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Klaus Schulze is a German electronic art music composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried. He was a cofounding member of electronic bands Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before a pioneering and prolific solo career of 40+ albums (totalling 110+ CDs) in 30+ years.
History In 1969, Klaus Schulze was the drummer of one of the early incarnations of Tangerine Dream for their debut album Electronic Meditation. In 1970 he left this group to form Ash Ra Tempel with Manuel Göttsching. In 1971, he chose again to leave a newly-formed group after only one album, this time to mount a solo career. In 1972, Schulze released his debut album Irrlicht with organ and a recording of an orchestra filtered almost beyond recognition. Despite the lack of synthesizers, this proto-ambient work is regarded as a milestone in electronic music. The follow up, Cyborg, was similar but added the EMS Synthi A synthesizer. He has had a prolific career, with more than 40 original albums to his name since Irrlicht, some highlights being 1976's Moondawn, 1979's Dune, and 1995's double-album In Blue (featuring one long track with electric guitar by his pal Manuel Göttsching of Ash Ra Tempel). He often takes German events as a starting point in his compositions, particularly on his album "X" (the title signifying it was his tenth album) in 1978 which was subtitled 'Six Musical Biographies,' including such notables as Ludwig II of Bavaria, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. His use of the pseudonym Richard Wahnfried indicates his interest in Richard Wagner, which also informs other albums of his music, notably Timewind. Throughout the 1970s he worked mostly in the musical vein of the above-mentioned Tangerine Dream, albeit with far lighter sequencer lines and a more reflective, dreamy edge, not unlike the ambient music of contemporary Brian Eno. Some of his lighter albums are appreciated by new age music fans, but Schulze has always denied connections to this genre. Klaus Schulze had a more organic sound than other electronic artists of the time. Often he would throw in decidedly non-electronic sounds such as acoustic guitar and a male operatic voice in Blackdance, or a cello in Dune and Trancefer. Schulze developed a Minimoog technique that sounds uncannily like an electric guitar, which is quite impressive in concert. In the 1980s Schulze moved from analog to digital instruments, and his work accordingly became less experimental and more accessible. Although the switch to purely digital recording and instruments is evident in the style of 'Dig-it' (1980) It was not until the release of 'Trancefer' (1981) that the shift in style became evident. 'Trancefer' was far more obviously reliant on sequencers than previous recordings, and the resultant affect transformed Schulze's style from gentle melodic journeys to and ever growing crescendo of music consisting of multi layered rhythmical passages. This is particularly evident in the Transcfer's first track 'A few moments after Trancefer', although the second track 'Silent Running' is more reminiscent of Schulze's earlier works. This newer style can also be found in Schulze's next release 'Audentity'. Both 'Cellistica' and 'Spielglocken' are composed in a similar, sequencer based, style as Trancefer, but this is certainly not the case of all of Audentity's tracks, indeed 'Sebastian in Traum' hints towards the Operatic style to be found in some of Schulze's much later work. The predominance of sequencing can also be found in the follow up live album 'Dziekuje Poland Live 1983', although it should be noted that many of its tracks are re-workings of those to be found on 'Audentity'. Schulze's next sudio based album 'Angst' moved away from the harshness of sharp, heavily sequenced style of the 3 previous albums and, once again, had the more organic 'feel' of earlier recorndings. Another highlight of this era was En=Trance with the dreamy cut 'FM Delight.' The album Miditerranean Pads marked the beginning of very complex percussion arrangements that continued into the next two decades. Starting with Beyond Recall, the first half of the 1990s was the notorious "sample" period, when Schulze used a variety of pre-recorded sounds of screeching birds and sensuous female moans in his studio albums and live performances. Sampling was such an unpopular diversion that when In Blue was released in 1995 without samples it was hailed as a return to form. The decade also saw the release of copious amounts of previously unreleased material, of varying quality, in several limited-edition boxed sets. Some live recordings were discovered on pristine but forgotten reels of tape which had been used to provide "echo" in concerts. Recently Schulze began incorporating elements of jazz and classical music, working with more contemporary techno dance music such as trance, and creating an opera. Also, he began re-releasing his classic solo albums with bonus tracks of unreleased material recorded at roughly the same time as the original works. Klaus Schulze is in a convalescent home at the moment, dealing with a long term illness. Discography Studio and live albums Schulze's concert performances are original compositions recorded live and thus listed as albums: In 2005 an intensive re-release program of Schulze CDs started, mostly with extended or bonus tracks, sometimes a whole additional CD. They are published by the label Revisited Records (a division of German company InsideOut Music **), and distributed by SPV. Albums notes: ▲ The Ultimate Edition (2000) collects remastered or expanded versions of the whole three limited Silver/Historic/Jubilee sets, plus 7.5 hours of additional music: 4 hours of 1978-1999 studio compositions (1.5 hours of 1970s, 2.5 hours of 1990s) and 3.5 hours of 1975-1976, 1998 concert compositions. (Of those 7.5 hours, 6 hours are unreleased music, and 1.5 hours cull most of his previously uncollected 'lone tracks' from singles, compilations, etc.). The total time of this set exceeds 64 hours. ▲ The Silver Edition (1993) was 10 hours of new 1992-1993 studio compositions, and 2 hours of unreleased 1972-1976 studio or concert compositions – this sold-out limited edition of 2000 sets is collected, remastered and expanded in the Ultimate Edition. ▲ The Historic Edition (1995) was 5 hours of unreleased 1970-1985 studio compositions, and 7 hours of unreleased 1975-1981 concert compositions – this sold-out limited edition of 2000 sets is collected, remastered and expanded in the Ultimate Edition. ▲ The Jubilee Edition (1997) was 21 hours of unreleased 1970-1997 studio compositions (9 hours of 1970s, 5 hours of 1980s, 7 hours of 1990) and 11 hours of unreleased 1975-1991 concert compositions (plus twenty minutes of four 1979-1984 German interviews with Schulze) – this sold-out limited edition of 1000 sets is collected, remastered and expanded in the Ultimate Edition. Wahnfried albums → See also the Richard Wahnfried project and its personnel. Composed by Schulze and performed with guest artists under alias "Richard Wahnfried": Uncollected tracks Most lone tracks have eventually been collected in the Ultimate Edition, however there currently remain: Dark Side of the Moog collaborations In collaboration with the extremely prolific ambient techno guru Pete Namlook (joined also by Bill Laswell on volumes 4 to 7). Each title is a humorous distortion of a Pink Floyd title. The series was officially concluded with volume 10. The 21st of March 2005 at 14:52 CET, the Big Moog synthesizer which is the symbol of the series was sold by Pete Namlook. Other collaborations Compilations, promos, samplers Due to the length of his compositions, there aren't actual Schulze compilations, but only samplers of (mostly) abridged tracks excerpted from the real albums: See also | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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