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| Fine Art | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1 July 2016 | |||
| Recorded | ca. 2007–2016 | |||
| Studio | Principal Studios, Senden (Germany) | |||
| Genre | Symphonic rock | |||
| Length | 41:56 | |||
| Label | LongBow (DE) | |||
| Producer | Thomas Neuroth | |||
| Neuschwanstein chronology | ||||
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Fine Art is the third album released by the band Neuschwanstein in 2016.
In 2005, Thomas Neuroth received a call from his former Neuschwanstein co-musician Klaus Mayer (flutes), informing him of the tragic passing of their erstwhile manager, Ulli Reichert. As a result of this and many following conversations, the idea was born to reunite after all these years and make music again as a band; the chapter ″Neuschwanstein″ was somehow not over, after all.
″There was lots of noise. [...], I had to get it out. Not having composed anything in a long time, there were tons of ideas in my head, noted on slips of paper; dozens of drafts and studies lying on and around the piano. It needed to be done.″
Around 2007, Neuroth began sorting his diverse compositions and drafts from the past years and putting them on paper. About which he says in December 2021:
It took me a good year to figure out a concept for the new album, a line-up, style and sound. A process of growth with many yays and nays, continuously evolving, expanding, entirely discarded only to be picked up from scratch again.
At first and for a long while, music was made in Neuroth's home studio and via the internet, which, at the time, did not come without some technical complications. Despite the troubles of long-distance collaboration, the recordings were finally as good as finished, yet not fully completed due to the two musicians parting ways again for various reasons. [2]
However, Neuroth could not get the idea for this new Neuschwanstein album out of his head, prompting him to start anew, this time not via the internet but mostly on site with guest musicians. Recording in Neuroth's neat little home studio took two years; another two years were spent mixing the audio for this opulent, synthesizer-free soundscape with flutes, strings and a thunderous rock instrumentation. For one more year, he worked on the cover design. [3] In total, it took eight years to get from the initial idea to the eventual release. [4]
The selection of musicians is by no means random. When Neuschwanstein broke up in 1980, he kept playing with Michael Kiessling (d. 2019) in the Michael Kiessling Band. Their drummer was Rainer Kind, who played and functioned as musical director for Matthias Reim, among others. This group recorded a CD in 1989, Kiessling Band, for which Robby Musenbichler, a famous Austrian session guitarist, provided the guitar parts. Both Kind and Musenbichler agreed to contribute to the production of Fine Art. Neuroth's son Valentin complemented Musenbichler's guitar as a second guitarist.
For financial reasons, Neuschwanstein's new compositions could not be recorded with an actual orchestra, so Thomas Neuroth largely made use of an orchestra library. To minimize any artificial sound, he engaged Sabine Fröhlich, violinist from Münster, who would record both violin and viola tracks multiple times, using the overdubbing (layering) technique. She “almost died”, jokes Neuroth, when he revealed his plans for an especially rich sound: she was to play the first violin fourteen times, twelve times the second one, ten times the viola part - and not to forget about the solo violin. [3]
Originally, publishing was supposed to be achieved with support from the French Musea Records label which had already released the two previous Neuschwanstein albums and was principally interested in Fine Art. However, an agreement could not be reached over insurmountable differences regarding conditions. For this reason, Neuroth decided to found his own label, LongBow Records.
Neo-Romantic symphonic orchestral sounds meet rock band. United and opposed in harmony and confrontation. Intermeshed in fugal complexity and utterly, spaciously free. Emotional and authentic. Instrumental, like the early years. Music that tells stories. Programme music. [2]
This is how the composer describes his own music and with this it becomes clear that this indeed cannot be a pure successor in the style of Battlement . It is an album full of contrasts. Progressive rock can be heard at times, sometimes even some heavy or hard rock in the best Deep Purple manner, then back to neo-romantic symphonic orchestra. The combination of rock band and orchestra dominates, whereby the two act not as antagonists, instead the band functions as a firmly integrated part of the orchestra.
"I wanted to do something that no one is doing or has done like this before. Orchestra and rock band. To see that once as a whole. An orchestra with additional instruments, a greatly expanded band. Not just have one be the accompaniment to the other. ′Electric guitar into the orchestra! Add the Hammond!′ That's what you should chant loud and all the time."
Similarly, Jon Lord already dared this difficult balancing act with his Concerto for Group and Orchestra. Unlike Jon Lord's Concerto, where the rock instruments are treated as solo instruments for long stretches, in Fine Art they are integral parts of the whole sound structure. Even when, for example, Musenbichler's electric guitar acts as a soloist, it does not impose itself on the listener, but is surprisingly restrained in terms of volume, so that all instruments can be heard on an equal footing next to and with each other.
Seen in this light, Fine Art undoubtedly stands as an example of symphonic rock and joins the ranks of works by The Nice, Emerson, Lake & Palmer or Ekseption.
