Marcus Schmickler: Demos (for choir, chamber quintet and electronic music)

marcus schmicklerThis CD contains three tracks, the first from a play, the second a shorter excerpt from a live piece and the third a twenty-three minute building cyclone of noise and dissonance based on Nietzsche's Zarathustra. As the title implies, they all feature a choir as their centerpoint, with the electronic music generally adding texture. The first track "0" is quite impressive, a slow and magical layering of voices and breaths in almost one overlapping gradually shifting note reminiscent of a Werner Herzog soundtrack in its sense of space. It makes me picture fog blowing quickly over a wooded mountain. The second piece is shorter and more traditional with beautiful hymn-like harmonies. The third piece, the titular track, is moving and impressive, aside from the talking.The connection with Zarathustra seems to have potential, but rather than successfully illustrating or elaborating on themes of eternal recurrence or language as music, Schmickler has chosen to include in his otherwise thoughtful epic people reciting, in unison, what I assume to be Nietzsche quotations. Though my Deutsch is very bad, I strongly prefer the vocals sung in German and other languages to those in English which sound like the obnoxious girl in your Intro to Philosophy class trying to forcefully explain something profound without really understanding it. Perhaps my preference of languages I can't understand in this case successfully proves some sort of point Nietzsche or Schmickler was trying to make. Still, some of the talking borders on corny, though not quite slam poetry. My limited knowledge of contemporary composers and composed music in general puts me at a disadvantage in reviewing this album, though it doesn't limit my ability to understand and enjoy it. The closest comparisons I could draw would be to liken it to the sprawling, building orchestral arrangements by American composer Earle Brown, a tamer version of Diamanda Galas' darkness and frantic vocal style, and the slower-paced Madgrigals of Carlo Gesualdo. The electronic elements of the album, while effective, are fairly commonplace-sounding noise and ambiance which seem familiar and easily blend into the fabric of the entire piece. I'd like to hear more of Schmickler's works. :: Marcus Schmickler: Demos (for choir, chamber quintet and electronic music) - A-Musik