ABRAHAMSEN Walden/Wald
Abrahamsen’s ‘new simplicity’ spanning three decades
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Hans Abrahamsen
Genre:
Chamber
Label: Winter & Winter
Magazine Review Date: 11/2013
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 50
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 9102032
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Bei Anbruch |
Hans Abrahamsen, Composer
Hans Abrahamsen, Composer Musique Concrète |
(4) Walden |
Hans Abrahamsen, Composer
Calefax Reed Quintet Hans Abrahamsen, Composer |
In den Wäldern |
Hans Abrahamsen, Composer
Hans Abrahamsen, Composer Musique Concrète |
Wald |
Hans Abrahamsen, Composer
Asko/Schönberg Ensemble Hans Abrahamsen, Composer |
Zur Nacht |
Hans Abrahamsen, Composer
Hans Abrahamsen, Composer Musique Concrète |
Author: David Fanning
Composed in 2009, Wald (German for ‘wood’ or ‘forest’) is conceived as variations on the opening of Walden for 15-piece ensemble, featuring ‘alternative’ timbres such as bass flute, cor anglais and bass trumpet. Here, despite clear traces of the new simplicity aesthetic, there is more sense of mystery, in places even of threat, and the whole experience is more emotionally and evocatively engaging. Anyone who knows Abrahamsen’s Schnee from his previous Winter & Winter disc (8/10) will realise that his music makes few concessions to euphony, but also that it has tremendous strength in reserve and repays efforts to probe beneath its surface.
A musique concrète prelude, interlude and postlude sweetens the pill of the two composed works. These woodland sounds, captured at different points in the day, are atmospheric enough, but it’s hard to relate them to Abrahamsen’s own music. Indeed, they risk narrowing the suggestive power of the music itself to a mere New Age ecological manifesto. Performances and recording are certainly first-rate. For the composer’s booklet-notes, however, we are directed to the label’s website, which seems a rather pointless economy. I for one would much rather have a booklet in hand than bring a computer into my listening space.
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