Karola Obermüller (1977-)
Untergegangen der Mond, Strophes sapphiques pour contreténor et ensemble
Myrmecia, pour guitare, harpe et tympanon
Pulstastung I, pour piano
Pulstastung II, pour piano
mass:distance:time, pour 6 instruments
…silbern., Strophe sapphiques pour flûte basse seul
Pulstastung III, pour piano
Nichts fettes nichts süßes., pour flûte alto, clarinette, percussion, piano et violoncelle
reflejos distantes, pour flûte basse, clarinette basse, violon et violoncelle
coiling and swaying, pour 18 instruments

Kai Wessel, contreténor, basse
Camilla Hoitenga, flûte basse
Emanuele Arciuli, piano
ICE Members

Daniel Lippel, guitare
Nuiko Wadden, harpe
Nathan Davis, tympanon

Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart

Johanna Zimmer, soprano
Susanne Leitz-Lorey, soprano
Truike van der Poel, mezzo-soprano
Martin Nagy, ténor
Guillermo Anzorena, baryton
Andreas Fischer, basse

Ensemble MusikFabrik

Helen Bledsoe, flûte
Carl Rosman, clarinette
Dirk Rothbrust, percussion
Benjamin Kobler, piano
Hannah Weirich, violon
Axel Porath, alto
Dirk Wietheger, violoncelle

Warwick Stengards, direction
Ensemble Phorminx

Angelika Bender, flûte alto
Thomas Löffler, clarinette
Bernd Mallasch, percussion
Pavlos Antoniadis, piano
Wolfgang Lessing, violoncelle

Ensemble Modern
Johannes Kalitzke, direction

Energetic as well as poetic is Karola Obermüller’s music, and it reveals hidden and unknown elements underneath the multilayered musical material. Many of the works on this portrait CD in the series EDITION ZEITGENÖSSISCHE MUSIK were developed as work in progress during a long period of time. Distinctive for Obermüller’s work are therefore the reflection from several perspectives and the superposition of different layers of sound. Zooming in on musical details is another special feature in several of her pieces as in “Pulstastung” for example. Here the distances between the musical occurrences are going to be extended more and more, “with an increasing pulse at the same time” (Karola Obermüller). Obermüller is receiving a special inspiration by ancient poetic texts as from the greek poet Sappho. Here she finds the essences of human existence like light and night, eros and longing. In “Untergegangen der Mond“ and “…silbern.“ her music tries “to create moments of magic“ (Volker Blumenthaler in the booklet of the CD). In “Myrmecia” microtonal shiftings are confronted with percussive making of sound, which are creating a “strange, crackling, and insisting stream of sound”, the composer compares to the wild activity of the primordial ant, the title is derived from. The instrumentation of the pieces on this CD offer a panorama from solo pieces for bass flute (Camilla Hoitenga) or piano (Emanuele Arciuli) and an extraordinary instrumentation with guitar, hammered dulcimer and harp (International Contemporary Ensemble) arriving at big pieces for ensemble (Ensemble Modern and Ensemble Musikfabrik).