Maulwerke

The present DVD for the first time presents the vocal composition Maulwerke by Dieter Schnebel completely in its different stages defined by Schnebel as relevant to the work: from the process of development by the performing vocalists through the continuous work stages “Spiritual exercises – Productions – Communications” to the "opus" to be performed in public.

The Maulwerker's strong abstraction and strictness in musical interpretation is continued in the cinematic interpretation. The camera was assigned the role of participator in the development process from the very beginning. The resulting documentary recordings of the work stages are part of the work, as Schnebel had in mind. Evolving from the components “Spiritual exercises – Productions – Communications”, the camera takes different creative camera positions in the film: interpretative with regard to the scene, interpretative with regard to the sound, eliciting associations in a different (white) space, or documentary.

The film version of 2010 was developed by the Maulwerker and premiered as part of the project “Visual Music, for the 80th birthday of Dieter Schnebel” at the Berlin Akademie der Künste on 7 December 2010.

The Maulwerker who have worked together for more than twenty years, mostly in this formation, are reputed to be specialists in interfaces of the acoustic and the visual, in the connection of ear and eye, of body, sound and space, as well as in the penetration of sound and silence.