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Calw Live (2CD)
It’s now almost 30 years ago to the month since the release of one of the most unusual and greatest albums by a German rock band: Piktors Verwandlungen (Pictor`s Metamorphoses), the third album by south German cult formation, Anyone`s Daughter, came out in spring 1981, an almost 40-minute epic based on the fairytale of the same name by famous German poet, Hermann Hesse. The record is widely considered a masterpiece of German prog rock, packed with grandiose atmospheric music and seemingly magical passages. With more than 30,000 copies sold, Piktors Verwandlungen became the group’s most successful release and an unforgotten classic. So on the 125th anniversary of Hesse’s birth in Summer 2002 it seemed the obvious occasion to perform Piktors Verwandlungen in his birth town of Calw in the Black Forest region.
The 3rd of August 2002 was thus to become a notable day, not only for devotees of Hermann Hesse, but also for the people of Calw and, of course, in particular for Anyone`s Daughter. That evening the band performed the entire concept album once more, framed by three older numbers and a few pieces from their latest release Danger World. Particularly on listening to the more recent numbers the group’s vast stylistic bandwidth becomes evident, going about their work with not only mystical atmospheric but also rocking and gripping results. A guest appearance at this unforgettable concert came in the form of Heinz Rudolf Kunze, himself a fan of the German poet and with his charismatic timbre positively predestined as a reciter of Hesse’s text. A rapt audience of more than 9000 witnessed this historic spectacle on the market square of Calw. “The evening was an awesome experience. Of course, we were transported back in time, yet it still felt as contemporary as ever,” recalls keyboarder Matthias Ulmer, one of the founding members of Anyone`s Daughter and himself also born in the city of Calw. “In all, we rehearsed for five days in preparation for our performance of Piktors Verwandlungen. We hadn't played the piece for 18 years, added to the fact that our new bassist Raoul Walton and our drummer Peter Kumpf had to learn the numbers for the first time. Then, on the last day of rehearsals Heinz Rudolf Kunze approached us.”
Heinz Rudolf Kunze read out Hesse`s words which had been fluidly woven into the piece, a poetic parable to change, self-discovery, love and the meaning of life. These passages were fittingly accompanied by the dreamily mystic ambience of the songs which take the listener on a fascinating journey through music and prose. “Hesse was the most important author during our youth and for me the inspiration in the search for my own outlook on life,” explains guitarist and founding member Uwe Karpa. It's no wonder then, that Piktors Verwandlungen seemed made for the musicians of Anyone's Daughter.
The unforgettable concert reached its finale with the John Lennon number ´Imagine`, which Anyone`s Daughter performed together with Heinz Rudolf Kunze, a duet which crowned this memorable evening. Ulmer: “It was so moving, to bring this huge audience to silence with Piktors Verwandlungen. It felt as if every last person in the venue was spellbound by the piece, which was not least down to Heinz Rudolf Kunze's stirring interpretation.” Kunze himself takes a similar view: “As Arno Schmidt would say, the concert in Calw was an evening edged with gold,” he explains. “With thousands of people in front of the stage on the market square, and the house where Hesse was born to our right: we must have given one of the most memorable shows in the band's long history, and I was able to play a part in it.”