SCHMICKLER, MARCUS - DEMOS (FOR CHOIR, CHAMBER QUINTET AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC) (LP)

""Demos" is Schmickler's most ambitious work to date. It has been performed at the renowned CCA in Glasgow, where it was performed in the course of a three day festival organized especially for Schmickler. "Demos" deals with Nietzsche's thoughts expressed in his "Zarathustra" on the extent with which language could be dealt with as music. Marcus Schmickler transcends the classic mythic emblems of ancient Greek choirs such as recitative and declamation by employing contemporary means. "Demos" is demanding, disturbing and suggestive in its idiosyncratic blend of sounds. This is a music which passes on the spirit of such luminaries as the late György Ligeti ("Requiem"), Jani Christou or Iannis Xenakis ("Medea"), but which in Schmickler's contemporary attitude gains a wholly different significance. Complementing the album are two excerpts of Schmickler's musical arrangements for theatre productions." (Joachim Ody)