Basho
Music for Marcel Duchamp (Music by John Cage, arranged by Martin Smolka)
LiPoLied
Eight Pieces

If you enter into the music of Martin Smolka, prepare yourself to come face-to-face with profound and enigmatic conflicts. The music of Martin Smolka resonates straight into the core of a suffocated planet, suffering through unending catastrophes in the political-social spheres. These sounds beckon to a possible transformation through surrendering to the incomprehensible, they create new and unique expressions of futile pains and passions of modern humans: emptiness and overabundance, selfdestruction and arrogance, depression and serenity, forlornness, despondency, and the performative ridiculousness of endless Love Parades. The Aleph Guitar Quartet and soprano Daisy Press present a selection from Smolka’s oeuvre that spans almost 25 years of this extraordinary composer’s contribution to the guitar repertoire.

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Recording: ZKM Kubus, Karlsruhe/Germany, 15-16 February 2020 (Tr. 1-5), 30 May 2020 (6), 14 February 2020 (7), 31 May 2020 (8-14).