The release of "The Loudest Sky" marks the first time that selected electronic compositions by Argentine composer Bernardo Mario Kuczer (1955–2023) have been made available to the public. It presents highlights from his legendary tape cycle Civilización o Barbarie (1984) as well as previously unreleased digital soundscapes from his final period of creation.
Kuczer, born in Buenos Aires and initially active as a guitarist in a rock band, came to Europe in the early 1980s to study with Brian Ferneyhough in Freiburg. His breakthrough came in 1984 at the Darmstädter Ferienkursen, where excerpts from Civilización o Barbarie caused a sensation. The Belgian musicologist Harry Halbreich spoke at the time of ‘extraordinary music by a crazy visionary’. For this radical cycle, which broke the boundaries of electroacoustic music, Kuczer was the first Latin American composer to be awarded the Kranichstein Music Prize.
Civilización o Barbarie is a monumental explosion of sound – 21 independent parts that transform real sounds into brutal, physically tangible soundscapes. Kuczer's music follows in the tradition of musique concrète, but is more uncompromising, wilder, inspired by futurism, noise music and the eruptive energy of Jimi Hendrix.
After retiring from the music business in 1999, Kuczer devoted himself entirely to digital art: he developed his own programmes, created new soundscapes and impressive visual works. His late digital compositions are more subtle and atmospheric – an invitation to listen and immerse oneself.
"The Loudest Sky" documents these two poles of his work: the raw power of his analogue works and the fragile poetry of his digital sounds. This is the first comprehensive access to the electronic life's work of an artist whose music is uncompromising, challenging and uniquely expressive.
Programme
Bernardo Mario Kuczer (1955–2023)
The Loudest Sky
Part I ∙ Civilización o Barbarie (1984)
[01] Contre-rime
[02] Peripéteia II
[03] Peripéteia III
[04] Ejercicio de aire (2/C+c72x2)
[05] Escenas-Miró
[06] hole the black
Part II ∙ Digital Sounds
[07] MYM 50-2 No 99 Contruccion regala No 2 (2014)
[08] MYM 50-2 No 27 Dans l’île de la cité (2014)
[09] XM’ngolia+3,4+Limiter (2020)
[10] XM’n’lith 25 (2021)
[11] XMists (2020)
Total duration: 73:56
First recordings
Biographies
Bernardo Mario Kuczer was born on 30 April 1955 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He studied architecture and played guitar in a rock band. After graduating with a degree in architecture, he devoted himself intensively to music and moved to London in 1980 to study the viola da gamba. However, he soon gave up these studies in favour of his compositional work and, from 1983, studied with Brian Ferneyhough in Freiburg im Breisgau.
A highlight of his early career was the performance of pieces from his tape cycle Civilización o Barbarie at the Darmstädter Ferienkursen in 1984. For this work, which explored the boundaries of electroacoustic music, Bernardo M. Kuczer was the first Latin American composer to be awarded the Kranichstein Music Prize and was presented at the World Music Days in Cologne in 1987. In 1990, he received a scholarship from the Heinrich Strobel Foundation of Südwestfunk.Civilización o Barbarie bei den Darmstädter Ferienkursen 1984. Für dieses Werk, das die Grenzen der elektroakustischen Musik auslotete, wurde Bernardo M. Kuczer als erster lateinamerikanischer Komponist mit dem Kranichsteiner Musikpreis ausgezeichnet und 1987 während der Weltmusiktage in Köln vorgestellt. 1990 erhielt er ein Stipendium der Heinrich-Strobel-Stiftung des Südwestfunks.
In 1999, he retired from active music and concert life and spent the last 24 years of his life in the tranquillity of the Tuniberg near Freiburg, living in a state of inner immigration. He avoided events and took no interest in performances of his works. Only a few close friends remained in contact with him. He disappeared from the music world and fell into oblivion.
However, Bernardo M. Kuczer did not remain idle during this phase of his life. From 2000 onwards, he worked almost exclusively with computers, planning, writing and developing his own programmes, creating digital images and sounds based on his own hypotheses, models and theoretical ideas.
In addition to electronic music, he also wrote instrumental works, without regard for their technical feasibility. Kuczer was also active in other artistic fields. He created a total of over 1,000 paintings, drawings and sculptures and designed his own furniture. As a writer, he penned around 250 poems and two books, which have not yet been published.
Bernardo M. Kuczer died on 22 June 2023 in Freiburg im Breisgau and was buried on 3 July 2023 in his hometown of Buenos Aires.
More information
Catalogue number: NEOS 12533
EAN: 4260063125331
