BERND ALOIS ZIMMERMANN "REQUIEM FÜR EINEN JUNGEN DICHTER" (LINGUAL 1967-1969)

Although a good portion of the texts are in german it is an overhwelming listening experience (IMHO) also for non-german speakers. Sometimes the words are not clearly audible - wether german or in another language. But it doesn't diminish the impact of the score - au contraire
Since I discovered B.A. Zimmermann (about ten years ago) seriously, he has become one of my favourite composers. A friend of mine made me aware about the LP I post here - it was released not by a label but through the association of the german industries - or better its cultural society.

I was lucky enough to find it several days ago - and what a find...still the music is resonating.

Enjoy!




BERND ALOIS ZIMMERMANN  (20 March 1918 - 10 August 1970)
 "REQUIEM FÜR EINEN JUNGEN DICHTER" (LINGUAL 1967-1969)

Lingual für Sprecher, Sopran- und Baritonsolo, drei Chöre, Orchester, Jazz-Combo und elektronische Klänge nach Worten verschiedener Dichter, Berichte und Reportagen.
(Lingual for speaker, soprano- and baritone-solo, three choirs, orchestra, jazz-combo, organ and electronic sounds, with texts from various writers, narrations and reports.)
Ad Honorem St.Hermani-Josephi


Dorothy Dorow, soprano
Günther Reich, baritone
Theo Loevendie Quartet
Manfred Schoof, trumpet
Matthias Fuchs, speaker
Hans Franzen, speaker
RIAS Chamber Choir, Erich Brockhaus, leader
Austrian Broadcast Choir, Prof. Gottfried Preinfalk, leader
The Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Great Broadcast Choir of the N.O.S. Hilversum
Michaell Gielen, director



Side A: (29:10)

- Prolog
- Requiem I
- Requiem II


Side B: (35:02)

Requiem II (continued)
- Ricercar
- Rappresentazione
- Elegia
- Tratto
- Lamento
- Dona Nobis Pacem


Recorded by the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting Hilversum at the Holland-Festival in 1971.

Published by the Kulturkreis im Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie - Stereo 2891 182 (LP)


Note: Words are by Wladimir Majakowski, Sergej Jessenin, Conrad Beyer, Ezra Pound, H.H.Jahnn, Mao, Dubcek, Goebbels, Joyce, Camus, Weöres, Augustine, Hitler, Imre Nagy, Papandreou, Chamberlain, Aeschylus, Wittgenstein, Beatles [Hey Jude] and others...(languages - greek, russian, english, french, hungarian, czech, latin, german...)

Bernd Alois Zimmermann-the Numbered, Improvisations & Tratto (Wergo-2549-005) 1969 featuring Manfred Schoof's quintet

Here's another Wergo Lp , mentioned In the comments to Onxydlib's post of Manfred Schoofs ,wonderful 1967 debut.
This features the Compositions of Bernd Alois Zimmerman one of the most significant post war European Composers.

Zimmermann had a life long love of jazz and its spontaneity ,the forms associated with jazz and the blues are often referenced however obtusely in many of his own works.
The individuality of his unique Vision seems to be ever more clearly evident and relevant.

A postmodernist before the term was ever invented , like his contemporary Mauricio Kagel (who had in his youth been a trumpeter)
Serial ,and aleatory techniques mingle with myriad fragments of popular musics, marching bands ,swing ,the blues..baroque music and quotes from contemporaneous scores , just about anything really.
all this at times fractured and pulverised then re filtered through the seemingly conversational flow of the musical organism .

Yes i like his music alot ... and wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who loves richly textured complex kaleidoscopic musics.
The Wergo Site is a great place to start , since they have documented the majority of his oeuvre.

His life was sadly cut short by chronic depression ,he suicided in 1970.

I bought this record whilst first exploring free jazz and improvised musics, and having stumbled across European echoes a few months before , i was somewhat bemused and disappointed at first.

Finding side A ,(on which Schoof's original quintet performs incidental music to a radio play, and improvisations on themes from Zimmermann's opera Die Soldaten) restrained , and a little bloodless
.
Now of course i love it , it is restrained ,indeed very quiet for long periods.

also note that ,Jaki Liebziet's drumming is consistently inventive throughout , negotiating every rapid fire change,and the huge dynamic range like a virtuoso, amazing given that he must have been barely out of his teens.


The second piece is an electronic subtly oscillating drone piece from 1966, sounding Perhaps a little like 3 or 4 Elaine Radigue pieces played simultaneously.


i have looked for this both on the Wergo site and elsewhere to no avail i assume therefore that it is out of print, although i have a feeling that perhaps Tratto the electronic piece has been reissued elswhere , perhaps an electro acoustic compilation of some sort...

Enjoy
and check out Both Zimmermann ,and Schoofs work if you get a chance.