Irmin Schmidt announces live album release – recorded at his first UK solo piano concert, featuring two new pieces
(Photo by BrianSlater) Out 29 May on Mute is “Nocturne”, a newly recorded live album by Irmin Schmidt documenting his Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival performance at the end of last year. Nocturne will be released on Mute / Spoon Records as a worldwide edition of 1000 on double white etched vinyl, CD and digitally on 29 May 2020, the composer’s 83rd birthday.
The appearance at the renowned festival was his first solo piano concert in the UK to date and saw the artist perform the worldwide premiere of two unheard compositions, “Nocturne” and “Yonder” as well as the UK premiere of “Klavierstück II”, from 2018’s “5 Klavierstücke”.
Listen to an excerpt of the album below.
From classical music to CAN
After an extensive classical education as pianist, conductor and composer, Irmin Schmidt – who studied under Stockhausen and Ligeti – co-founded Can in the late 60s, combining classic new music with rock and jazz. Outside of his work with Can, Schmidt has released over a dozen solo albums and written an opera, “Gormenghast”, based on the novels of Mervyn Peake.
In 2015, he was made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his contribution to art and culture, one of France’s highest honours, and in 2018 Faber Social published “Can – All Gates Open”, a two part book featuring Can’s biography, written by Rob Young, and Can Kiosk, a collage of diary entries and interviews edited and written by Irmin Schmidt.
Irmin Schmidt’s last album, 2018’s “5 Klavierstücke” was a piano work using partly prepared (in the way he was taught by John Cage himself) and unprepared piano, recorded and produced by Gareth Jones in the South of France. A recently updated collection of Irmin Schmidt’s solo work, “Villa Wunderbar”, was released on vinyl at the end of last year.
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