Thomas Larcher

• CD JEWEL CASE FORMAT

Austrian composer Thomas Larcher’s new album features premiere recordings of three strongly contrasting works. The Times has hailed Larcher’s music as a world “of haunting landscapes and dreams, stylistically disparate but fused by the composer’s astonishing ear and quizzical attitude to traditional forms”, a description borne out by the compositions here. The Living Mountain, for soprano and ensemble, draws upon the memoir of the Scottish poet and nature writer Nan Shepherd. Unerzählt is an intimate song cycle for baritone and piano, deploying texts of German writer W.G. Sebald. And Ouroboros, named for the serpent of eternity, is a powerful piece for cello and chamber orchestra. Recorded in Munich and Weerberg in 2021 and 2022 and produced by Manfred Eicher, The Living Mountain is the fourth New Series album of Larcher’s compositions.

PERSONNEL:

• Sarah Aristidou - (soprano)
• Alisa Weilerstein - (violoncello)
• Aaron Pilsan - (piano)
• Luka Juhart - (accordion)
• Andrè Schuen - (baritone)
• Daniel Heide - (piano)

TRACKS:

• 01. Introduction
• 02. At first, mad to recover the tang of height
• 03. As I reach the highest part of my dark moor
• 04. In September dawns I hardly breathe
• 05. Once, on a night of such clear silence
• 06. Further up, is all snow
• Ourobos
• 07. Allegretto
• 08. Allegro infuriato
• 09. Adagio ma non troppo
• Unerzählt
• 10. Plinius sagt
• 11. Die roten Flecken
• 12. Wenn die Blitze herabfuhren
• 13. Gleich einem Hund
• 14. Am 8.Mai 19270
• 15. Mitten im Schlaf
• 16. Venezianisches Wachspräparat
• 17. Es heißt daß Napoleon
• 18. Aus dem Vorderschiff des Gehirns
• 19. Blaues Gras
• 20. Zuletzt werden bloß soviel überbleiben
• 21. So glitt ich lautlos
• 22. So wird, wenn der Sehnerv zerreißt