Schurig: "Ultima Thule" 1/2

Wolfram Schurig: "Ultima Thule" (2003-2004) for five ensembles. Ultima Thule in medieval geographies denotes any distant place located beyond the borders of the known world.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• new
• German
• music

[eotto2001]

@aculturemind I hadn't listened to "All Set" for 30 years. Goodness that hell of a piece of music. It was composed the same year I was born. I always put it in the 70s. I'll agree with you that there is a lot of Stockhausen feel to it from the 50s. Most of my experience with Stockhausen was the electronic stuff. I hear what you mean through. The confusion I think I hear more rhythm to Ultimate Thule than Gruppen. The younger composer tend to go that way.

[aculturemind]

@eotto2001

You mean "All Set". You can find it here. I think you'll find it sounds different than you remember. Different than this. Listen Stockhausen's Gruppen. Much more similar to this.

[eotto2001]

@aculturemind The Babbitt piece might be the Jazz piece called set. I haven't heard it in 30 years.

If Schurig is exploring older forms with this kind of depth my guess this guy is going to be one of the top composer in 20 years. At some point, when he gets in touch with is true voice, he will have the skill to serve it. That style of music has problems with it that I won't go into here. It isn't going to be a problem with him as far as I can hear in the music.

[aculturemind]

@eotto2001

Music is about [generally] expressing one's self. It doesn't matter the harmonic conditions. What matters is the genuity of that expression. This is what makes a piece 'new' and original. I agree with you that this piece succeeds here.

I don't hear any Babbitt in this, though. Definitely European inflection.

[eotto2001]

Hey, Dog, that is a fine piece of music, but has more of the feel of Martino to me to be truthful. There are some riffs that sound like that guy from Indiana University I think his name was Babbitt. This one has more fullness and maturity than Martino's. It has a an original feel to it. Yeah, I know that Prokofiev did a classical symphony and Elton John did Crocodile Rock. Retro is okay but it strikes me as funny with this kind of music.

[aculturemind]

@eotto2001

(redone for the sake of errors) Dude, what? There is no such thing as 'retro' in art music. There was Stockhausen and Maderno and shit in the 50s that this piece is reminiscent of. Ummm.....

[AbnormallyNormal0]

that guy likes to compose

[eotto2001]

This one has a real retro feel to it. It reminds me of the things from the 70s. The tension is dramatic.