Manuel Gottsching Die Mulde

'Die Mulde' is not exactly what you might best describe as new music on the block; it's been around for a fair few years only now finding its way onto an official CD release in 2005,( Prior to this only available through VHS video release). The music of 'Die Mulde' being the resultant effort of a commission undertaken by Gottsching back in 1997 for a European arts meets music festival. Given that the whole arena of what does and does not constitute great art is very much open to personal interpretation l'll sidestep that artsy issue here and concentrate on the music, (something that's probably for the best when you consider that last month the art worlds prestigious and increasingly controversial Turner Prize was won by some guy exhibiting his chicken shed!!! I'm a broad minded chap, but come on...........).

Briefly, the musical idea behind the, 'Die Mulde' set was that the music composed was to be played in the open air at the festival via a number of speaker installations to an array of some 34 mirrors which were strategically placed around the vicinity allowing visitors to the festival the chance to stroll amongst the mirrors experiencing the art and music in a completely different way!!! A pretty wacky idea to say the least and with that concept in mind I think it's definitely time to move onto the music proper as l feel that subjective chicken shed problem creeping up on me again!!!

The CD is presented in a rather simplistic but elegant card clip case. The music on offer here being split into two distinctive and very different halves. The first being the music from the arts fest. Digitally remixed and mastered for this release, the latter being a meditational sounding piece from 1981 which has been worked upon and is available here for the first time.

The 'Die Mulde' set plays continuously through its four diverse subtitled sections for alittle over forty minutes. The opening, 'Schopferische Stille'(2.55) is made up purely of sweeping modulated synth effects which work their way into the second section/ title track as a dense ambient electronic pad sound fills the air like a cloud as a mid paced wavesequence steps into the frame. Developments are subtle and slow, the tracks initial simplicity steadily drawing the listener in. The mood changes again as the third section,' Die Spiegel' commences for the following twelve minutes. More wavesequencing again only this time with more pace and a light new agey feel to it moving us into the realms and feel of some of Steve Joliffe's solo works, all abit dreamy but enjoyable. As we drift into the final section, 'Zerfluss',(11.33) wild ethnic percussion/hand drums kick in with increasing intensity. Chords from a light jazz organ come into play, but to my ears it's an uneasy combination of sounds which l find rather cold and remote taking the piece to its conclusion. When the music is over l have to say that l found the 'Die Mulde' music set to be all alittle lightweight with no great depth to be found. I think this may have been an intentional ploy to make the music easy to get along with in an undemanding, unobtrusive way so as not detract from the art exhibit which it was designed to accompany, not to be too overbearing or intense and overpowering.

Onto the second half of the disc and we have the experimental, introspective piece, 'hp little cry' weighing in at a hefty thirty two minutes. Musically it's a million miles away from the music of the 'Die Mulde' set, this piece being built upon a tape loop/synth experiment from way back in 1981 which was then worked upon again in 2004 by Manuel adding guitar treatments and solo's atop the soup of electronic noise. Reminding me very early on of the solo instrumental work of Bill Nelson the piece drifts on, the guitar textures remaining very effective. With the old synth loop stuck at a constant pitch the guitar struggles to free itself from the lack of any kind of rhythmic structure to no avail leaving me with the feeling that the piece has overstayed its welcome somewhat, sounding like the sort of fare you may expect to find on an alternative medicine, therapeutic relaxation music recording. Life changing music this ain't, but for any Ashra fans out there l'm sure this won't dampen any spirits, Gottsching's inventive, dexterous playing will please many if not all of you.