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    Stefan Poetzsch – Light On

    Stefan Poetzsch - Light On

    Light on! Light off! Light on, light off! I’m sorry. For a minute there, I got the title of this CD confused with The Clapper. All applause aside, Light On is actually a compact disc by German composer and violinist Stefan Poetzsch. It presents two whole suites of rich, reverberant new music composed of equal parts instrumental and electronic sound processing. The title piece, for three instruments, three dancers and light installation, is broken up into seven parts that veer unpredictably from one unknown genre to the next. Spare, strange, baroque music for the 21st century, spacious John Coltrane rock, mad scientist pipe organ madness, field recordings of chirping birds and waterfalls sprinkled with light instrumental flourishes and flickering rhythms, and other indescribable sounds rummage through the rumpled up creases of your brain.

    “Laboratory of Rhythm” for audible dance, violin, viola, violincello, piano and sound studio is broken up into three sections and 11 tracks. In part one, “Sounds of the Dancer,” recordings derived from a dancer wearing noisy clothes get sandwiched with urgent, obtuse instrumentals and marching footsteps + typewriters that get all cut-up and pasted back over your face like some sort of blind, post modern mummy looking for its mommy. In part two, “Strings, Water, Stones and Metal,” pouring water underscores scads of reflective piano tinkling, as a melancholy violin see-saws homely melodies that only a mother could smother. Part three, “Transitions,” continues down the same artery, sometimes stopping on a penny to get even more dissonant and abstract with a smattering of actual applause at the end. Surprise! This was a live performance. Once again, I’m reminded of The Clapper. Right on!

    Label: Ravello Records Catalog Number: RR7801 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 18 Total Time: 70:09 Country: United States Released: 2009 More: Jazz, MySpace, Naxos, Official

    Text ©2010 Arcane Candy

    2 responses to “Stefan Poetzsch – Light On”

    1. Benjamin Boone says:

      Not sure this review is helpful to me when deciding whether to check out this CD or not. Is this a positive or negative experience for the listener or in between? Hoard to tell if you are being humorous, rendering a knowing wink, or trashing the piece. For example, are the indescribably noises you refer to artful? Is there something here that is compelling? I’ve heard, and played, some of Poetzsch’s work, and while it is indeed “new” in many ways, I always find there a good reason for what he does, and that reason is usually extremely artistic. Quite hard for me to tell from this review…….

    2. Arcane Candy says:

      Hmmm, I just read through the review and, overall, it sounds positive to me. I think you should buy the CD.

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