Bernhard Günter - Slow Gestures/Ceremoine Desire (For Heike) (CD)

All Music Guide

Slow Gestures started life as a revision of Deceptive Likeness, which was released on the collaborative work Günter did with Ralf Wehowsky, but it evolved in a different direction, essentially becoming a new piece. It has a restricted vocabulary, working with only three basic sound materials: a high-pitched sustained tone, like harmonics on a violin; short, medium-low-pitched sounds, like pizzicato on a cello; and a very deep rumble. The sounds are rich in overtones and typically appear in succession rather than superimposed. The work opens with a loud clanging, probably the loudest sound in Günter's oeuvre, although the remainder of the work deals exclusively with the quiet, sustained tones. This is Günter's first CD to explore overtly his research in time perception, three-second units that he calls DIM (after the French phrase, Duree, Ici, Maintenant, meaning Duration, Here, Now).

- Caleb Deupree, All Music Guide