Diamanda Galas - De-Formation LP

$20.98

Single-sided vinyl

With her back catalog reissues well underway on her own label, here is some long awaited new music from avant icon Diamanda Galás. De-formation: Piano Variations is a one-sided work for solo piano she composed and performed in September 2019. Mastered by Heba Kadry, the 21:19 minute piece is based on the expressionist poem "Das Fieberspital (The Fever Hospital)," written by German poet Georg Heym in 1912. The depiction of warehoused patients of yellow fever in "Das Fieberspital" presaged the treatment and hiding of infected and damaged soldiers later in WWI. In hospitals, the maimed would receive experimental operations and the infected would be confined to protect the mental vitality, enthusiasm, and health of citizens of the State. The Piano Variations were inspired by Galás' work on the score for "Das Fieberspital." In organizing the work, she realized that the piano skeleton had become its own work, and she decided to record that in advance of the vocal work.