Stahlhartes Gehäuse - a song of many parts A. De Petrecut B. Curse Upon Iron - Kaua Needmine C. Stahlhartes Gehäuse - Part 1 D. Klage II - Lament II E. Stahlhartes Gehäuse - Part 2 F. Ma Uitai Spre Rasarit A. De Petrecut Fire, fire, trandafire Dar tu ce te-ai zăbovit Şi n-ai înflorit?… Bud, Bud, Rosebud Why did you wait so long to bloom. To bloom?… De Petrecut” is a Romanian ritual funeral song to accompany the deceased as they transition into the other world. Stemming from the Borlovenii Vechi in Banat this selection of drone harmony which is sung on the way to the graveyard of which is sung directions for a safe journey. Other “laments” are sung by key women at certain prescribed moments that beseech the sun not to rise till the dead person has all the food and drink they need for their journey “from the land of pity to the pitiless land,” or speak of planting and decorating a pine tree at the head of the grave. These chants are what survive from an archaic oral tradition. Here we lament the death of modern civilization in the grips of the stranglehold of rationality. B. Curse Upon Iron - Kaua Needmine In “The Curse Upon Iron” or Raua Needmine in the original Estonian, we fuse a magical hex conducted by Veiljo Tormis into a martial drum piece. Here we strive to sever iron from its power over us and to regain our hold over it. Based in shamanism and the ritual incantations of the Finnish Epic the Kalevala, Tormis notes that, “in order to acquire power over a material or immaterial thing, one communicates knowledge to the object. Thus the describing and explaining of the birth of iron to iron itself forms a part of the shamanic process. The magical rite is performed to restrain the evil hiding inside iron. Each and every thing created by man may turn against man himself when used without respect towards the living.” C. Stahlhartes Gehäuse - Part 1 Knife like life Cased in steel This life under duress Drenched in Axiom Steel hard casing These prison walls enclosing Housed in unrelenting demand Coffins engulfed in flames Stahlhartes Gehäuse Shackled enslaved steel cage Steel graves death embrace Condemned and damned to lie Pressed within an iron cage This light cloak no more This harsh razor existence This harsh razor existence Coffins nailed into place Gutted embalmed euthanized Coffins nailed into place Gutted, embalmed, euthanized Stahlhartes Gehäuse the third piece in this overall movement is a four part song. Here the Curse, this Hex incanted upon Iron, we place in a larger construct; that which is the basis for Max Weber’s theory. We pull the various threads of the phrase apart and regain a foothold on their implications. Break its spell by casting our own by naming it and recounting to itself its properties. This is intersected midway through by a break in which a poem from the great Austrian poet Georg Trakl is recited. Klage II or Lament II is a sympathetic allusion to the plight of humankind as this intersection, in the stranglehold of this prison, this ‘light cloak,’ to be shed at a moments notice, is our guillotine. We are the crimson body dashed on horrid reefs. D. Klage II (Lament II) Schlaf und Tod, die düsteren Adler Umrauschen nachtlang dieses Haupt: Des Menschen goldnes bildnis Verschlänge die eisige Woge der Ewigkeit. An schaurigen Riffen zerschellt der purpurne Leib. Und es klagt eine dunkle Stimme über dem Meer. Schwester stürmischer Schwermut Sieh ein ängstlicher Kahn versinkt unter Sternen, Dem schweigendem Antlitz der Nacht. Sleep and Death the gloomy eagles Whirr all night about this head: The icy wave of Eternity May devour the golden image of man. On horrid reefs the crimson body is dashed And the dark voice laments over the sea. Sister of stormy melancholy Look a tremendous boat is sinking beneath the stars, To the mute countenance of night Klage II or Lament II is a poem by the great Austrian poet Georg Trakl (1887 -1914) chosen by Markus Wolff as fitting allusion to Weber’s theory. One of the last poems he wrote before taking his own life, while in the military working as a doctor caring for the wounded and dying on the front in WWI. D. Stahlhartes Gehäuse - Part 2 Stahlhartes Gehäuse Knife like life Cased in steel This life under duress Drenched in axiom Coffins aflame Cased in steel Steel hard casing These prison walls enclosing Housed in unrelenting demand Coffins engulfed in flames Stahlhartes Gehäuse Shackled enslaved steel cage Steel graves death embrace Condemned and damned to lie Coffins aflame! Coffins aflame! E. Ma Uitai Spre Rasarit Foaie verde margarit, Ma uitai spre Rasarit, Vazui primavara vind. Eu cunos’ vara când vine Pa fluturi sspa albine, Pa frunza da maracine, Pa cântatul cucului, Pa haitul plugului. Primavara cand soseste Neica la plug îmi haieste, Mândra la pânza-mi nalbeste, Cine om atunci traieste Si ce-I place tot iubeste. I Looked Toward the Rising Sun Green leaf of the daisy, I looked toward the sun, I saw springtime coming. I know spring when it comes, By the butterflies and bees, By the hoys of the plowman. As the spring arrives, The young man gets ready to plow. His sweetheart starts bleaching the cloth. It’s then that a bold man really lives And makes love to every girl that pleases him Ma Uitai Spre Rasarit the final movement is translated as “I looked toward the rising sun” here at the end of this journey we beseech the sun to return and greet it with optimism and nostalgia. A donia from Lelesi, Gorj sung by the queen of donia singers the Oltenian Gypsy Maria Lataretu.

Psalm Of Misery Misery Knot the noose of the hanged man Melancholy gripping the throat The night reaches out To choke the haunted castle of memory This psalm of misery Tongue heavy with coffins The black wings of the grave Grown decrepit with rage This psalm of misery Our dead mouths sing Seizing the throat This psalm of misery Misery The world’s eyes are blind skies Black sun in an impenetrable night The hard stupidity of man Will greet the law of the knife Night falls within us Verbannt, vergessen und gefesselt Die Klinge berührt die zuckende Zunge Stählerne Gräber bergen gläserne Wut Die eisige Stirn fühlt die gleissende Glut (Banished and bound, and forgotten The blade touches the twitching tongue Steel graves conceal vitreous rage The ice cold forehead feels the luminous blaze) You will bite the horrible sun You will pay for your share of hate Cast the lime on our open graves You will bite the horrible sun You will pay for your share of hate You will bite the horrible sun You will pay for your share of hate Slit the throat of man Psalm of misery

Perdition Mankind drawn within the jaws of fire A roll of drums Blood red eucharist Ravens plash in gory gutters Carrion scented funeral procession. Perdition Bells tolling the flight of murder Black birds lament from barren branches Night falls into burial urns An empty grave languid with death How dark this endless night Against a countenance of crimson flame Blood red wound, a darkened chamber Sweet breath of decay Perdition Bells tolling the flight of murder Black birds lament from barren branches Night falls into burial urns Black dew drips from barren willows Black blood runs from the throat At our feet, the graves of the dead Open to our future, our perdition (Filled with festering sighs, facing our open graves)