So it is not surprising that the album has become 99% instrumental. Of the 10 tracks (9 on the LP), three are adaptations of classical compositions, namely by Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saëns and J. A. P. Schulz.
As a classical composition alone I think that piece is just brilliant.... should be played in symphony halls all over the world... I love how it changes halfway through and proceeds to become very symphonically dramatic or OST by the end. How can humans write music so brilliant? [6]
Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the surrounding area, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
— Book of Genesis, chapter 19, verse 24-25. [8]
While listening, a little chicken immediately appeared in my mind's eye, which I then drew immediately. From that point on, the drawing was the source of inspiration for the text.
When I was in Amsterdam in the summer of 2015 and saw all those sweaty hands touching the shiny gold hand of the Nachtwache's 'frontman', about one every second, the title 'Distributor' came to mind. Instead, the term 'Spreader' might have been better suited. But I wasn't aware of it at the time.
Gudula Rosa's sub-bass flute represents, in a way, the birth of something terrible. At 1:06 we have the still intact world, at 1:51 this world is met with terror, and at 3:29 the apocalypse runs its course, ending everything - and the halls remain empty.
The cover, a caricature, is by 19th-century artist Honoré Daumier, coloured by Thomas Neuroth. [14]
All tracks are written by Thomas Neuroth
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Fêtes" | 10:25 |
| 2. | "Per Omnem Vitam" | 4:51 |
| 3. | "God's Little Plan" | 1:36 |
| 4. | "Florence Coleman Part One" | 3:56 |
| 5. | "Florence Coleman Part Two" | 3:11 |
| 6. | "The Angels of Sodom" | 3:06 |
| 7. | "Die Geschichte vom kleinen Hähnchen" | 2:32 |
| 8. | "The Distributor" | 5:23 |
| 9. | "Der Mond ist aufgegangen" | 2:59 |
| 10. | "Wehmut, stark wie Banyuls" | 3:57 |
| Total length: | 41:56 | |
The album was released both on LP and CD. Due to lack of space, "The Distributor" is not included on the LP version.
Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all human societies. Definitions of music vary widely in substance and approach. While scholars agree that music is defined by a small number of specific elements, there is no consensus as to what these necessary elements are. Music is often characterized as a highly versatile medium for expressing human creativity. Diverse activities are involved in the creation of music, and are often divided into categories of composition, improvisation, and performance. Music may be performed using a wide variety of musical instruments, including the human voice. It can also be composed, sequenced, or otherwise produced to be indirectly played mechanically or electronically, such as via a music box, barrel organ, or digital audio workstation software on a computer.
A musical ensemble, also known as a music group, musical group, or a band is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, such as the jazz quartet or the orchestra. Other music ensembles consist solely of singers, such as choirs and doo-wop groups. In both popular music and classical music, there are ensembles in which both instrumentalists and singers perform, such as the rock band or the Baroque chamber group for basso continuo and one or more singers. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles. Some ensembles blend the sounds of a variety of instrument families, such as the orchestra, which uses a string section, brass instruments, woodwinds, and percussion instruments, or the concert band, which uses brass, woodwinds, and percussion. In jazz ensembles or combos, the instruments typically include wind instruments, one or two chordal "comping" instruments, a bass instrument, and a drummer or percussionist. Jazz ensembles may be solely instrumental, or they may consist of a group of instruments accompanying one or more singers. In rock and pop ensembles, usually called rock bands or pop bands, there are usually guitars and keyboards, one or more singers, and a rhythm section made up of a bass guitar and drum kit.
An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments:
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orchestration is the assignment of different instruments to play the different parts of a musical work. For example, a work for solo piano could be adapted and orchestrated so that an orchestra could perform the piece, or a concert band piece could be orchestrated for a symphony orchestra.
George Henry Crumb Jr. was an American composer of avant-garde contemporary classical music. Early in his life he rejected the widespread modernist usage of serialism, developing a highly personal musical language which "range[s] in mood from peaceful to nightmarish". Crumb's compositions are known for pushing the limits of technical prowess by way of frequent use of extended techniques. The unusual timbres he employs evoke a surrealist atmosphere which portray emotions of considerable intensity with vast and sometimes haunting soundscapes. His few large-scale works include Echoes of Time and the River (1967), which won the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for Music, and Star-Child (1977), which won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition; however, his output consists of mostly music for chamber ensembles or solo instrumentalists. Among his best known compositions are Black Angels (1970), a striking commentary on the Vietnam War for electric string quartet; Ancient Voices of Children (1970) for a mixed chamber ensemble; and Vox Balaenae (1971), a musical evocation of the humpback whale, for electric flute, electric cello, and amplified piano.
Accompaniment is the musical part which provides the rhythmic and/or harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in different genres and styles of music. In homophonic music, the main accompaniment approach used in popular music, a clear vocal melody is supported by subordinate chords. In popular music and traditional music, the accompaniment parts typically provide the "beat" for the music and outline the chord progression of the song or instrumental piece.
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