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| Allmusic |  [1] |
Irrlicht is the first album by Klaus Schulze. Originally released in 1972, in 2006 it was the sixteenth Schulze album reissued by Revisited Records as part of a series of Schulze album reissues. Recorded without a synthesizer, Irrlicht's set of "early organ drone experiments" is "not exactly the music for which KS got famous".[2]
Overview
The album's complete title is: Irrlicht: Quadrophonische Symphonie für Orchester und E-Maschinen (German: "Will-o'-the-wisp: Quadraphonic Symphony for Orchestra and Electronic Machines"). Its atmospheric drone music tone is similar to Tangerine Dream's album Zeit (released the same month) as it stemmed from a common idea that Schulze and Edgar Froese couldn't agree on and parted ways over.
In 2005, Schulze said, "Irrlicht still has more connections to Musique concrète than with today's electronics. I still never owned a synthesiser at the time."[3] Schulze mainly used a broken and modified electric organ, a recording of a classical orchestra rehearsal played backward, and a damaged amplifier to filter and alter sounds that he mixed on tape into a three-movement symphony.[3]
Irrlicht, despite its highly unconventional nature, was originally released on the prestigious krautrock label Ohr. Because Schulze was signed to them while a member of Tangerine Dream, the label asserted that his solo album belonged to them too;[3] Schulze's reaction was, "I was just glad that Irrlicht was released at all. Any other company would have probably turned me away with this record."[3]
Track listing
All tracks composed by Klaus Schulze.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "1. Satz: Ebene" | 23:23 |
| 2. | "2. Satz: Gewitter (energy rise—energy collapse)" | 5:39 |
| 3. | "3. Satz: Exil Sils Maria" | 21:25 |
| 4. | "Dungeon" (reissue bonus track) | 24:00 |
Notes
- On vinyl, "Ebene" and "Gewitter" were combined into one 29:00 long track.
- "Satz" is the German word for the musical term "movement", therefore "1. Satz" is German for "1st Movement".[3] Translated, the titles mean:
- 1st Movement: "Plain" (as in the flat plains of Sils)
- 2nd Movement: "Thunderstorm"
- 3rd Movement: "Sils Maria exile" (possibly a reference to Nietzsche)
- The 3rd Movement "Exil Sils Maria" was recorded backwards. The recording can be heard the way it was originally recorded by being played in reverse.
Personnel
- Klaus Schulze – "E-machines", organ, guitar, percussion, zither, voice, etc.
- Colloquium Musica Orchestra (4 first violins, 4 second violins, 3 violas, 8 cellos, 1 bass, 2 horns, 2 flutes, 3 oboes)[4] – recorded as raw material then post-processed and filtered on tape.[3]
References
- Irrlicht CD booklet, 2006, Revisited Records, SPV 304962 CD