German electronic artist Apparat (Sascha Ring) will be releasing his latest album Krieg und Frieden (Music for Theatre) on February 19, based on Sebastian Hartmann’s theater production of Tolstoy’s War & Peace. A downloadable single “A Violent Sky’ is available below to get a taste of the album.
Apparat – Krieg und Frieden – A Violent Sky by Mute UK
The album was recorded with live members, Phillipp Timm (cello) and Christoph Hartmann (violin), and features artwork by Tilo Baumgartel.
The German arts festival Ruhrfestspiele in Recklinghausen originally commissioned Hartmann to do a stage production of Tolstoy’s famous story. He then brought Ring in to contribute to the project.
Without restrictions from Hartmann, Ring studied the original story’s text and then rehearsed his compositions with a 30-piece ensamble.
Ring commented on taking part of this production:
“This is anything but conventional theatre. It’s a free space, where a bunch of freaks can go wild. It starts with the lights and stops with the actual actors. At night, we worked on the music in the empty hall. It was kind of magical.”
“In the studio the material got another twist, it became a real piece of music. I took the recordings with me, wherever I was – at home, at a hotel room, in an airplane, and straightened it up. I decided to not go completely crazy about the editing, I didn’t want the music to become demanding. Every record tends to become mere work at some point. Euphoria then turns into the feeling that you are standing in the middle of a huge construction site. I actively wanted to avoid this feeling this.”
Leave a Comment