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Release Date: 25-12-1988
Label: Erdenklang Musik
Catalog Number: EK89006
Barcode: 723091900621
Musical Style: New Instrumental
Track Listing:
Description:
Music and Computer-Realisation: Hubert Bognermayr and Harald Zuschrader. Lyrics: Walter Karlberger. Produced by: Hubert Bognermayr - Harald Zuschrader - Walter Karlberger - Ulrich Rützel. No one has any faith left in what is said by those in power: Their lies have been too many, too deadly. It is time for a signal questioning the future of living in freedom and peace, brotherhood and tolerance and justice. There is the threat to give up violence and to reduce agressions, giving a commitment to those without rights and to the oppressed. It is no wonder, therefore, to find people the world over beginning to discover a message that is almost two thousand years old, a message that has remained unheard so many times: Jesus of Nazareth's 'Sermon On The Mount' ('Bergpredigt' in German language). The spoken texts are in German language but you will find all texts in the English language in the booklet. There is the threat to peace, the rejection of violence, a reducing of aggressions, a turning towards tolerance and solidarity, a commitment to those without rights and to the oppressed...peace and love are taken at their word in the 'sermon on the mount'. It was a challenge to us as artists to compose, produce and perform this work using the computer technology. The music computer afforded us a whole new and creative space for musical expression. At the same time it gave us the opportunity to prove that technology, in human hands can help us achieve peaceable, lively, moving, humane and pertinent forms of expression. It was a fascinating undertaking for the three of us to try to express these texts which are so valid today in musical terms. We decided upon an unusual method: we confronted the original text with statements of our own time, i.e. headlines, keywords, stereotypes, clichés, cries for help, sounds. Our aim is to place Jesus' thoughts squarely amidst the set-pieces of our dangerous and endangered present; a present in which a permanent blackmail by the powerful is cynically equated with peace. It is time for a signal questioning the future of living in freedom, brotherhood and why we are here. Basic material for our 'Sermon On The Mount' was the authentic translation accepted during the last 200 years of the Matthew evangelism. It was compared with the positive and negative interpretations put forth today and with relative points found in literature, theology books, discussions and radio programs; all systematically collected and catalogued. To realize 'The Sermon On The Mount' musically rhythmic and tonal components were combined by the computer with human voices to form word-sound-colours. Vocal material was also drawn from interviews recorded in hospitals, pensions, youth clubs, in the street and in the open-air. From this collection we programmed the computer with special sentences, signal words, dialects and vocal sounds that were adapted by the computer to conform with our musical and dramatic concepts'. - (Bognermayr/Zuschrader/Karlberger).
