Kubisch, Christina

Night Flights

Label: Important Records Country: USA

Absolutely crucial reissue of Christina Kubisch's masterwork Night Flights.This is the first time it's been available in 20 years and the first time it's ever been issued on CD. Night Flights is made up of three massive works of sound collage. Her sensitivities and abilities are akin to a bonsai master sculpting the perfect Juniper or Joseph Cornell hard at work putting the finishing touches on a box. It's hard to imagine a world where half the records on Important could have been possible without Kubisch and the the first generation of sound artists who forged the path. It's a tremendous honor to be able to release this album."-John Brien, Important Records

"The compositions for Night Flights were realized in Milano in the period between 1983 and 1986. Milan at that time was a vivid and experimental place, with many international (mostly American) guests performing like Robert Wilson, John Cage, Trisha Brown, The Living, Laurie Anderson etc.

At that time we were a group of several musicians working loosely together, exchanging knowledge about custom made instruments, the latest electronic devices, rare records, and information about where to go and what to listen to.The lack of digital information and internet was one of the reasons for frequent meetings and musical experiments. We were determined to be the avant garde in a classical world of virtuosity. Davide Mosconi, Raffaele Serra, Riccardo Sinigaglia and others included myself had small but, seen from todays point of view, very artistic and exotic looking studios with many strange, often non European instruments and all kinds of keyboards, electronic drums and tape recorders. The official studios from the conservatory were not available for us but not interesting as well. We tried to make multichannel recordings and mixes by ourselves, we invented long tape loops going through the whole room, echo effects and reverb. We became specialists in cutting and manipulating tapes.The so called non-European musical tradition was a permanent source of inspiration. The meeting and performances with Roberto Laneri, overtone singer and Indian music specialist opened up new horizons. For several years I worked as well for the record company Raretone and was responsible for the release of the recordings of Giaconto Scelsi. I spent wonderful long days at his home, full with conversations about art and music. Alvin Curran, who took care of Scelsis tapes and archive, often came by.

There was a special fertile atmosphere in the early eighties in Milano. Somehow all these activities and the search for new sound worlds and techniques were a vital step on the way to what today is called sound art, though the term was not common then. Some characteristics of what is defined as soundscapes or sound environment are included in Night Flights: a special interest in sound colours, musical structure based on may layers of natural recordings and the intent to open up the listener's space even with the limited means of a vinyl recording."-Christina Kubisch

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