Palantír

"Palantír" is the name of a project by the composer and artist Christian Schimmöller. The name is taken from the well known book by the english author J.R.R. Tolkien. In Tolkien's fantasy world "Palantír" is translated as "what glances at the very distant" and is the name for an ancient crystal ball that can be used to look at distant lands and things and for telepathical communication with other persons far away. Certainly music can also have such abilities, therefore for Christian Schimmöller Palantír becomes a symbol for musical mind-trips. Though at first directly inspired by Tolkien's world, the music doesn't stick with acting as a mere soundtrack for "The Lord of the Rings". The music is meant to invoke pictures, impressions and emotions in the listener and to open the gate to the listener's own fantasy world. Palantír's music could be regarded as a kind of "sound-movie", but the music goes beyond the possibilities of a movie, because it is the listener who creates and experiences his own movie - a new one with every listening. The musical "roots" of Palantír, among others, can be found in the music of the so-called "Berliner Schule"(Berlin School), a style invented in the 70s by artists like Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze or Ashra. The intention of this music was to break free from the clutching rules and old structures of music styles. The long tracks of this music used repeated sequences (patterns, that were slightly varied, similar to the methods of "Minimal Music") to create an effect of trance and meditation. Mostly instrumental, these tracks also discovered new worlds in sound by the use (and development!) of electronic sound-generators such as synthesizers, sequencers and digital samplers. From these "roots" in Electronic Music (in short EM, where on closer look most of today's music is generated by electronics and EM isn't that purely electronic at all...) Christian Schimmöller developed his own musical style, without sticking to the "rules" of dedicated genres. Therefore the music of Palantír cannot easily be put into one of the common genre-drawers such as New-Age, Ambient, Pop, Jazz, Avantgarde, Classical or Electronic. For Christian Schimmöller the search for new forms of musical expression and sounds is a vital part in creating new music. To achieve this, every tool is welcome to Palantír, be it electronic or acoustic, natural or artificial, analogue or digital. Next to the elements rhythm, melodie or harmony, the sound is equally part of the composition. On the search for new musical sounds and structures one thing is especially important for Palantír's music: the music should be accessible to the listener, touching his emotions. In many parts of Avantgarde or New Instrumental Music the main purpose of music moves too far into the background. Music is made for listening to, it must have a meaning. The listener must be able to emotionally experience the music, otherwise the music becomes insignificant, meaningless, becomes mere noise.