In the mood for these gems tonight. The last one is a sublime piano solo on the Bosendorfer from one half of Cluster and the only artist who never ceases to entrance no matter what mood I'm in. He's been doing that a rather long time now. He's now in his 80's and still performing live and doing the odd album here and there.....
I remember Adrian mentioning that album a while back. Looks like it's a purely electronic early offering from the maestro. How would you rate it markof?
Here is the description from AllMusic:
For 2006's IBM 1401, A User's Manual, Jóhannsson moved to 4AD. One of Jóhannsson's most ambitious projects, it was inspired by the first computer brought to Iceland in 1964 and based on a recording on an IBM computer that his father made on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. A string quartet version of the work was performed as the accompaniment to a dance piece by choreographer Erna Omarsdórtir at the 2002 Dansem Festival. The recorded version of IBM 1401, A User's Manual incorporated vocalizing, electronics, and a 60-piece orchestra along with the original recordings of the IBM computer.
To my ears. It's an elegant work with lovely melodies and orchestration. I probably still prefer Fordlandia but the work is very good nonetheless.
I remember Adrian mentioning that album a while back. Looks like it's a purely electronic early offering from the maestro. How would you rate it markof?
Here is the description from AllMusic:
For 2006's IBM 1401, A User's Manual, Jóhannsson moved to 4AD. One of Jóhannsson's most ambitious projects, it was inspired by the first computer brought to Iceland in 1964 and based on a recording on an IBM computer that his father made on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. A string quartet version of the work was performed as the accompaniment to a dance piece by choreographer Erna Omarsdórtir at the 2002 Dansem Festival. The recorded version of IBM 1401, A User's Manual incorporated vocalizing, electronics, and a 60-piece orchestra along with the original recordings of the IBM computer.
To my ears. It's an elegant work with lovely melodies and orchestration. I probably still prefer Fordlandia but the work is very good nonetheless.
Mark.
Thanks for the description Mark. Sounds like something I should be checking out.....promptly. Still haven't got around to Forlandia either!
Double LP, limited to 300 copies only. Mindblowing!!! A gorgeously dreamlike album, suspended in a timeless, spiritually resonant space ... Yuen Shan (Round Mountain in Chinese) was conceived in 1972 and finalized in 2014. It’s a musical cosmogony in four cycles based on different levels of ancient Asian spiritual principles and mechanisms. A major work in Ranta's oeuvre (his first solo release in almost 25 years), highly personal and spiritual. 16 track composition for pre-recorded sounds and live percussion performed by Michael Ranta (entirely different work from the Yuen Shan CD released in 2005). All material previously unreleased.
...All returns to the origin, to the silence, to the void. This is the way of nature. All things arise and disappear. One observes their eternal recurrence...