Ars Moriendi by Bastarda

Bastarda are an instrumental Polish trio comprised of clarinet, contrabass clarinet and cello. Their new album, “Ars Moriendi”, released earlier this year in CD format, is a mysteriously minimalist take on certain liturgical compositions and their composers from the medieval ages. It’s time to light the incense, kneel and say your prayers to this appropriately darkly and at times intense soundtrack to the end of life.

We have ended up having three separate vinyl versions this time around…because we couldn’t help ourselves! All the covers feature the image by Polish artist Stachu Szumski, silkscreened in the San Francisco studio of Morrison Productions in black and gold.

All three physical vinyl versions can be found to the left, on this page...

“Music in mourning is like a tale out of time’. Thus state the Holy Scriptures (Ecclesiasticus 22:6), suggesting that we fall silent in the face of death. And yet, this biblical admonishment notwithstanding, the passing of medieval and early modern Christians was constantly accompanied by music, from their dying moments to the last rites over their graves. When a Christian felt he was about to die, he would seek the comfort of the Scriptures. He would read excerpts from the Passion of Christ, symbolised here by the chant Vita in ligno moritur [1]. In Commendatio animae, the soul of the dying man was entrusted to God.

Bastarda transfigures this ancient musical ritual: centuries-old chants are fragmented, and the ever-changing counterpoint of early polyphony implodes into minimalism. What is left, is a twenty-first century meditation on death. The ars moriendi, the art of dying well, instructed Christians how to face death and resist the last temptations of the devil. Bastarda’s Ars moriendi does not teach. It is a journey through the paradoxical emotions of the human being, suspended between desperation and hope.

After the rite, those who are left ask themselves ‘Who will give our eyes a fountain of tears?’ (Quis dabit oculis nostris fontem lacrimarum), remembering what is lost. Mourning marks the end, but Bastarda’s interpretation points also at a new beginning of peace and, finally, silence.”
(comments by Antonio Chemotti)

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Time Released Sound, founded in 2011, is a lovingly hand made, limited edition release music label that is as much an art project as it is a musical outlet. Focusing on modern classical, ambient electronic and electroacoustic sounds, we produce visuals and packaging that are as uniquely beautiful as the music itself.

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