NITSCH, HERMANN - Orgelkonzert Berlin 2016

Recording of Hermann Nitschs pipe organ concert, Berlin, January 22, 2016. "Hermann Nitsch is looked upon as the true successor the great masters of symphony: Beethoven, Bruckner and Mahler. He draws from Scriabins, Schoenbergs and Weberns experience, however comes up with different conclusions than their (sanctioned) successors. That is to say: Nitsch disregards Weberns analysis of music. Unlike others he does not attempt to advance atonal music with methods that should be handed over to science and technical realms (e.g. Stockhausen). Nitsch ignores any attempt to investigate the core of the construction of Weberns music. He does know it well though and starts where others dont react at all; at lust, rot (disintegration) and death, poison and madness, fragrance and temperature, the fluid, the excess. To him the intricate structure of a symphony is not accidental play with traditional forms, its necessity. A symphony is s-o-u-n-d (and complete). Nitsch draws material from a number of epochs, mostly though from late romanticism and expressionism. Unlike those who dont want to let go of the past, Nitsch uses materials that pertain to todays interests rather than adhering to structures established before. Theater and music cannot be left in the hands of specialists only. A new generation has to grow. Nothing is gained by performances of some puny imbeciles. These warmed-up-versions of Dadaistic rage are no good if the goal is to leave the current stagnation in theater and music behind. The staging of a Nitsch performance require something that is completely missing in todays Karajans and Bernsteins: What is called for is rather exact knowledge of where liberation and expansion (really) take place? Few set out to work on Scriabins fragrance and color prophecies. I see a legitimate expansion of Scriabins mystery play in Nitschs symphonic and theatrical work. Nitsch does not make the mistake to turn Scriabins demands into dogma. He doesnt allow himself (run danger) to separate Scriabin from history like a fatherly patron the way it happened to Webern and his successors (epigons). Nitsch didnt run into Scriabin like a lost son but as somebody who clearly knew his own goals and was capable to integrate Scriabins visions into his own work." - Günter Brus, 1969 (translated from the Austrian by Hans J. Schacht) Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. Full color six-panel digipak. Edition of 300.