Bernhard Günter
(Copyright © 2003 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use)
Un Peu De Neige Salie (1993), 8/10
Details Agrandis (1994), 6/10
Home Unspeakable (1996), 6/10
Univers/Temporel/Espoir (1999), 6.5/10
Brown, Blue, Brown On Blue (2000), 6.5/10
Time, Dreaming Itself (2000), 7/10
Then Silence (2001), 7/10
Crossing The River (2001), 6.5/10
Monochrome White - Polychrome (2001), 6/10
Monochrome Rust - Differential (2002), 6/10
Redshift - Abschied (2002), 7/10
Links:

(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)

Bernhard Günter (Germany, 1957), a student of Pierre Boulez (1980), has become the guru of digital, subsonic minimalism, approaching silence. He sculpts sub-atomic soundtracks that pick up the sounds from the crevices between one quantum event and the next one.

Un Peu De Neige Salie (Selektion, 1993 - Table Of The Elements, 1996) is a five-part work of musique concrete that manipulates noises of ordinary life to the point that they become unrecognizable, and then turns them into cold, dark, monolithic structures of silence, terrible depths from which there emerge unidentified and barely-audible bursts of sound. (The tracks Untitled II/92 and Untitled III/92 would subsequently merge into Whiteout of Tokyo).

Details Agrandis (Selektion, 1994 - Table Of The Elements, 1999) contains three lengthy pieces (dedicated to Jim O'Rourke, Richard Long, Giancarlo Toniutti), which relish high-pitched tones and barren slow-motion soundscapes. The music was barely alive, helping establish the "micro-sound" genre.

After Home Unspeakable (Trente Oiseaux, 1996), a collaboration with John Duncan, and Univers/Temporel/Espoir (Trente Oiseaux, 1999), that reworked older compositions such as Un Lieu Pareil A Un Point Effacé (1997) and The Ant Moves (1996), which appeared on compilations, the impressionistic, zen-like nature of his art revealed itself on the mini-albums Buddha With The Sun Face/Buddha With The Moon Face (Digital Narcis, 1999) and Slow Gestures/Ceremonie Desir (Trente Oiseaux, 1999).

Brown, Blue, Brown On Blue (Trente Oiseaux, 2000), dedicated to painter Mark Rothko, and Time, Dreaming Itself (Trente Oiseaux, 2000) were more complex and (relatively speaking) lively works, frequently reminiscent of Morton Feldman.

Then Silence (Trente Oiseaux, 2001), dedicated to Morton Feldman and Luigi Nono, continued this new phase of sonic exploration, "active" rather than "passive"; and Crossing The River (Trente Oiseaux, 2001) closed this tetralogy with a calm ocean of cryptic frequencies, roamed by microtonal two-note patterns.

The two-disc set Monochrome White - Polychrome (On Line, 2001) is mainly devoted to Monochrome White, whose dogma was: "only use high frequency spectra to lift it off the ground, so to speak... only use empty intervals (4ths and 9ths) ... to keep it harmonically floating and suspended". Polychrome is a "remixed version" of the same composition. A further degradation of the same composition appears on the two-disc set Monochrome Rust - Differential (On Line, 2002), each disc a 44-minute piece. Günter explores the wadded ripples of the inner space, letting micro-accidents compose subliminal, sub-ambient music. Günter's music would be an ideal soundtrack for the quantum fluctuations that surface in the vacuum.

Particles/Waves, on the split album Japan (Trente Oiseaux, 2001) with Steve Roden, returns to his original, hyper-minimalist style.

Redshift - Abschied (Trente Oiseaux, 2002) contains two compositions, the former a calm, determined study of static textures, and the latter a highly-degraded chamber piece whose instruments are barely emitting sounds.

For Morton Feldman (2002), a split album with Richard Chartier and Steve Roden, contains the 24-minute Fuyo no ame.

+ Minus (Trente Oiseaux, 2004) and Message Urgent (Trente Oiseaux, 2004) are both mediocre collaborations with two improvisers. Ataraxia (Trente Oiseaux, 2005) is a collaboration between Günter on various kinds of shakuhachi and cymbalon player Heribert Friedl.

Then came Lone Looper (2008) and the 48-minute piece of Yinzhang (2008). Explorative Music (2016) contains three improvisations, one on sopranos saxophone and the other two on clarinet. Bedroom Guitarist (2017) delivers Wave 13 to 16.

(Copyright © 2003 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use)
What is unique about this music database