a r t i s t : Wilhelm Kleinbach
t i t l e : The Funerary Notebooks Of Herr Gratchenfleiss
d a t e : 2007
l a b e l : GOFV (Guild of Funerary Violinists)
g e n r e : Classical
r l s. d a t e : Feb/2008
t r a c k s : 13
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 33,3 MB
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What is more amazing than discovering a whole movement in
music that had never been documented, let alone even heard of.
EVER! No mention in any books, magazines, not a single trace.
What if that music was in fact the music of Funerary violins.
A music created and composed to be performed at funerals. The
only evidence of these musics, some scratchy old wax cylinder
recordings, some faded photos, and brittle sheafs of old sheet
music. A music that flourished in the 1800's and disappeared
almost completely by the 1900's after the Catholic church's
Great Funerary Purges. Only recently discovered in a locked
trunk was the music of Herr Gratchenfleiss, recorded to wax
cylinder by Wilhelm Kleinbach. The sound a mournful miserable,
gorgeously minor key dirge. So completely moving and
emotional, the recordings thick with static and crackle, only
adding to the power and timelessness of the music. What could
be more amazing?
How about making the whole thing up? Constructing an elaborate
history of a genre that never existed. Populating this history
with lifelike characters, creating photos, sheet music,
historical documents, but most amazingly, recording all the
music, and treating it to sound as if it was some old wax
cylinder recording.
Hard to say which would be more amazing, a wholly undiscovered
hidden dark corner of musical history, quashed by the church
and relegated to be lost forever, or an insanely detailed
project, the ultimate conceptual art piece. Either way, we are
in love with this stuff.
Simply from a musical standpoint, this is everything we could
hope for. The recordings are fuzzy and staticky, bathed in
layers of crackle and grit, and years of neglect and decay,
but beneath the recording inconsistencies we love so much, are
some truly moving and emotionally rich performances, the
melodies are so intense and sad, minor key and mournful. truly
funereal. It's impossible not to imagine some old funeral
procession, a row of black clad mourners, trudging down a dirt
road, with their deceased atop an old wooden cart, the sky
grey, the music of the Funerary violinist winding around the
procession like wreaths of black smoke. So goddamn lovely. We
have been listening to this non-stop since we got it.
And then there's the story. The "history". Is it real? Is it
possible that a musical movement could disappear so
completely. So much so that not a single person anywhere EVER
had heard of the Guild Of Funerary Violinists? Or is it all a
huge put-on? A massive made up world? The ultimate outsider
art project. Either way, we are completely blown away. If this
is indeed real, HOLY SHIT! How utterly mysterious and
romantic!! We do sort of want to believe it's real. It's so
perfectly evocative of some other time, of death and sadness
throughout the ages. But if it is in fact made up, it has to
be one of the most brilliantly conceived and executed hoaxes
of all time. There's even a book (you can probably find at you
local bookstore), filled with photos and sheet music, and
histories of all the players, the birth and death of the
genre, it's so detailed and elaborate, so much so it almost
seems impossible that someone could have created all of this
from thin air, if it was made up, it must have been the
creator's life's work. Years and years of methodical planning
and writing and recording for sure. But either way, it's
magical and fascinating, and 'real' or not, the music is truly
gorgeous, and the story completely captivating, both
intertwined into some sort of time machine, perfectly
transporting us to that rain splattered dirt road, the soaring
sad sounds of the Funerary violin drifting into the black
sky...
http://www.aquariusrecords.org
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01-The Noble March of Death [03:31]
02-The Dizzy Flight of Death [01:54]
03-The Statuesque Discipline of Death [02:24]
04-The Stately Tragedy of Death [04:07]
05-The Formal Stance of Death [02:29]
06-The Fleeting Panic of Death [02:43]
07-The Masque of Death [01:49]
08-The Softly Spoken Wanderings of Death [03:00]
09-The Sultry Dance of Death [02:40]
10-The Long Uncertainty of Death [02:12]
11-The Sombre Coquetry of Death [03:42]
12-The Worthy Triumph of Death [02:31]
13-The Undisguised Peace of Death [02:03]
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35:05 min