Record Reviews

KRZYSZTOF DUDA ~ ALTUS GAD 012 (Barcode: 5901549197129) ~ POLAND ~ Electronic & Ambient Recorded: 1980 - 1985 Released: 2013 This album brings back to life a series of compositions by Polish synthesizer music pioneer Krzysztof DudaFind albums by this artist, recorded in the early 1980s mostly for Polish TV. This music was used as soundtrack for various TV programs, among them the cult popular science series called "SondaFind albums with this title", but also others. The album features twenty tracks, all composed and performed by Duda, who used an impressive array of synthesizers including the ARP, Hohner, Korg, Moog, Roland and others, including some custom made instruments. The music is mostly constrained to the three minutes per track timing, but manages to present an impressive array of great melodic themes and an enormous collection of synthesizer sounds, which of course also characterized the Pop and Rock scene at the time. Duda manages to create his own universe of sounds, which is characterized by dramatic, mysterious and wonderfully crafted melodies arranged into multilayered sound sculptures. The four-part suite called "Przez Pryzmat Krysztalu" is the most ambitious and advanced musically piece on the album and a true masterpiece of synthesizer music. As usually with GADFind albums on this label Records this collection is meticulously researched, offers excellent sound quality and is accompanied by an informative bilingual booklet, which provides the historic background relevant to the included music, in short a model for producing reissues and preserving the heritage of Polish music, which would have otherwise simply disappeared in the tides of time, if not for the work of the producer and record label owner Michal WilczynskiFind albums by this artist. Another great piece of the puzzle!

Updated: 25/02/2016Posted: 20/02/2016

CD 1 Remastered Recommend To A Friend

KRZYSZTOF DUDA ~ LIVE GAD 084 (Barcode: 5903068120145) ~ POLAND ~ Electronic & Ambient Recorded: 1984 - 1985 Released: 2018 This is the second archival album by Polish electronic music pioneer / composer Krzysztof DudaFind albums by this artist. It presents two live recordings made in the mid-1980s of extended musical suites performed live by the composer inside two churches, using an extensive array of synthesizers, the first lasting over thirty minutes and the second over forty minutes. Duda, who is a church organist, composed the music initially to be performed using a church organ, but gradually ported it first into a hybrid organ-synthesizers version and finally into a full synthesizers only version, which is captured herein. The music is an interesting crossover between liturgical church music and ambient / electronic explorations, powerful and soaring, full of beautiful melodic themes and lengthy improvised parts. Although performed by synthesizers, the overall sound is very close to church organ music, but less bombastic and dominating than music performed using the church organ. This music is completely timeless and lost absolutely nothing of its impressive scope and emotional power over time. For synthesizer connoisseurs this is a potent and enlightening experience, which is also quite unique in its attempt to connect secular and spiritual musical explorations, which are combined cleverly within Duda´s music. Highly recommended to listeners who are interested in exploring uncharted musical territory!

Updated: 06/02/2019Posted: 06/02/2019

CD 1 Remastered Recommend To A Friend

VARIOUS ARTISTS ~ SONDA 2 GAD 023 (Barcode: 5901549197297) ~ POLAND ~ Electronic & Ambient Recorded: 1977 - 1986 Released: 2014 This is the second album which presents a collection of music, which was utilized as background music by the epic / cult Polish TV popular science series called "SondaFind albums with this title", which was extremely popular and run for twelve years between 1977 and 1989. The program was innovative and extremely well done and also excelled in the careful choice of its background music. This collection uses again several tracks selected from the German Sonoton music library vaults, but also includes some original Polish tracks recorded especially by Polish Radio and TV by such pioneering artists as Mikolaj HertelFind albums by this artist, Andrzej KorzynskiFind albums by this artist, Krzysztof DudaFind albums by this artist, Wladyslaw KomendarekFind albums by this artist and even the legendary Polish group SBBFind albums by this artist. The music was all composed and performed between 1976 and 1986, which of course means that it is heavily filled with synthesizer sounds, which at the time were highly fashionable. However, in contrast to most popular synthesizer soaked 1980s music, which is simply unlistenable today (and wasn´t that good to start with), the music here withstood the tides of time quite well and sounds pretty excellent today, especially as part of the nostalgia wave that surrounds past decades. The creators of this music were all top notch composers / musicians, which is plainly obvious to anyone listening to this album. Although this album is primarily a tribute to the legendary TV series, it is also a great trip revisiting some great and mostly forgotten synthesizer music from the 1970s and 1980s, which was previously unreleased and which is still relevant and worthy of being listened to. The album was again beautifully put together by GADFind albums on this label Records and its owner Michal WilczynskiFind albums by this artist, who is setting a standard with his work for all reissue labels to follow.

Updated: 25/02/2016Posted:

CD 1 Remastered Recommend To A Friend