalisation of disappearing musics, itself a composition for three winds, two strings and two pianos written between 1989 and 1991. The individual solo-compositions can be performed separately, as well as in all combinations simultaneously. After Jakob Ullman had met John Cage in person on the occasion of a Cage festival organised by the Deutschlandfunk in 1990, this encounter developed into a lengthy and intensive exchange of ideas which had considerable impact on the compositional process that Ullmann was concerned with at the time, specifically of soli I, II and III, finished in 1992. The pieces can therefore be rightly considered as a reflection and result of this exchange of ideas . . . MÜNTZERS STERN (MÜNTZER'S STAR): Between 2014 and 2016 Jakob Ullmann composed the orchestral work steine, feuer, sterne ('stones, fire, stars'). . . . One section among these is the section for a solo bassoon, which may be performed independently under the title 'Müntzers stern'. Thomas Müntzer, born around 1490, was a keen supporter of the Lutheran Reformation. . . . After the battle near Frankenhausen, Müntzer was captured, tortured and eventually beheaded. As a priest, he strove for the renewal of divine service and translated liturgical texts and hymns from Latin to German even before Luther. The title Müntzers stern refers to the Advent hymn Gott heil'ger Schöpfer aller Stern, a translation of the medieval hymn conditor alme siderum done by Müntzer as part of this work. Ullmann spread the melody of the hymn over the total duration of the composition in a very prolonged manner. In the course of this process, the six different tone pitches of the hymn, which are heard either being sung or as an emphasised partial within the bassoon's spectrum, are supplemented by another six tones, played ordinario on the bassoon, those still missing in the twelve-tone space, until the chromatic scale is completely filled in ..."
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CD
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RZ 1029CD
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An addition to the Fremde Zeit Addendum box. Available separately. "Hush! Hush! Hath not the world now become perfect? What hath happened unto me? As a delicate wind danceth invisibly upon parqueted seas, light, feather-light, so -- danceth sleep upon me. No eye doth it close to me, it leaveth my soul awake. Light is it, verily, feather-light. It persuadeth me, I know not how, it toucheth me inwardly with a caressing hand, it constraineth me. Yea, it constraineth me, so that my soul stretcheth itself out: -- How long and weary it becometh, my strange soul! Hath a seventh-day evening come to it precisely at noontide? Hath it already wandered too long, blissfully, among good and ripe things? It stretcheth itself out, long -- longer! It lieth still, my strange soul. Too many good things hath it already tasted; this golden sadness oppresseth it, it distorteth its mouth. -- As a ship that putteth into the calmest cove: -- it now draweth up to the land, weary of long voyages and uncertain seas. Is not the land more faithful? As such a ship huggeth the shore, tuggeth the shore: -- then it sufficeth for a spider to spin its thread from the ship to the land. No stronger ropes are required there. As such a weary ship in the calmest cove, so do I also now repose, nigh to the earth, faithful, trusting, waiting, bound to it with the lightest threads. O happiness! O happiness! Wilt thou perhaps sing, O my soul? Thou liest in the grass. But this is the secret, solemn hour, when no shepherd playeth his pipe. Take care! Hot noontide sleepeth on the fields. Do not sing! Hush! The world is perfect." --from Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, vierter und letzter Teil, Mittags | LXX. Noontide.
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3CD
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RZ 1026-28CD
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Ranked #4 in the the Wire's Rewind 2012 best-of list. Three CD box collection with a 16-page booklet. "Experimental German composer Jakob Ullmann creates quiet music in order to give himself and his listeners the opportunity to hear more, and better. This comes about because our ability to hear is augmented when listening to quiet music. We hear better because we make an effort to hear better. That is why Ullmann likes to locate his sound-sources at the periphery, so as not to make it too easy for the ear. In order to let sounds develop and move in their own time, the pieces are usually longer than the general concert norm dictates. The opening minutes serve as the exposition of the tempo and the mode, to condition, as it were, the listening." --Bernd Leukert; Players include: "Disappearing Musics For Six Players (More Or Less)" (1989-1991): Maruta Staravoitava (flute), Pavlos Serassis (clarinet) Patrick Stadler (saxophone), Orsolya Sepsi, Éva Csizmadia (violin), Lucie Martin, Hans-Peter Schulz (clavier); "Solo I + II + III" (1992/1993/2010): Molly McDolan (oboe da caccia), Dafne Vicente-Sandoval (bassoon), Hans-Peter Schulz (organ), Assistenten des Organisten: Philipp Kusin, Markus Putzke; "Komposition Für Streichquartett 2" (1997-1999): Pellegrini-Quartett: Antonio Pellegrini, Thomas Hofer (violin), Fabio Marano (viola), Helmut Menzler (violoncello); "PRAHA: Celetná - Karlova - Maiselova" (2004-2007): Jardena Flückiger, Stimme (Gesang/Sprecherin); Christoph Bösch (flute), Dafne Vicente-Sandoval (bassoon), Helena Winkelman (violin), Oliver Margulies (viola), Ellen Fallowfield (violoncello), Clara Gervais (contrabass/percussion); Stephan Schmidt (voice), Leonardo Idrobo Arce (electronics), realization: Jürg Henneberger.
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CD
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RZ 1017CD
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2005 release. Jakob Ullmann's music realizes an infinite variety of gradations in all areas of musical formation. That the music of the "catalogue" is nearly always played very softly leads to the ear noticing the smallest differentiations; the listener is put into a state of constant, acute attentiveness. The musical stream is constantly subjected to small irritations, sometimes its flow quickens, sometimes there are brief splashes like those caused by pebbles thrown into water. Performers: Ensemble Oriol Berlin, M.M. Kasper, S. Renshaw, F. Ritts-Kirby.
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CD
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RZ 2005CD
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2008 release. Composed by experimental German composer Jakob Ullmann. Phillip Thimm (cello); Ensemble: Ensemble Für Experimentelle Musik 2006; Isabelle Fontius (flute); Leif Bergerhoff (saxophone); Tobias Keck (viola); Susanne Friedrich, Judith Geier-Leisch, Daniela Hornung, Ida Maria Kastner, Anja Kienborn, Annegret Kornmann, Christina Reis, Corinna Schmid (voice). The composer states: "Voice, Books And FIRE is the result of my reflections about the relationships between music and language: language as sound and language as text, the numerous relationships between texts of different cultural and religious traditions, between the work of the human spirit in the present and in the past, and the questions arising from the problem of understanding these different traditions, languages and texts and representing them in a present, which has lost knowledge about substantial parts, even of its own tradition and history." Hisses, hushed whispers and open air drone produce a lonely, compelling tension.
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