Made up of unedited, original glass harmonica recordings that Kubisch captured in 1994 at Berlin's museum of musical instruments, 'Armonica' is one of the German composer's most exceptional works - essential listening if you're into Phil Niblock, Zach Wallace or Sarah Davachi.
The glass harmonica, or armonica, was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761, and unlike the later harmonica, was notoriously fragile and difficult to play, made up of a series of differently-sized glass bowls that were rotated with a spindle and played with moistened fingers. By the 18th century its popularity had faded - it was incredibly quiet compared with other instruments, and rumors buzzed around that the armonica provoked depression and melancholia, and could even drive players and listeners to madness.
Originally released in 1995 on the Semishigure imprint, Kubisch's 'Armonica' presents the instrument in all its placid beauty. There's no processing here, just bare-bones recording of the armonica's entrancing, glassy tones that seem to hover in thin air, sounding like pipe organ drones or delicate, sculpted sine waves. Kubisch links several performances with occasional rests into an almost hour-long contemplation that plays to her strengths. She's famously obsessed with ceramics, and sounds completely in sync with the instrument's crystal clear quiver.
And although plenty of artists have revisited the armonica in recent years - Oren Ambarchi, John Also Bennett and Zach Wallace, for example - Kubisch's formal, unadorned approach still has serious power. It's a trace of the past that still sounds staggeringly contemporary.
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Made up of unedited, original glass harmonica recordings that Kubisch captured in 1994 at Berlin's museum of musical instruments, 'Armonica' is one of the German composer's most exceptional works - essential listening if you're into Phil Niblock, Zach Wallace or Sarah Davachi.
The glass harmonica, or armonica, was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761, and unlike the later harmonica, was notoriously fragile and difficult to play, made up of a series of differently-sized glass bowls that were rotated with a spindle and played with moistened fingers. By the 18th century its popularity had faded - it was incredibly quiet compared with other instruments, and rumors buzzed around that the armonica provoked depression and melancholia, and could even drive players and listeners to madness.
Originally released in 1995 on the Semishigure imprint, Kubisch's 'Armonica' presents the instrument in all its placid beauty. There's no processing here, just bare-bones recording of the armonica's entrancing, glassy tones that seem to hover in thin air, sounding like pipe organ drones or delicate, sculpted sine waves. Kubisch links several performances with occasional rests into an almost hour-long contemplation that plays to her strengths. She's famously obsessed with ceramics, and sounds completely in sync with the instrument's crystal clear quiver.
And although plenty of artists have revisited the armonica in recent years - Oren Ambarchi, John Also Bennett and Zach Wallace, for example - Kubisch's formal, unadorned approach still has serious power. It's a trace of the past that still sounds staggeringly contemporary.
Made up of unedited, original glass harmonica recordings that Kubisch captured in 1994 at Berlin's museum of musical instruments, 'Armonica' is one of the German composer's most exceptional works - essential listening if you're into Phil Niblock, Zach Wallace or Sarah Davachi.
The glass harmonica, or armonica, was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761, and unlike the later harmonica, was notoriously fragile and difficult to play, made up of a series of differently-sized glass bowls that were rotated with a spindle and played with moistened fingers. By the 18th century its popularity had faded - it was incredibly quiet compared with other instruments, and rumors buzzed around that the armonica provoked depression and melancholia, and could even drive players and listeners to madness.
Originally released in 1995 on the Semishigure imprint, Kubisch's 'Armonica' presents the instrument in all its placid beauty. There's no processing here, just bare-bones recording of the armonica's entrancing, glassy tones that seem to hover in thin air, sounding like pipe organ drones or delicate, sculpted sine waves. Kubisch links several performances with occasional rests into an almost hour-long contemplation that plays to her strengths. She's famously obsessed with ceramics, and sounds completely in sync with the instrument's crystal clear quiver.
And although plenty of artists have revisited the armonica in recent years - Oren Ambarchi, John Also Bennett and Zach Wallace, for example - Kubisch's formal, unadorned approach still has serious power. It's a trace of the past that still sounds staggeringly contemporary.
Made up of unedited, original glass harmonica recordings that Kubisch captured in 1994 at Berlin's museum of musical instruments, 'Armonica' is one of the German composer's most exceptional works - essential listening if you're into Phil Niblock, Zach Wallace or Sarah Davachi.
The glass harmonica, or armonica, was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761, and unlike the later harmonica, was notoriously fragile and difficult to play, made up of a series of differently-sized glass bowls that were rotated with a spindle and played with moistened fingers. By the 18th century its popularity had faded - it was incredibly quiet compared with other instruments, and rumors buzzed around that the armonica provoked depression and melancholia, and could even drive players and listeners to madness.
Originally released in 1995 on the Semishigure imprint, Kubisch's 'Armonica' presents the instrument in all its placid beauty. There's no processing here, just bare-bones recording of the armonica's entrancing, glassy tones that seem to hover in thin air, sounding like pipe organ drones or delicate, sculpted sine waves. Kubisch links several performances with occasional rests into an almost hour-long contemplation that plays to her strengths. She's famously obsessed with ceramics, and sounds completely in sync with the instrument's crystal clear quiver.
And although plenty of artists have revisited the armonica in recent years - Oren Ambarchi, John Also Bennett and Zach Wallace, for example - Kubisch's formal, unadorned approach still has serious power. It's a trace of the past that still sounds staggeringly contemporary.