CORNUCOPIA

"Cornucopia" or "horn of plenty" ... Amáltheia was either a nymph or a goat who with her milk nourished the infant Zeus. Zeus made one of Amáltheia´s broken off horns, from which formerly nectar and ambrosia had flowed, into the inexhaustible, bountiful horn of plenty. As the symbol of superabundance and prosperity, it produces whatever its owner wishes....

MATTHIAS THUROW: Keyboards computer- & sound programming state of the art -working with the paint box computer "Work on this LP revealed to me a new procedural method which prior to this I had adopted purely untentionally and by coincidence. I did not conceive and compose the music in the conventional manner, but tried to make use of the considerable work and experience with computers like a painter.

That is to say, to apply tone colours, paint them over, re-group them and then to wipe them away again etc. In this way pieces of music resulted which, from my viewpoint, have an entirely new writing style. I can still remember very clearly an interview with Picasso. The camera tried to capture a working phase of the master who, armed with a bottle of red wine, sat in his studio and simply began to paint, let himself drift - seemingly arbitrarily made alternations, drew lines, made blots - and soon something was created which was fascinating; and although one saw the formative process, one was unable to grasp it.

This business of "letting yourself drift", "finding yourself" and "letting yourself fall" is preceded by a long personal process of experience and a developement to which I would like to devote very much more room in my work. For me, this style of working is unrestricted creativity, the unrestricted expression of sound. This really has only become properly possible for me as a composer with the help of the paint-box computer".
(C) 1986 M. Thurow

Press reviews

"World renowned Thurow´s versality in a wide range of musical styles is brought to focus on "Cornucopia", a haunting recording of instrumental textures, tempos and sounds. Thurow describes the recording of this album like working with a "paint-box" computer, applying tone colours, "painting" them over, regrouping them and adding textures." - The R & R New Music Guide