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Winfried Mühlum-Pyrápheros (b. 1941)



Musica Nova Contemplativa

  1. Part I (5:11)
  2. Part II (2:40)
  3. Part III (1:57)
  4. Part IV (3:59)
  5. Part V (2:21)
  6. Part VI (3:26)
  7. Part VII (3:25)
  8. Part VIII (2:45)
  9. Part IX (1:59)
  10. Part X (2:42)
  11. Part XI (3:20)
  12. Part XII (2:59)


Total time 36:40
LP released by Editions du Berger, France, 1970

German visual artist Winfried Mühlum-Pyrápheros (born 1941, Bad Kreuznach, in Rheinland-Pfalz) was studying philosophy and psychology in the early 1960s when he started to experiment with phosphor pigments to create luminescent paintings, soon to be exhibitied in various international art galleries, including Cabinet Gallery, Frankfurt, 1965. The novelty of these paintings resides in the fact they do emit light themselves. Mühlum-Pyrápheros also created on site installations (called Translucent Architectural Sculptures) in architectural spaces, where translucent sculptural elements made of crystal glass and stainless steel reflect and color the environmental light. These sculptures have moving glass parts radiating light in multiple directions.

Published 1970, Musica Nova Contemplativa is Mühlum-Pyrápheros' only released music composition, based on a 1964 graphic score. It is here interpreted by the author on violin (and viola?) and Johann Georg Ickler on organ and percussion. It sounds like it was recorded in a non-resonant acoustic space, possibly a German Protestant church. The LP, recorded 1967 and released in 1970, was released by a French book publisher and whether there was a German edition is not known. It apparently came with a set of 12 color slides available on request from the publisher and which I don't have – the pictures above (from the official website) are intended as a replacement. The Musica Nova Contemplativa cycle is a collection of short, Minimal and rather focused duos. Each uses a modicum of means, like: slowly diffracting, long held notes, repeated pizzicati or a special violin technique that sometimes sounds remarkably like crystal glass played with wet hands. 'Surfaces musicales statiques', as the French liner notes appropriately describes the music.

-- Notes by Continuo

Presented in collaboration with Continuo