Herbert Distel

Herbert Distel (born 7 August 1942 in Bern) is a Swiss painter, sculptor, photographer, filmmaker and composer currently residing in Katzelsdorf near Vienna Austria.

Herbert Distel studied lithography in Paris at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts from 1963 to 1964 and started creating sculptures with geometrical forms in the mid-1960s.

[3] Artists included were: Arnulf Rainer, Carolee Schneemann, Christian Megert, Pablo Picasso, Robert Cottingham, Billy Al Bengston, Joseph Beuys, John Baldessari, Carl Andre, Chuck Close, Tom Blackwell, Tom Phillips, Joe Goode, Charles Arnoldi, Camille Billops, Nam June Paik, Frederick J.

[6] Distel's first sound art work was the LP We Have A Problem (1971) based on NASA recordings of Apollo 13 astronauts that were mixed with a live rendition of George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue' as played by the pianist: Peter Aronsky.

Distel was included in Morgan Fisher's 1980 Miniatures compilation (the aural equivalent to the Museum of Drawers) with a track called Toscany In Blue (Last Minute).

Source recordings for this sound work - a masterpiece of ambient musique concrète - were made in Milan's Central Station in 1987 with the help of his wife Gil Distel.

The technique is well-known (drastically slowed-down speed, multi-layering, echo and reverb sound effects, pitch modification), but the result is totally unique.

Originally commissioned in 2004 by a Japanese choreographer, this remix version of Herbert Distel's own Die Reise and La Stazione was broadcast on ORF, WDR and Deutschlandradio in 2007–8, but remains unreleased on disc format at time of writing.

Composed for dancers and video, this Soundtrack (pun intended I assume) is a subtle and nuanced mix enhancing details from the originals and adding dramaturgy in the process.

Generally speaking, this mix stays true to the original La Stazione project, that is to say an opera (i.e. a composition for voices), enhancing and stressing the role of vocals in these 2 sound pieces.

Distel agreed to sign an Artist Transfer Agreement linked to the rights of the work (provided) which he returned via international mail to my studio in Kingston, Rhode Island.