04.11.2016

Under Western Skies

Artists: Herwig Gradischnig (ts, bcl), Frank Schwinn (guit, live electronics); Herbert Pirker (dr)

This music has a touch of Country and Western without actually sounding like Country & Western music: the occasional allusion may flare up, but what’s wrong with a bit of reminiscing? Landscapes and Westerns, as well as the landscapes in Westerns, represent the template for the associations that started the project Under Western Skies. However, the idea wasn’t to tell stories about cowboys and Indians, or herds of buffaloes and corrals, nor about taming the wilderness into parcelled farms – but to fathom the dream of space in music, to dream without fearing the variety of possibilities that open up between kitsch and contemplation.

And for those of you who prefer the company of Theodor W. Adorno, here is a bon mot from his “Minima moralia” for you to ponder: “The beauty of the American landscape: even in the smallest segment you find an expression of the country’s immeasurable vastness.”