Counterflows: John Tilbury & Marcus Schmickler + John Butcher

Event information

A very different side of German electronic master Marcus Schmickler on display here after he blasted a bright ray of noise in cahoots with Peter 'PITA' Rehberg for the PAN Festival in January. Here he returns alongside the master British pianist John Tilbury for a set of exacting stillness and subtle, shifting atmosphere.

JOHN TILBURY

British pianist John Tilbury is renowned for his remarkable touch and in constant demand as an interpreter of piano pieces by composers such as Morton Feldman and John Cage. He is also an incredible improvisor, most famously as a member of legendary british group AMM. During the 1960s, Tibury was closely associated with the composer Cornelius Cardew, whose music he has interpreted and recorded and a member of the Scratch Orchestra. His biography of Cardew, "Cornelius Cardew - A life unfinished" was published in 2008.

Tilbury has also recorded the works of Howard Skempton and John White, among many others, and has also performed adaptations of the radio plays of Samuel Beckett.

With guitarist AMM bandmate Keith Rowe's electroacoustic ensemble M.I.M.E.O., Tilbury recorded The Hands of Caravaggio, inspired by the painter's The Taking of Christ. In this live performance, twelve of the members of M.I.M.E.O. were positioned around the piano in a deliberate echo of Christ's Last Supper. The thirteenth M.I.M.E.O. member (Cor Fuhler) is credited with "inside piano" as he interacted and interfered with Tilbury's playing by manipulating and damping the instrument's strings, essentially doing piano preparation in real time. Critic Brian Olewnick describes the album as "A staggering achievement, one is tempted to call The Hands of Caravaggio the first great piano concerto of the 21st century."

Another notable recent recording of Tilbury's was Duos for Doris (like The Hands of Caravaggio also on Erstwhile Records), a collaboration with Keith Rowe. It is widely considered a landmark recording in the genre of electroacoustic improvisation.

MARCUS SCHMICKLER

While rooted in electronic music, Schmickler has a background in contemporary composition, having studied under the prominent Stockhausen collaborator Johannes Fritsch. Schmickler has created solo in a variety of different styles under the Wabi Sabi, Sator Rotas, and Param pseudonyms, as well as five techno-oriented CDs as Pluramon. In addition, he has long-standing collaborative projects, most notably with synth wiz Thomas Lehn, guitarist Keith Rowe, and pianist John Tilbury.



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Counterflows

Counterflows is a new series of festivals exploring international networks of underground music. This first festival takes place across London, Berlin and Glasgow from 6th-15th April. Produced by OTOProjects in Berlin and London and AC Projects in Glasgow the festival was made possible with support from Sound and Music, The British Council, Creative Scotland, The PRS for Music Foundation and The Goethe Institut.