FILMMUSIK ANTHOLOGY VOLUME 6

This is a collection of more recent (as of 2015) music from various soundtracks by Irmin Schmidt, and part of the "Filmmusik Anthology" series, and as such it may be called a sampler, however I put this in the regular albums category because as far as I can see, none of this has been released elsewhere (other than in the films), so it is 100% original music.

It is nice atmospheric music using Irmin's typical half-tonal and mysterious compository arsenal. Different from much earlier soundtrack work, this album doesn't use drums or percussion, all the rhythms are electronic, although there are many parts that come without beats. The only guest musician here is the jazz trumpeter Markus Stockhausen (son of the famous avantgarde composer), a very interesting musician whose contributions are very welcome but appear in only three tracks. The other ones are Schmidt solo pieces, which raises the suspicion that he often worked on a budget here. In fact the lack of other instrumental influences is what makes the album somewhat weaker, less lively, than some other of his work, as good as he himself is as a keyboarder and sound designer. Much of the music is slow and minimal and transparent, despite the often darker and mysterious atmospheres.

Listening through the album consciously there are some interesting and fascinating bits, but on the whole there isn't that much that sticks to the memory. I have complained already a few times about the fact that music that works for films doesn't necessarily have a strong life on its own, and putting together music from various films isn't the best recipe to produce cohesion either, even though this one doesn't contain very strong contrasts and is a rather smooth experience overall, with a rather lush soundscape with few edges. There's the odd hint at earlier material but not that many self citations (which Irmin generally is keen on using) on this one. On the positive side, this can be seen as missing link between Irmin's earlier work and the minimalist modern classical piano music he'd come up with on his 2018 and 2020 albums. Even though the more electronic approach here still sounds quite different from what was to come, the mood already goes some way into the meditative direction he'd then take.

If you like the sound world of Irmin's soundtracks in general you will like this one, too. It is worthwhile to listen to, also for fans of Progressive Electronics, and original enough in the context of that genre even if not so much in the context of Irmin's overall catalog; in any case It's not exactly a highlight of the series. 3.0 stars.