English speakers grow up with bowdlerized versions of German fairy tales, the original versions of which might well bring down the wrath of watchdog organizations were anyone to try to read them publicly in the U.S. Take Machandelboom, for instance, especially as set in 1982 as a sort of radio play by German avant-garde composer Rolf Riehm (born 1937). The tale deals with a child who is killed, served up in a stew by his evil stepmother, and finally brought back to life by a bird. The hearer of Riehm's piece could be ...
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English speakers grow up with bowdlerized versions of German fairy tales, the original versions of which might well bring down the wrath of watchdog organizations were anyone to try to read them publicly in the U.S. Take Machandelboom, for instance, especially as set in 1982 as a sort of radio play by German avant-garde composer Rolf Riehm (born 1937). The tale deals with a child who is killed, served up in a stew by his evil stepmother, and finally brought back to life by a bird. The hearer of Riehm's piece could be forgiven for thinking that only Germans could come up with something as unpleasant as this, but Riehm for the most part is only as unpleasant as his material. The story itself pulls you along through a kaleidoscopic musical setting, constantly and rapidly rotating through a female chorus, passages of free jazz saxophone, electronically distorted guitar, a boy soprano, a strangely played flute representing the bird, and other strange soundscapes. Speech and sound alternate in completely...
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