Musik on CD and online
Recordings of Charlotte Wilde's theatre music
Recordings of Charlotte Wilde‘s theater music are available on two CDs and on our Soundcloud online.
CD order by e-mail:
- Any where out of the world Theatermusik 1997-2006, 2 CDs for 14,- Euro incl. shipping.
- Songs for Alice (with Johannes Frisch) deluxe limited edition with artwork by Robert Voss. For 18,- Euro incl. shipping.
(Artwork Robert Voss, photo Michał Strokowski)
Charlotte Wilde: Any where out of the world
by Johannes Frisch
Ten years of Figurentheater Wilde & Vogel, that means the internationally successful work of a theatrical enterprise, equally and equally, however, also a musical development led with rare consistency. In the interplay and in the intensive artistic partnership with the figure player, figure builder and director Michael Vogel, Charlotte Wilde created a musical cosmos in the past decade, which emerged from the relationship to the visual imagination of the partner, but which gains its full autonomy as a purely auditory event.
On a bulging double album, divided into “Children’s Pieces” and “Evening Pieces,” Charlotte Wilde brings together excerpts from her diverse work of the past decade, music created for a full dozen plays. The instruments that Charlotte Wilde knows how to use with virtuosity are manifold, ranging from music boxes and xylophones to piano, accordion and Hammond organ to the variety of stringed instruments, be it the mandolin, the electric bass and Wilde’s main instruments, violin and guitar, which are preferably played in an electrified manner. The chorus of voices that variously appear, speaking and singing, is joined in the musical round dance by Wilde’s own. In addition, she is a master of countless small colorful boxes and pedals, with which she electronically expands her sound cosmos, conjures up noisy atmospheres and, when necessary, knows how to multiply herself live into an entire orchestra.
The influences found in Charlotte Wilde’s theater music are almost inexhaustible. Strong impressions come from folk and classical music, from New Music and Minimal Music, but above all from rock and punk, to which Charlotte Wilde probably owes her tendency towards abrupt sounds, unexpected outbursts, fragmentary sketchiness and rough breaks. Meanwhile, her music finds a sound language all its own, telling fascinating stories between melodious euphony and noisy attack. Protected by the theater space, Wilde developed a music that could hardly be more experimental and yet always comes across as wondrously familiar. By appealing to the familiar, be it a motif by Richard Wagner or a traditional Irish melody, for example, she always finds her way to something completely new. Of course, “Any where out of the world” works best as a musical reminder of wondrous theatrical moments, of course, but above all, “Any where out of the world” is a rich, powerful piece of music.
Enchanting arrangements: Charlotte Wilde’s Any where out of the world.
Enchanting arrangements: Charlotte Wilde’s Any where out of the world
Leipzig Almanach, December 2007 by Tobias Prüwer
You can’t hold on to the moment. That is regrettable, especially with regard to the beautiful, wonderful ones. But one can preserve memories of them and also awaken them. Any where out of the world will have such a function for all those who have already seen a play whose music is by Charlotte Wilde. For the double CD contains all the songs that Wilde has composed in recent years in the context of various productions. And for those for whom the album does not evoke memories of poetic theater evenings, they can still enjoy the imagery and rich variety of melodies and be beguiled for over 120 minutes.
The first silver disc contains children’s pieces. Violin and tinwhistle accompany the melancholic landscapes through which Nils Holgerson travels. In flight he crosses Sweden partly to folk songs, dances with wild animals, intoxicates himself with nature. Afterwards, light and airy piano etudes are interspersed. These come from the adaptation of the award-winning picture book Leonard Wolf Erlbruch), which is about the transformation of a dog-shy boy into a boy-shy dog. The pieces from The Hobbit use violin and mandolin to illustrate the adventure vacation of Bilbo Baggins, as he sets out from the Shire in good cheer and with brisk steps, eventually meeting various inhabitants of Middle-earth. There sounds distorted orc drumming and especially fantastic are the elves. Their chirping resounds in a squeaky polyphony, reminiscent of religious chants, and wonderfully combines the serenity with irony. At first, the fisherman and his wife are musically cruising on the sea on a summer’s day, plucking a little song on the electric guitar. To delicate sounds, the couple revels in their new luxury until finally the talking butt enrages and violins from the sky bring thunderstorms, storms and sobered humility. Between the various themes, pieces from Mary on the Rope provide harmonious transitions and the unifying element by means of music box and accordion.
The second CD collects music for adult pieces, most of which are orchestrated with electronic violin and electric guitar. With Wagner adaptation and rock song, Die Ballade vom Fliegenden Holländer is acoustically staged. In Toccata, the phantasmagorias of Robert Schumann are created with the Hammond organ. The pieces from Salomé oscillate between chanson and free improvisation. Among them are interpretations of a Russian and an Irish traditional (from Emigré and Exit. A Hamlet Fantasy), and for the intermezzo a tender-hearted fairy from A Midsummer Night’s Dream appears – reorganized – and performs a little dance on the violin. Finally, the music to Spleen takes us to the grotesque Paris of Charles Baudelaire, with prose poems partly set to music and spoken by children. Sometimes dragging, sometimes squeaking, but always of strange grace, the urban Wasteland passes by the mind’s eye. The CD ends with a great, frog-faced interpretation of the Elvis classic Don`t. The album title is also taken from Baudelaire`s work. Any where out of the world – Anywhere, but not in this world, the soul can settle down. There is no better way to emphasize the quietly melancholic tone of Wilde’s enchanting arrangements.