A violin tone is not a rough rock, nor is it a bird croaking above the snow, and the breath from a flute is not the wind blowing across the Sami National Park in the far north of Scandinavia. The sounds in these five audio landscapes are far from being naturalistic reproductions of reality. And yet they lead to a state of auditory “contemplation,” to stay with the image. They transform landscape experiences into music that can be experienced—and this is what makes them special—like a landscape.
All sources of inspiration are noted in the titles. However, the translation of actual experiences into music never becomes concrete. Nevertheless, something essential is conveyed: colors, rhythms, topographies, tempos, and acoustic event densities. The material is almost always very limited, one might even say sparse, but perhaps these are precisely the landscapes that leave the deepest impressions on Dorothee Schabert. All five compositions refer to lonely areas: the Sami National Park north of the Arctic Circle, a valley in the French Massif Central, or a stay in rural Sicily. What the chosen motifs have in common is that they do not overwhelm with an excess of information, but on the contrary, concentrate on a few elementary elements. One can listen to this music in peace. The materials become more familiar bar by bar, while the slightly varied repetition leaves room for one's own thoughts, feelings, and images.
Programme
Dorothee Schabert (*1952)
[01] Nachklang I “Padjelanta” für Streichquintett
Ensemble Resonanz
[Gregor Dierck & Benjamin Spillner, violin · Benedikt Schneider, viola · Saerom Park, cello · Benedikt Ziervogel, double bass]
[02] La Vallée des Mandailles for four wind players and percussion
Ensemble Aventure
[Hille Wippermann, recorder · Walter Ifrim, clarinet · Alexander Ott, oboe & English horn · Wolfgang Rüdiger, bassoon · Nicolas Reed, percussion]
[03] Musica insabbiata for solo double bass
Wolfgang Güttler, double bass
[04] Nachklang II “Länsträffiken” for string quintet
Ensemble Resonanz
[Gregor Dierck & Benjamin Spillner, violin · Benedikt Schneider, viola · Saerom Park, cello · Benedikt Ziervogel, double bass]
[05] Being Human for two violins
Gregor Dierck & Benjamin Spillner, violin
[06] Saggat for woodwind sextet
Ensemble Aventure
[Hille Wippermann, recorder · Martina Roth, flute · Walter Ifrim, clarinet · Andrea Nagy, bass clarinet · Alexander Ott, oboe · Wolfgang Rüdiger, bassoon]
World premiere recordings
Biographies
Composer and author Dorothee Schabert studied history, philosophy, and German language and literature (state examination in 1977) in Freiburg, as well as music at the Berlin University of the Arts, where she earned a degree in sound engineering and composition (until 1985).
From 1987 to 2017, Schabert worked as a sound engineer, initially for SWF in Tübingen and, from 1992, for SWR2 Musik in Baden-Baden, where she was responsible for the musical direction of radio and CD productions (chamber music and, above all, contemporary compositions) with the SWR Symphony Orchestra under renowned conductors and well-known soloists. With the SWR Experimentalstudio and its former director André Richard, she produced Luigi Nono's late electroacoustic works for SACD and radio.
At the same time, she composed works for instruments and voices in various ensembles, as well as acousmatic works and sound installations – often in collaboration with artists from other disciplines. Her works have been performed in Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Cologne, Darmstadt, Rome, New York, and Berlin, among other places.
More information
Catalogue number: NEOS 12501
EAN: 4260063125010
