Wood & Metal

The new album of orchestral works by composer Enjott Schneider focuses on the materials wood and metal. Wood represents the organic world, it is alive. Created from solar energy, wood is the engine of our living ecosystem. Metal symbolizes the inorganic world and since the beginning of its use – made possible by the taming of fire – for progress, but also for the lifeless.

The antagonistic worlds of wood and metal are depicted on this album in two very different percussion concertos. This was made possible by the enthusiastic participation of the two soloists. David Panzl constructed a unique setup containing everything from bullroarers to bells made of elm wood. Stefan Blum scavenged garbage dumps to collect scrap metal and created a full spectrum of modern percussion colors out of this "scrap".

The outer movements of the concerto “Secret of Trees” were inspired by two particular trees, the elm and the spruce. The middle movement consists of a series of miniatures symbolizing the three energy fields of all trees: roots, trunk, and foliage.

"Machine Worlds", the concerto for scrap metal, percussion and orchestra, is dedicated to the dialectic "man – machine" as it appears in the movies "Batman: Gotham City" or "Metropolis" as well as in the visual arts – e.g. in the works by Duchamp, HR Giger up to Jean Tinguely and his machine sculptures.

As a follow-up to Enjott Schneider's percussion concertos, both performers also recorded small solo works to present the rich variety of sounds offered by the unusual instrumental setups.