Ballett 2

Klaus Schulze's "Ballett (Ballet)" suite originally appeared as part of the huge Rainhorse Records 10-CD "Contemporary Works I" collection of 2000. The work's title is explained by the fact that this suite of compositions was originally composed in memory of the composer's mother, a ballet dancer in her youth, who died in 1998. There was never any intention at all on Schulze's part for this music to be choreographed, and there is nothing particularly balletic about any of it. The entire suite has now been re-released in a series of four discs, each available separately and with some of them having bonus track added as "make-weights" to fill out the CD medium. The opening of the second disc in the series, 'Atmosphère Concrète' owes much to the acousmatic school of the French-Canadian Musique Concrète tradition, with -- as the title suggests -- very atmospheric sonic gestures, rich in abstract hints and suggestions, and a vocal line that morphs in and out of flute and fiddle sonorities, each with more than a suggestion of the orient to them, floating over and winding through electronic textures that rattle, crash and growl around them. The track forms a nice introduction to the disc as a whole but, at a mere seven and a half minutes, is all too short. Its electronic eruptions die suddenly, to be replaced by the sustained drone and meandering fiddle line of 'Kagi's Lament', which slowly transforms into a Celtic folk-like ballad over a classic Schulze sequencer pulse. This track feels much like another variation of the 'cello tracks on " Ballett 1 ", with the violin eventually handing over to voice and flute to pass the ideas around further (Thomas Kagermann supplying all three of these, by the way) and steadily accreting nuances in ways that Schulze's pieces rarely do, with the electronics growing in importance throughout the work's long (30-minute) arching form which eventually returns to its opening by way of resolution. We're back in more familiar Schulze territory with the third track of the disc, 'Wolf's Ponticelli' which starts as a duet for electronics and 'cello (Wolfgang Tiepold plays a mix of soft and mournful harmonics, and fast and furious pizzicati, all sounding to be near to the bridge--which explains the title) over a driving percussion line. Part way through the 27-minute work, though, the 'cello contribution suddenly collapses, leaving the synthesiser line to take over and climb alone out of the hiatus before taking off and singing its way to freedom over a pounding sequencer and percussion bass. The fourth track, 'The Smile of Shadows', features flighty flute lines over a complex rhythm and synthesiser texture. The disc concludes with a classic Schulze trance track, 'Trance 4 Motion', a 6-minute number originally featured on the promo CD for "Contemporary Works I' and included here as a bonus track. The disc is every bit as luscious as the first volume of the series and will inevitably lead you on to the remaining two parts, " Ballett 3 " and " Ballett 4 ". All are highly recommended, whether you're a Schulze fan or not.

Ein klasse Teil des Meisters, auch die inzwischen im Besitz befindliche Nr. 4. Gut, dass die "4 Balletts" aus der Contemporary Works ausgekoppelt wurden, sonst kämen wohl nur wenige in ihren Genuss, denn die 10er-Box hat ja ihren Preis. Es lohnt sich, KS auf der Spur zu bleiben...

If you have one of the re-releases on `Revisited' already, you know this disc comes in a luxury digipak with a booklet containing notes from KS relating to the music plus more `photos from the archives. The original four tracks start with the one whose mere mention of `Concrete' in the title was enough to put me off buying the album initially. However, once I was able to listen to excerpts from the tracks via Amazon, I realised that there was a lot more to this release than I'd thought. If you can't listen to the clips for any reason, `Atmosphere Concrete' is fairly low key with a hint of Middle East thriller atmospheric soundtrack - it wouldn't be out of place in a Bond film for example. `Hagi's Lament' weaves an undercurrent of gentle slow sequencer and percussion in and out of string embellishments (something that I find so often works well with KS compositions), Arabic sounding voices and instruments, in some ways similar to elements of `Moonlake'. It makes progress through to the end without any distinct changes in pace or instrumentation, but there is a beautiful, peaceful flow to it that is relaxing and yet still conjures up images of the exotic. `Wolf's Ponticelli' utilises many similar sounds/ instruments to `Hagi's Lament', but is a generally more upbeat track, with the rhythm reminding me of work on Michael Shrieve's excellent `Transfer Station Blue' (KS was part of that project). There is even a guitar sound that could have come from those sessions, and it works really well in my opinion. This is definitely a toe tapper/ head nodder track. `The Smile Of Shadows' is a shorter track that, again causing images of Arabic/ Middle East countries, rolls along very pleasantly but does not really cause you to sit up and take notice after the tone has been set by the previous tracks. A very pleasing sound though. `Trance 4 Motion' is a short bonus track and has quite a different sound to the tracks from the original album. A nice clean rhythm line with a great bass foundation - it could almost be funky, in an EM way. If you like something slightly different to just fast pounding sequencer tracks, there's some nice stuff on this CD and it's well worth a listen at some of the prices it's advertised for.

Auch wenn Ballett 2 in 5 Stücke unterteilt ist, fliesst der unvergleichliche Schulzesound fast 80 Minuten. Er liefert wunderbare Klangteppiche und Rhytmen, die den Hörer in Ihren Bann ziehen, fesseln und über die Spielzeit nicht loslassen. Dank der Gastmusiker entwickeln sich enorm viele, kleine interessante Höhepunkte. Auch das Bonusstück passt sich in den Sound ein. Ein tolles meditatives Stück Musik. Zum Träumen und , wie ich finde, sogar zum Tanzen.