Quellgeister

"Quellgeister" (roughly translated as ‘source-spirits’) is a long term research project into the unique character of derelict pipe-organs in Transylvania’s abandoned fortress churches, left obsolete by the exodus that followed the fall of Communism in Romania. My aim is to investigate the various transformations that human-built ritual machines undergo once left devoid of human presence, as they are slowly changing their interior material composition, developing a spirit and climate on their own. I am observing the sonic progress of things / organs being left behind. Since 2008 I am in the midst of the testing-phase.

Each number of "Quellgeister" refers to a different deterriorated pipe-organ in a different transylvanian village. The instruments bear their very own characteristics, oddities and well-fermented tunings. So far i have realized three albums - investigated, recorded and performed at the chosen organs. A work observing the language of things in regard to it's current state and process.

Quellgeister #4: Kuruzenaufstand

After the crash is before the reign / Premiere:
https://www.donaufestival.at/de/
https://www.donaufestival.at/en/

"Quellgeister is the name of the musical cycle that the Austrian composer and artist Stefan Fraunberger has been developing for 25 years - all on dilapidated pipe organs in the abandoned fortress churches of Transylvania. Once built by ethnic Germans who fled the country during communist rule, the ritual machines were abandoned to the wilderness like stranded spaceships. On their corroded stop actions and with their perforated bellows, Fraunberger plays music that is as much about material transformation as it is about the collapse of opposites in our dawning epoch.

Die vom deutschen Ingenieurgeist verlassenen Funktionsapparate wurden in die Wildnis entlassen. Zerfressene Registertrakturen gerieten in die Nähe eines „Wurmlochs #2“. Der löchrige Blasebalg wurde in den Ereignishorizont Bussd #3 gerissen. Die krachende Mechanik ist auf der anderen Seite auf der Oberfläche eines Planeten gecrashed. Zwischen den Trümmern braute sich etwas zusammen: Der „Kuruzenaufstand #4“ - ein Aufbäumen gärender Wirkkräfte gegen das Joch der Unterdrückung. In einer Zeit, in der wir immer noch schneller laufen, um nicht zurückzubleiben und dem Unheimlichen zu entkommen, zelebriert der Zyklus Quellgeister die endzeitlichen Aspekte von Gemeinschaft und darin verborgene Chancen für Neubeginn. m Was für die einen Dämonen sind, wird auf der anderen Seite der Klaviatur als Erlösung gefeiert - der Zusammenfall der Gegensätze wird als transmediale Performance zelebriert.

“Elegie”, Quellgeister #3 ‘Bussd’

“…eschewing the pomp of sacred music for the fragile drone of an organic death knell. „Quellgeister is about the influence of nature on culture,“ says Fraunberger. Yet the project is also an oblique manifesto for utilising Europe's vacant and disused spaces, places and things. 'Why should i buy a new modular synthesizer if there's lots of unused organs standing around?' he asks. The inhuman vocalisation audible in the project's second volume do indeed resemble nature's very own modular patch, implanted in decaying keybords waiting to be discovered.“ (The Wire)