“Divided in 2 parts, this last album from Rudolf Heimann has a 37 minutes of pure and great Berlin School that is worth the 32 minutes of audio-book”
1 Wem Die Stunde Schlägt 6:53 2 Ad infinitum 3:34 3 Monolith 3:57 4 Vanitas 7:49 5 Niemand Kennt Zeit Noch Stunde 4:54 6 Ewigkeit 9:31
7 Rede Des Toten Christus Vom Weltgebäude Herab, Dass Kein Gott Sei 32:02
(CD 68:45) (V.F.)
(Berlin School, Cinematographic, Audio-Book)
DIE UNENDLICHKEIT AUGENBLICKS is literally a two albums in one. If the first half of the opus offers almost 37 minutes of Berlin School simply delectable, the very long Rede Des Toten Christus Vom Weltgebäude Herab, Dass Kein Gott Sei is a real audiobook high in cinematographic colors with a narration of a great intensity displayed by Roland Paroth. But let's start with the musical part of Rudolf Heimann's last opus which is simply superb.
Wem Die Stunde Schlägt will be the first title to agree with what I just wrote. Sequenced arpeggios jump with a lively alternation on two sequencer lines. The fusion of these two lines structure a well-fed rhythmic approach which totters slightly, fixing a rotary axis where the first keyboard chords fall with a very Tangerine Dream resonance. These chords, along with their sonic powders of an aluminum color, fall with a dramatic vision and embody a musical image of Visage and their hit Fade to Gray. A cello emerges from nowhere and resizes these melodious atmospheres with long horizontal complaints. A woman's voice caresses our ears with her soft humming while the cello continues its morose tunes. The chimes of a huge clock begin to ring a little before the point of 3 minutes. They activate a 2nd part more electronic rock of Wem Die Stunde Schlägt with percussions, freshly landed, and synth solos with ample movements of cosmic waltz. And 3 minutes later, the cello returns to conclude an introductory title which will be the first object of charm in DIE UNENDLICHKEIT AUGENBLICKS. We have here the schema of compositions of the long tracks of this album. Shorter titles have a more conservative approach with a minimal vision. With a first movement of rhythm waving with organ chords, Ad infinitum really has the scents of its meaning. Everything is built from a bucolic organ on this title. A series of layers is piling up, clearly dividing the part of the ambulant rhythm of the pastoral melodious vision and the lugubrious and cathedral-like ambiances. Intense and powerful! We move to another register with the heavy and electronic Blues of Monolith. An electronic Blues or Gospel? Let's say we're into a big progressive rock with good keyboards and good guitar solos. The music reaches a more religious level in its last 90 seconds with a synth pad scented of ethereal voices and of salts for meditation.
Heavy, slow and circular; Vanitas is a big electronic rock proper to a progressive rock. The bass and the sequences go up and down with orchestrations to tie them together. The guitar spits solos like a guitarist a little stoned on an invasion of sequences gurgling and hungry for heavy rhythm. The drums are full of attractions with the effects of wooden swords which collide and graft to a loud and soft structure which is really catchy. Niemand Kennt Zeit Noch Stunde is a musical journey in the time of X. An oblong violin and cello layer opens an introduction in mode meditation. The cello frees and stretches its laments in orchestral arrangements that give birth to a tasty lento movement from a salvo of violins. The cello weeps and the arrangements turn into a rather light staccato movement. A little more time on the clock, which has no time on the artwork, and we would have dreamed of Harald Grosskopf! There are many references to Chris Franke's sequencer works on the very melodious Ewigkeit. The sequencer walks, runs and tumbles à la Franke style whereas the moods plunge us into the world of Pacific Coast Highway. The synth with the airs of foggy flute, the rhythm which hops like these kids who walk and run in the air at the same time and the harmonies of the end of the 80's are fragrances that are good to feel and that this Rudolf Heimann's album deserves amply that we do listen to this novel-audio that is Rede Des Toten Christus Vom Weltgebäude Herab, Dass Kein Gott Sei.
If we perceive a cinematographic trend in the first part of DIE UNENDLICHKEIT AUGENBLICKS, it's nothing compared to this very long (too long?) title that covers half of this album. First of all, the storytelling! Excellent with a theatrical approach in the tone of Roland Paroth's voice. Ambience music, moreover, adopts the intensity and the emotions displayed by the reading of those texts conceived by the German novelist Jean Paul in 1797. There is a lot of passion in the reading of Mr Paroth, thus making the music adequate. The only downside is that the language chosen is German, I think rightly so. I didn't understand anything! But in all fairness, the reading of Roland Paroth is magnetizing and gets us understand the moments of disasters and others. You have to hear it to get an idea. And the first 37 minutes of this album deserves to hear the rest.
Sylvain Lupari (June 12th, 2019) *****
Available at Spheric Music, CD Baby, Syngate and Groove