New album "Beginning of the New Winter"

[Landschaft]

This is my 11th album [ landschaft 011 ] It is a return to my more "composed" style. Pastoral in theme, the first piece, Sketch No 1 is a live improvisation that just flowed out of my hands, taking no more than a few minutes to record and edit. Pure stream of conciousness, and the way I like to compose. The inspiration was drawn from a countryside walk in a glorious autumn morning, a chill in the air and the smell of wet leaves sat low against the earth. Sketch No 2 completed 25/09/2008 is a brief reflection on commitment. Sketch No 3 is published; 17/10/2008, a much longer work using a splendid church organ emulation and that meanders like early Popol Vuh. Sketch No 4, "I hear the bells peal at St Leo's across the low ford" is about place; a 12th century church tucked away near my home surrounded by a flyover, railway track and an industrial estate, but still winning the fight against the encroaching blight - a little piece of rural England overtaken by the city. Sketch no 5 is a rather fragile piece; cannonical, reflective, building and then subsiding - the title, for me sums up the mood: "The cracked willow". Sketch no 6 "A valediction: The magpie's dawn" is a blustery, robust work. Think: A beech wood torn by the wind thrashing the moon with her outstretched limbs on this turbulent autumnal eve when my thoughts turn to a lute song by John Dowland and in this moment of reverie I am comforted by the symetry of life as the notes tread their melancholy way... Sketch No 7 and 8 explore an improvisation; the first of the two pieces spare and a single live take with no edits or overdubs; the second drawing on the same tonal references, a more orchestral and composed work. Sketch no 9 published 5 November 2008: It's a big blustery conflicted piece unlike the others, with two parallel themes fighting against each other. It has a tension unlike the other pieces and is called "Crows wing nailed to a gate". As with some of the other pieces it is a warts and all improvisation with no corrections or edits whatsoever! I'm quite liking this way of composing - the antithesis of my sometimes cautious methodology.

I will post a copy of the album to anyone who likes it enough to ask. Preview in streaming form at http://www.virb.com/landschaft

[John Koch-Northrup]

Congratulations on your new album!

Here's the direct link for everyone...

http://www.virb.com/landschaft