Four years after the release of his dedicatory for record, Carsten Nicolai as Alva Noto returned to assemble a second recording of compositions devoted to a number of creative figures including industrial designer Dieter Rams, filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky and German dramatist Heiner Müller. On For 2 (which collects music made between 2003 and 2008) you can expect the most expansive repertoire of sounds than has ever been gathered for a single Alva Noto album, something that’s in-keeping with the diverse set of dedications.

The first piece “garment”, is inspired by a translucent textile designed in connecting sections. This composition cuts itself into segments, with Alva Noto’s trademark glitching wave patterns joining with fragments of orchestral strings, ensemble-style chord movements, slowly decaying resonances and harsh, industrial sounding noise inserts. Following on is ‘Villa Aurora (For Marta Feuchtwanger)’, an immensely subtle field recording that captures the decay of a sustaining piano chord before it’s snuffed out by the closing piano lid, leaving only the bustle of exterior environmental noises. This isn’t the last time on the disc that Nicolai draws our ears to the narrative-warping potential and all-round beauty of music in decay: ‘Anthem Berlin’, Alva Noto delivers a national anthem for artists Carl Michael von Hausswolf’s and Leif Elggren’s fictional Kingdom of Elgaland-Vargaland.’Stalker (For Andrei Tarkovsky)’ and the two different versions of ‘Argonaut (For Heiner Muller)’ – one of which is arranged for live classical instrumentation – exhibit a keen ear for minimalist harmonic progressions, with much of the progression caught in a continual dialogue between outright beauty and more uncompromisingly conceptual, experimental pursuits.

For 2 was originally released on Richard Chartier’s LINE imprint (LINE 044).

Further readings:

• Review by Headphone Commune’s Tigon (2010)

Related Products

• N-028 For Alva Noto Format: Digital