Günther Beckers

Alto solo, baritone overtone solo, choir a cappella, reverb chamber, anechoic room

World premiere of media production in 1986 on the occasion of the exhibition “Stealing Diamonds” parallel to the Venice Biennale.
Marie-Dagny Wennberg – alto,
Wolfgang Saus – baritone (western overtone singing),
Members of the Collegium Byzantinum Aix la Chapelle,
Günther Beckers – Composition and Painting

• Intro-Studio: Micki Meuser
• 2nd part: Reverb chamber of the RWTH Aachen University (live interpretation of the melody by the choir between and on top of a “loop”)
• Part 3: Anechoic chamber

The choral work comprises parts of a written score as well as passages of improvisation of choir and overtone singing consisting of melody fragments to and on top of a loop. Günther Beckers wrote the choral work in 1985/86. The work, together with the compositions of the Italian composer Roberto Laneri, is one of the earliest compositions for the double formant technique of Western overtone singing (as opposed to vowel overtone singing). Earlier works by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Folke Rabe and Anders Hilborg used vowel overtones from which the Western overtone singing technique developed later. With his unique combination of painting and overtone singing, Beckers was ahead of his time. The piece was created on the occasion of the exhibition “Stealing Diamonds”, parallel to the Venice Biennale, 1986.