Diamanda Galás - De-formation: Piano Variations
Double click for enlarge

De-formation: Piano Variations

Label Intravenal Sound Operations ‎– ISO004LP
Format Vinyl, LP, Single Sided, Limited Edition
Barcode 0881626595213
Country US
Released Apr 2021
Genre Classical
Style Avantgarde, Experimental, Modern
Delivery time

In stock


In stock at our distributor, expected delivery within a few days.


This item is imported from Netherlands.

€34,99
A De-formation 21:19
Composed By, Performer – Diamanda Galás
Coordinator – Peter Nagy
Layout, Design – Nathaniel Young
Mastered By – Heba Kadry
Photography – Nathan Mattison
Recorded By, Mixed By, Engineer – Dan Neumann
Side B is blank.

Issued in a gloss sleeve, spine with text.
Disc held in a thick polythene inner bag.
Includes a 16" square folded matte poster, printed on one side. Poster artwork by Diamanda Galas.
Barcode sticker applied to shrink-wrap.

Composed and performed by Galás in September 2019, the 21:19 minute piece is based on the expressionist poem Das Fieberspital (The Fever Hospital). Written by German poet Georg Heym in 1912, Das Fieberspital’s depiction of warehoused patients of yellow fever presaged the treatment and hiding of infected and damaged soldiers later in WWI.

De-formation depicts a march and delivery of maimed and infected soldiers to hospitals and industrial warehouses throughout Germany during and after the First World War. In the hospitals the maimed would receive experimental operations and the infected would be confined to protect the mental vitality, enthusiasm, and health of citizens of the State. The Piano Variations were inspired by Galás' work on the score for Das Fieberspital. In organizing the work, she realized that the piano skeleton had become its own work, and she decided to record that in advance of the vocal work.

Tracing the origins...
Inspired by research in subtractive synthesis by Iannis Xenakis, Galás initiated her vocal research in the late 70s, and likened the idea of her process to a shredding of complex multiphonic sound into component timbres. In 2006, she returned to working with the voice in a similar way. Her ongoing work with Das Fieberspital has expanded upon this idea, with much of it being recorded in San Diego and Poland, beginning in 2012.

The most recent incarnation of Das Fieberspital, which employed solo voice, multitrack tapes of Diamanda’s vocal experiments, and piano, was last performed at the Dark Mofo Festival in Tasmania 2014, at the invitation of David Walsh.

De-formation: Piano Variations, was recorded and engineered by sound artist and engineer Daniel Neumann http://danielneumann.org/bio. It follows the recent reissue of Galás' 1982 solo debut 'The Litanies of Satan', released on her own imprint Intravenal Sound Operations. ISO is the shadow label in name, which has followed Galás’ career, and was brought to the fore in 2017 to issue new work as well as her vast back catalog, which she took ownership of in 2019.

Runout characters are etched.
Barcode (Text, on sticker) – 881626595213
Matrix / Runout – ISO-004LP re 36238.1(3)... Salt
164 PEOPLE
Have

65 PEOPLE
Want

14 PEOPLE
Rated 4.5 average
Share

Available formats

(0) Items
Items 0
Subtotal €0,00
To Top