Markus Stockhausen Still Light (for Paracelsus)

1. Calcinatio auri (M. Stockhausen)

2. Still Light (M. Nauseef)

3. Aurum foliatum (Nauseef / Tadic / Stockhausen)

4. Aurum potabile (M. Tadic)

5. Materia prima (Nauseef / Tadic / Stockhausen)

6. Aqua regis (Nauseef / Tadic / Stockhausen)

Mark Nauseef on drums, gongs and sounds.

Miroslav Tadic on classical and classical contra-bass guitars.

Markus Stockhausen on trumpet, piccolo trumpet and flugelhorn.

"Still Light" is impossible to describe and even more difficult to categorize, mainly because it embraces a traditional musical style and, because of the rigid regimes involved, the culture that gives rise to that musical style, but it does so at its own level, a level that it has to define for its own purpose, because, well ... otherwise it would not exist. Whooaaa! Why is all this so complicated?

Well, we are dealing with some extraordinarily complicated musicians, oft reknowned for the complexity of their work. On the one hand we have Markus Stockhausen, son of Karlheinz, the major contemporary exponent of musical serialism. Markus Stockhausen may be inextricably linked to his father's work, having collaborated in it widely since his earliest years, but he is also working hard to carve out a niche for himself. A notable achievement involves his clever use of improvisation within classical contexts, quite distinct from his father's developments in applying probability to serialism, which allows freedom in the mode of score use by a performing musician, rather than complete freedom to move away from the score as allowed, at least conceptually, by improvisation.

Now add in the duo of Nauseef and Tadic, noted for exploring traditional forms, for example, Eastern European and Indian Classical, and we see the potential for a world music recording like none before. One that explores the essence of a music rather than emulation through imitation. About as much is stated on the Nauseef and Tadic website, "this record is about the beauty of space, silence and sound".

The album certainly achieves its aims. Recorded at the Harmony Hall in Matsumoto, Japan, it evokes an atmosphere that is definitely oriental. This is not explicitly mentioned in the official line, "freeform compositions and improvisations dedicated to the mysterious Paracelcus[sic], a most famous alchemist", who was not known for being interested in places further east than Arabia, although his namesake does appear in a Japanese PlayStation game. Nonetheless, to my ears the trumpet essentially takes the place of the shakuhachi, the "one foot eight" Japanese bamboo flute, in the traditional setting, e.g., Ga-gaku (music for the Imperial court). The strings and percussion are muted invocations of the ensemble, with hints/inclusion of taiko and kakko drums, shoko (a gong), koto (zithers) and shamisen (essentially a fretless, three-stringed banjo). The trumpet is used more forcefully than a flute, creating tempestuous crescendos more typical of the Uchikiri and Nagaji (cadential) passages in Noh-gaku (musical drama) productions than the usually serene Ga-gaku.

It's worth noting that Markus' father has written several Japan-inspired works, perhaps best are "Tele-Musik" and "Edition No.29: Der Jahreslauf". With those works there was a lot of content. His son has opted for a more uncluttered canvas to highlight in improvisation. In fact, the music is so sparse it's not clear how composition was needed, but the result is impressive.