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ARTIST
TITLE
mewls infans
FORMAT
LP
LABEL
CATALOG #
BNSD 065LP
BNSD 065LP
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
7/29/2022
"At the invitation of composer Martin Sturm, Singh composed four pieces for the Liszt organ at Denstadt, which, inspired by the composer's 'rural organ experiments' with cantor and organist Alexander Wilhelm Gottschalg, explore the sound spectrum of this unique instrument. The approach is far less strict than that recently adopted by Éliane Radigue or members of the loose association of Stockholm composers and organ nerds such as Kali Malone or the Berlin-based Ellen Arkbro. Singh's composition and Sturm's playing respectively concede the instrument its own peculiarities and thus a ghostly life of its own. mewl infans offers yet another of the numerous contemporary and forward-looking perspectives; one of the most innovative ones at that." --Field Notes Berlin (Releases of the Month)
In the 1850s the influential composer Franz Liszt, who was living in Weimar, Germany at the time, carried out, with the famous cantor Alexander Wilhelm Gottschalg, a series of "ländlichen Orgelexperimente" (rural organ experiments) in Thuringia -- investigating various instruments and their capabilities for contemporary music. They eventually settled on the organ in Denstedt because of its high quality. Many years later, award-winning organist Martin Sturm would invite the Berlin-based composer Rishin Singh to repeat these "ländlichen Orgelexperimente" with him and they again chose the organ at Denstedt, now named in honor of Liszt, as the best instrument -- the most flexible and expressive -- to perform and record Singh's music for organ. mewl infans is a contemporary classical piece that invites modern listeners to ponder the enduring pull of an instrument that was first conceived more than 2,000 years ago and has, in recent years, been rediscovered by a new generation of composers and listeners. Throughout the larger architecture of the four movements, melodic motifs return over and over, fractured by noise, fragmented by carefully calibrated alternate tunings, dissolving into thin air, and generating drones which then transform into new melodic variations. Over the 44 minutes of the piece the organist at times attempts to exert complete control over the instrument, and at other times relinquishes all control entirely. Conceptually rigorous and emotionally charged, mewl infans rewards deep listening and patience. At times conjuring a sense of doom, at other times suspense, pastoral drift, or aquatic submersion, the album is a universe of tiny details comprised of noise and air, of the journey each tone takes from birth to expiration. Singh has been commissioned by the GRAMMY-nominated JACK Quartet. RIYL: Anna von Hausswolff, Olivier Messiaen, Max Reger, Kali Malone, Ellen Arkbro, Kevin Drumm, Maria Horn.
"An endless and captivating exploration of one organ's timbres and tones. Both whispered and shouted, large and small, close and far, Singh's work is both unsettling and a balm, and has invited me to reconsider pitch, consonance, dissonance, tension and release." --Clarice Jensen, artistic director of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME)
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