The first time out for these amazing recordings, meticulously restored and presented by the Institut for Dansk Lydarkæologi. The 24-page booklet is richly illustrated by Viktor’s marvellous photography, besides extensive, absorbing notes.
‘After studying painting in Copenhagen, in 1961 Knud Viktor moved into some dilapidated 14th century limestone buildings on the slopes of the Luberon mountain in Provence in 1961. He describes being disrupted in his painting by the thousands of cicadae demanding his attention. “They settled on your body, on the walls of houses, everywhere. Cicadas everywhere.” Their sound mirrored the sunlight: when a cloud passed before the sun they would stop sounding or change their rhythm. Their sounds led him to experiment with field recordings.
‘Often untreated and clearly recognizable, these recordings leave the inherent melody and rhythm of the animal sounds to sing for themselves, layering recordings to create simple and elegant sound images. In two of the twenty pieces Viktor’s own voice blends with the animals, as he recites two poems. One about the singing vineyard populated by musical crickets, the other painting an autumn picture with wine bubbling in the barrels as we hear the wine flies humming.’