Charlemagne Palestine
Ffroggssichorddd
Staalplaat
/
2020
LP
24.99
SP-Alfa
Edition of 200 copies
Incl. VAT plus shipping / Orders from outside the EU are exempt from VAT
Tracklist
1Brussels (parttt 06) 3:09
2Brussels (parttt 08) 0:28
3Brussels (parttt 03) 10:08
4Brussels (parttt 04) 6:09
5Rotterdam 25:19
6Antwerpen 13:21
7Brussels (parttt 01) 2:41
8Brussels (parttt 05) 2:20
9Brussels (parttt 07) 1:18
10Brussels (parttt 09) 1:50
11Brussels (parttt 10) 1:21
12Cappadocia 5:19

Architect John Körmeling worked on a system of music, that sets aside familiar Western tuning and is based instead on square roots, areas and volumes. In order to realise this music, he turned back to the harpsichord and adapted its jangling sound to an intonation that literally plays Pythagorean ratios - that's the idea behind the new instrument called Frogsichord. Körmeling then turned to the veteran rule-breaker Charlemagne Palestine, pioneer of long-form improvisations on harpsichord, harmonium and other neglected keyboard instruments. This LP documents Palestine performances on the Frogsichord made in Brussels, Rotterdam and in Cappadocia, Turkey.

The sound is strange, perhaps even estranging, but Palestine has made it his own, and created a music that is rich and detailed, not simply “exotic”. It’s no longer a question of “Western” tonality colliding with “non-European” harmonic systems. Here is music that taps into the universal language of mathematics, one that we are all programmed, however unwillingly, to understand. Meet the Frogsichord. It will change how you listen to music. It might even help you with maths.