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Christoph Berg - Paraphrases

£30.00
  • Christoph Berg - Paraphrases

Written and recorded over a period of more than two years, “Paraphrases” is a collection of chamber music compositions performed, recorded and layered through numerous recording sessions in a small room in northern Germany near the Baltic Sea.

Christoph Berg scores the history of eight narrow worlds, carved only from wood – violin, piano and double bass. The initial composition “Quiet times at the library” defines the tone, but the album also sees many shades; the solo piece “Poems written by an old (prepared) piano”, the crow haunted field recordings of “Interlude” and reverent remixes provided by Yasuhiko Fukuzono (aus) and P Jørgensen specially for the CD edition.

The direct intimacy of the material is a stark counterpoint to the sweeping cinematic grandeur and electronic sound manipulation of previous releases as Field Rotation, and is also the logical progression from 2011 releases ‘Acoustic Tales’ and ‘And Tomorrow I Will Sleep”; the former a tribute to literature, and the latter a paean to hibernation after exhaustion. Completed in the brief escapes allowed by gaps in graduate study, “Paraphrases” is a recontextualisation of the experience of exhaustion, written in other words.

Mastered with precise weight by Ian Hawgood, the 250 run limited edition 180gm vinyl is packaged inside heavy gatefold four panel sleeves, wrapped within an A1 double-sided poster. The package also includes a double sided 12 x 12 hand numbered print along with a hand numbered embossed letter-pressed CD with fold-out booklet featuring striking photography by Aela Labbe. Extras as always will include scent, card and download code containing audio and PDFs. The album is a treasure of both talent and soul, and the extraordinary packaging from the label and considered art design by Ian Hazeldine reflects the classic nature of the material.