Product Description

A philosophical dichotomy is the theme of composer Peter Michael Hamel's inspired and beautiful works, The Arrow of Time/The Cycle of Time. In these two exquisite scores, he explores mankind's two great concepts of time: first, that time is an arrow pointing forever toward the future, and second, that time is cyclic, forever repeating itself. These two tenets have shaped man's beliefs and understanding of the world. Music is the perfect medium for the exploration of such concepts, as music is itself inexorably linked to time, the beat of the music linked to the beat of the clock. Music, like time, is subjective and mysterious. The first composition, The Arrow of Time, is a dynamic piece, sometimes strong and at other moments gentle, but always perceptive. Its five movements build on a central motif introduced at the onset. The Cycle of Time, with its unusual harpsichord renderings, is a more flowing work in four movements. Both pieces are undeniably stirring and demonstrative. Although Hamel is a modern composer known for his complex musical substance, his complexity in no way overshadows the dramatic emotion of these two works. The Arrow of Time and The Cycle of Time are remarkably accessible pieces, which the listener can enjoy independently or as a duality. The musicianship on this recording is unsurpassed. The orchestra and conductor are Slovakian, and unequivocally masters. With the opening of Eastern Europe, this is the first time these superb musicians have recorded a modern composer's works for release worldwide. The engineering, likewise, is of the utmost quality. Included in the CD booklet is an extensive essay on the philosophical concepts of time. These elements together create an artistic triumph.

About the Artist

Peter Michael Hamel, born in 1947, ranks as one of the best-known and most successful German composers of his generation. He studied music, psychology, and sociology in Munich and Berlin with teachers such as G. Bialas and F. Buechtger, and continued his education abroad, spending three extensive periods in Asia. Hamel has entered into an intense engagement with musical culture from outside Europe, especially the music of India. He has drawn inspiration from Asian philosophies and religions and from his encounter with the works of Jean Gebser and C.G. Jung to present a music that seeks to make itself accessible to the listener through meditative experience and self-exploration. He says, "I often think of the listener, but what emerges is that which happens. The perceptual conditions cannot be pre-determined. I would like to convey archetypical conditions which lead the listener to an encounter with himself or herself." In 1970, he founded Between, an international group of improvisational musicians with whom he made several records, and in 1978 he initiated the Freies Musikzentrum Muenchen, an institute for musical education and therapy. In 1976, his book, Through Music to the Self, was published, obtaining wide circulation in Europe and the U.S. The book discusses the transformational effects of music through the ages and calls for a new approach to composition in twentieth-century Western music. Tonius Timmerman in Musiktexte explains Hamel's philosophy this way, "Hamel seeks to develop a musical language which is accessible not only to a specially educated minority. He understands music to be the occasion for communicating with other musicians and with the public with whom he wants to speak and to whom he has something to say." One of his most interesting works, The Arrow of Time/The Cycle of Time, uses music to explore two of mankind's conceptions of time - that of time as an arrow pointing eternally toward the future and that of time as a circle, forever repeating itself. For some ten years now Peter Michael Hamel has turned to larger symphonic forms, but his oeuvre is diverse and encompasses chamber music, choral works, operas, and music for theatrical productions. Hamel has undertaken commissions for the Berlin Festwochen and the Salzburg Festival, and has performed interpretations of his own works for piano and organ in international concert tours.