Asmus Tietchens
Asmus Tietchens has been involved in experimental sound production since ’65. Over the years, Tietchens’ work has become less and less accessible. He has withdrawn into his cave like a hermit. Tietchens rejects conventional forms of composition. Melody and harmony are not or hardly to be found in his music. All identifiable influences have disappeared. At the same time, Tietchens has developed a unique style, in which the “sound” as well as the approach is immediately recognizable as his. Since 1984 Asmus has focused on making sound collages. Its approach is comparable to the “Musique Concrète”. Only concrete, natural sounds serve as the basis for the pieces of music. These are edited using the possibilities offered by the tape recorder and mixing console in the studio. He calls it Recycling Music.
A recurring theme in Tietchens’ music are the “Hydrophonies”, literally: sounding water. these water pieces are made up of the sounds that “die Wasserhahn” have been elicited. Like a true sound pioneer, Tietchens also entered the harbors of his hometown Hamburg with an underwater microphone to record water sounds that he later processed in the studio into “Hydrophonies”. It will be clear that a studio musician like Tietchens cannot perform his music live. That is why the concerts that Asmus gives take place in the appropriate Musique Concrète way: as tape concerts. For example, Stockhausen’s concerts in the 1960s took place by turning on a tape recorder on stage. Furthermore, this way of giving concerts gives the listener the opportunity to optimally concentrate on the rich domination and beauty that is hidden in Tietchens’ music. Tietchens has made a selection of unreleased material for this concert. It goes without saying that a new series of “Hydrophones” is an important part of this.