Hans Otte: The Book of Sounds

Hans Otte (Composer), Hans Otte (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Hans Otte
• Composer: Hans Otte
• Audio CD (January 23, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Kuckuck Schallplatten
• ASIN: B0000018WT
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #198,884 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Astonishing, December 6, 2003

By 

James L. (Virginia, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hans Otte: The Book of Sounds (Audio CD)

I was completely caught off guard by this disc. Otte's piano music was recommended by a relative one evening and I checked it out, expecting it to be pleasant but not much more. It is extremely pleasant to listen to, but it is much more than that.

At first listen, parts of its surface sound like New Age music, but very quickly that similarity disappears. Whereas 99.9% of New Age music seems vapid and flabby to me (emotionally, spiritually and musically), The Book of Sounds actually brings together two seemingly contradictory musical/emotional states, those of total concentration and total relaxation. And for the listener who desires this, this state brings a very strong spiritual resonance as well. Otte himself puts it, "This Book of Sounds rediscovers the listener as a partner of sound and silence, who in his quest for his world, wishes to be totally at one with sound."

Otte accomplishes this not by airy Dorian noodlings, but by composing in gently and carefully contrasted blocks of sound. Within those blocks he employs a great deal of repetition, but also movement that is carefully crafted so as not to "progress". One piece is primarily a melody in which Otte has taken the utmost care to avoid any sort of melodic pattern or direction, yet still manages to convey movement. This is not easy to do.

The sound palette owes a great to deal to Olivier Messiaen's middle period (especially the Vingt Regards de l'Enfant Jesus) and to Philip Glass's middle minimalist phase (1974-79), though the intensity of affect is more like Glass's early minimalism. The overall concept owes a lot to John Cage's desire to let sound be itself.

I listen to a lot different kinds of music and am constantly seeking out new stuff. About once every year or two I come across some music which surprises me so much that get pretty awestruck by it. The Book of Sounds is such music. Highest recommendation.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essentialism, June 9, 2010

By 

June Fernan (Oxford, MS) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hans Otte: The Book of Sounds (Audio CD)

This work is a landmark to both Minimalism and piano music. In this work, Otte strives to make use of every dynamic of the piano, and every dynamic of sound as well, using a vast array of modes, rhythms, and volumes; and yet, the erratic nature of this work is retained by the style of minimalism. It's one of the best instrumental albums ever.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Notre Musique, May 8, 2010

By 

P. E. Curry (Phila, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Otte: Buch Der Klange (Das) (MP3 Download)

Just a side note to these other reviews, for anybody that might be searching for the piano music from the "Enfer" section of Godard's film "Notre Musique," this is it (tracks 2 and 5 I believe).