ROZMANN, AKOS - 12 Stationer VI

_ɬÅkos R_ɬ_zmann (1939-2005) studied at the B_ɬ°rt_ɬ_k conservatory in Budapest and took diplomas in both composition and organ playing at the Liszt Academy. In 1971, he was given a scholarship to study electronic music in Stockholm. His encounter with the electronic tools was a revolutionary experience for him and was to give a whole new direction to his work. Soon he abandoned composition for acoustic instruments and was later to claim that instrumental music had no future. For several years, he earned his living as an organist at St. Erics Catholic Cathedral in Stockholm, often using recordings of organ sounds made in the dead of the night as a source for his electronic works. R_ɬ_zmann often preferred monumental forms and several of his most prominent works, such as 12 Stationer (trans. 12 Stations) and M_ɬ§ssa (trans. Mass), grew side-by-side over a long period of time. With a few rare exceptions, the conflict between good and evil was the basic theme in his works. The fight went on continuously in arenas and within power relations that would suddenly change. In R_ɬ_zmanns imagined world, no room was given to chance. Big powers, luminous or dark, would lie behind the most trivial everyday events. A large portion of Tibetan Buddhism gradually infiltrated his Catholic Weltanschauung, and 12 Stationer, composed between 1978 and 2001, is a musical interpretation of the Tibetan Wheel of Life. The last part of the 12 stations, old age and death, is called the celebrators in R_ɬ_zmanns version (completed in 2001). When asked what sort of celebration he meant he replied: the merriment you hear is false, it is not genuine, it is empty. D_ɬ_rr Med T_ɬ•rar (trans. Door With Tears) from 1988-1989 is unmistakeably an homage to Pierre Henry and the title alludes to Variations For A Door And A Sigh. During one of my last encounters with R_ɬ_zmann, he told me in depth about how Henrys influence was significant in leading him to choose electronic music. He regarded Le Voyage from the Tibetan Book of the Dead to be the most important pioneering piece in the history of electronic music. _ɬÅkos R_ɬ_zmann showed particular devotion to his work during more than thirty active years. During his lifetime he never sought, nor did he win any mentionable recognition. As a true modernist, he didnt compose with an audience or the critics in mind. His mission was to compose for the future. It was his conviction that the mystical energy for compositional work should derive straight from God. It is a truly great thing to witness the publication of this album. -Mats Lindstr_ɬ_m, Stockholm, February 2012.\r\n"lona Maros (soprano), Mikl_ɬ_s Maros, Viveca Servatius (voices), _ɬÅkos R_ɬ_zmann (piano and voice). Composed at EMS elektronmusikstudion, Stockholm, by _ɬÅkos R_ɬ_zmann. Vinyl cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin May 2011. Ideologic Organ curation and art direction by Stephen OMalley." -Ideologic Organ