Eimert / Knobelsdorff - Epitaph Fur Aikichi Kuboyama [CD]

Herbert Eimert (1897-1972) was a German music theorist, musicologist, journalist, music critic, radio producer and composer. Eimert, a fervent disciple of Arnold Schonberg, felt strongly that his mentor's 12-tone ideal could be best achieved through the use of electronics. This classic electronic music reissue from Wergo's influential Studio Reihe series features Epitaph, Eimert's powerfully emotional spoken-word based tribute to Japanese fisherman Aikichi Kuboyama, who died of radiation poisoning incurred when first hydrogen bomb was tested in the South Pacific in 1954. The pairing, Eimert's Sechs Studien, was composed immediately after Epitaph. Derived from the same source material, the studies use only abstract musical sounds in a spectrum where the spoken word can no longer be recognized.