It's been more than 30 years since the German genius for music and technology encountered psychoactive chemistry at the end of the 1960s. The rest, as they say, is history; but when that history is finally written, the name of one musician will dominate the tale.
KLAUS SCHULZE was there from the very beginning, starting as a drummer in a psychedelic rock group, then embracing electronics when the first synthesizers arrived in Germany. He was a member of both of the seminal German electronic groups — Ash Ra Tempel and Tangerine Dream, then headed off on his own — thereby inventing the identity of the solo electronic musician, working in his personal studio to create original music.
Perhaps more than any single composer, he developed a musical language for electronic spacemusic that's become so pervasive and influential, it's now part of the environment. And since the early 1970s, his music has been one of the foundations of the sound of this program.
On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, we bring our long love affair with the music of Klaus Schulze up to date on a program called KLAUS SCHULZE : CONTEMPORARY WORKS.
Long careers in popular music are rare; long and prolific careers are exceptional. But the output of Klaus Schulze has been so extraordinary that even his most dedicated fans are often overwhelmed. By 2001, his discography included 35 solo albums, some 36 collaborations, and a group of monumental retrospective box sets, ranging from 10 to 50 albums each.
The new millennium did not diminish his creativity. In 2000, he released a new 10 CD set called CONTEMPORARY WORKS I, and followed it up in 2002 with a 5 disc set called CONTEMPORARY WORKS II. As you can see, the problem in bringing you Klaus Schulze is not one of supply, but rather, of selection, from an overflowing fountain of new music.
All the music on this program is taken from CONTEMPORARY WORKS 1 and 2. The deep focus electronic images, the sense of flying, floating, and cruising majestically through space, the soulful tones of the cello, English horn, oboe, and guitar, the entrancing cyclic rhythms –– all combine to make this music a distinctive and satisfying experience.
Klaus Schulze died on April 26, 2022, at the age of 74. No other artist has had such a profound influence on the sound of contemporary ambient, techno, and trance music.
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