Works For Organ & For Cello

Mode's Radulescu Edition, curated with Radulescu's widow Catherine Marie Tunnell and his publisher Lucero Press, continues with a collection of his works for organ and works with cello. Radulescu's complete organ works are performed here by German organist Christoph Maria Moosmann, a long-time Radulescu collaborator with a great understanding of his music and sonic goals. Some of the works were written for or dedicated to him. Further definitive recordings are guaranteed by performances from cellist Catherine Marie Tunnell, Radulescu's widow and the director of Lucero Press. The organ and it's interaction with it's acoustic environment compliments Radulescu's "spectral music" palette and what he referred to as "sound plasma"- a special state of sound beyond equal temperament. "Intimate Rituals III" is presented in it's version for cello and "sound icons." During 1965-69, Radulescu had transformed his Bösendorfer grand piano into a kind of harp, putting it vertically on it's side and without cover, naming it sound icon. The strings are tuned spectrally, played with a V-form bow of horse hair or with other objects like coins, spheres etc. (The keyboard is not used at all). Due to the special tuning and the bowing technique, if one just touches a string all other strings begin to resonate, creating a rich harmonic halo around each sound. In 1985 Radulescu, together with Petra Junken, recorded two improvisations, each of them on two sound icons. The superimposition of those tapes is used here to accompany Tunnell's cello.