Joseph Beuys (1921-1986)

Richard Rijnvos (*1964)

"Is it necessary for a listener to Richard Rijnvos's Block Beuys to know the Beuys collection in Darmstadt? I think not, ..."

Christopher Fox

Was Rijnvos an Block Beuys fasziniert, "is the striking way in which Joseph Beuys manages to draw a parallel between the complexity of the world that surrounds us and that within these seven crammed rooms".

Richard Rijnvos quoted by Christopher Fox

Richard Rijnvos: Block Beuys

Ives Ensemble, cond. by Rijnvos

HAT HUT Records, 2004 (hat[now]ART 147)
www.hathut .com

Cover image: courtesy of Hat Hut

Richard Rijnvos: Composer, Conductor
www.richardrijnvos.com

CD liner notes: Christopher Fox, 2001

Ausstellungen:

Werkkomplex Joseph Beuys im Hessischen Landesmuseum, Darmstadt
www.hlmd.de

2010 Beuys: Energieplan - Zeichnungen aus dem Museum Schloss Moyland

"Das Frühwerk von Joseph Beuys ist geprägt durch einen umfangreichen Fundus an Zeichnungen, deren Bedeutung der Künstler selbst als Fundament für sein gesamtes künstlerisches Werk grundlegend eingeschätzt hat."

2009 "Joseph Beuys – Unveröffentlichte Fotografien von Manfred Tischer: Joseph Beuys - Das Schweigen von Marcel Duchamp wird überbewertet, 1964 und Ausstellung Kleve, 1961", Museum Schloss Moyland, Bedburg-Hau

Joseph Beuys Archiv

www.moyland.de

2005 Ausstellung in der Tate Modern, London
www.tate.org.uk

"In 1990 Richard Rijnvos was invited to the German city of Darmstadt to be a guest composer at the new 'Internationalen Ferienkursen"..During a free moment he escaped from the courses and discovered one of Darmstadt's greatest treasures...the 'Block Beuys'."

"Rijnvos's Block Beuys, begun five years after his Darmstadt encounter, is his response to the collection."

Christopher Fox

"These four works for ensemble are a richly varied memorial to Beuys, and a carefully detailed acoustic souvenir of his work, but above all they constitute an entirely authentic artwork, utterly compelling in its own right."

Christopher Fox

Block Beuys-Raum 1

"...the tape part is made up of rich, rusty metallic sounds..."

"It could be said to represent the walls, the ceiling and the floor of the room while the instrumental music...mostly colours the tape sounds. The occasional interjection of quicker instrumental music reflects the five objects in the room"

Christopher Fox

Block Beuys-Raum 1

rec. 1995

for tape with 11 instrumentalists No.16

Block Beuys-Raum 2

The second room in the 'Block Beuys' houses numerous objects of all shapes and sizes and Rijnvos's music is similarly varied, in a constant state of flux, although dominated by splendidly abrasive rhythms and harmonies."

Christopher Fox

Block Beuys-Raum 2

rec. 1995-96

for 21 instrumentalists with continuum No.17

Block Beuys-Raum 3

"The tape part features the voice of Beuys himself...which provides the cues for the instrumentalists, who perform a series of what Rijnvos calls 'Aktionen' against the backdrop of the gliding, ethereal sound of an aquaphone."

Christopher Fox

Block Beuys-Raum 3

rec. 2000

"Aktionen" for 12 instrumentalists with tape No.18

with words by Joseph Beuys from "Aktive Neutralität, Überwindung von Kapitalismus und Kommunismus", rec. 1985

Block Beuys-Raum 4-7

"Rijnvos has composed three musical layers, superimposing unconducted events for individual instruments (the objects) on metric ensemble writing in which rhythmic lines progressively proliferate, becoming ever faster and quieter (the vitrines containing the objects) and music for the two percussionists (the spaces in which the vitrines are disposed)."

Christopher Fox

Block Beuys-Raum 4-7

rec. 1998-99

24 vitrines for 21 instrumentalists No.19