Customer Reviews

Klaus Schulze: Rheingold

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I have no doubt that Klaus Schulze is a very talented musician acoustically. As with the case of Edgar Froese of Tangerine Dream who has done brilliant pieces on just piano such as "Twentynine Palms" from the Lily on the Beach album. So when I see Edgar up on stage hitting a key on one of the many keyboards and turning some knobs, I know that the man is a very talented muscian and composer.

I have never heard anything non-electronic by Klaus (if anyone knows of any please let me know). So when I see Klaus on stage in this very good DVD that I am very happy to have, I have to think of all the sound coming from just Klaus doing various things with all the equipment he has on stage. He hits a key here and there and then will appear to be reading something or monitoring something possibly on a display on one of his devices. When he plays his "sequencer piece" there are all sorts of different sounds but at one or possibly other times he does not have either hand on anything!

I guess that this type of performer is more noted for what he can put together (I absolutely believe he played all instruments making these programmed sounds) and then present it all on a stage to the audience. This is no different than a performer using a drum machine I suppose.

Either way, it just kind of grabs you that one guy is sitting there and all this music is swelling, chirping with electronic sounds abounding and he is responsible for it all. Almost makes him seem superhuman but he doesnt seem to be breaking a sweat making it all happen.

I do like this DVD with the female vocalist part as well. This could be classified as electronic symphony or opera. Either way if you are looking for something that will hold your interest with this type of music, I believe you will be happy. There is nothing on this DVD that does not fit in or that does not seem to have a purpose. Would really like to see more of his DVD offerings.

I've very fond of ambient music, particularly Tangerine Dream(the elder and younger) and, of course, Klaus Schulze. However, watching this performance leaves me with four questions:

Why does Klaus Schultze give Wagnerian titles to his pieces, when there is no connection between his stuff and Wagner?
Why do some members of his audience think it's a good idea to hoot at random intervals during the performance?
Why don't the rest of his audience shoot the offenders?

Excellent performance, with suitably strange bits from Lisa Gerrard. Strongly recommended (despite the audience).