Customer Reviews

Hans Otte: The Book of Sounds

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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.

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.

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).

I discovered Das Buch der Klange (Book of Sounds) by Hans Otte, last November through one of Hearts of Space archived shows. This is one of the most beautiful, melancholic and contemplative works I have encountered in a long time. Otte's original compositions for piano are deceptively simple, yet it is through this simplicity that one can begin to hear the complexity and intensity of each piece.

Part 1 is my favorite and solidly sets the tone for the rest of the parts that follow. This album demands that it be taken in, deeply and without distraction. Like the Kronos Quartet cd that I reviewed earlier, Das Buch der Klange is absolutely a winter album. However, unlike the airy and festive tone of Kronos, Das Buch der Klange is laden with sadness--the emptiness between the notes is symbolic of loss. Parts 4, 5 and 6 are the heaviest on the album--almost nightmarish and perhaps obsessive. Part 9 is simply lugubrious--a song for lost love or loneliness. Das Buch der Klange resolves itself beautifully in the end, and one can find a kind of hope or light in the final part.

I realize that my review of the cd may seem too depressing for anyone who is looking for something lighter. It's true, you won't find lightness here, but what you will find is a kind of redemption from the general postmodern piano pieces that can be redundant and difficult to absorb. Hans Otte captures sheer beauty in the hour of darkness, while positively transforming the listening experience.

i enjoyed this wonderful CD by the german composer and pianist Hans Otte very much.
beautilful and delicate composition , that lets you fully discover yourself through these delicious sounds.
it brings me home every time . thank you.

Up there with Arvo Part's Tabula Rasa and Alina, Glass' Solo Piano and Gorecki's 3rd Symphony.

I do not know why did not meet Otte`s music so long after

heard many many music when I am 37 years old. These beautiful

compositions (the book of sounds / Aquarian Music) like some

kind of music between new age,minimalist and classical.

I always let it come all around me when I work, it`s very

pleased to my spirituality.