Tauern by Matthew Florianz

When I was little, and the world much taller, awake on the backseat of our car, I saw Flachau rise in early morning light.

Whenever I think of mountains, only one comes to mind.
Creative endeavors rarely follow the same path to completion. For me, the act of creating is a delicate balance between familiarity and discovery—elements that don't always align harmoniously. Taueren was initially caught in that tension. I completed it in 2008, but it wasn't released until 2015 after some additional refinements. To date, it remains my most popular album, which suggests I may not have been entirely right or wrong back in 2008. You can judge for yourself, as the earlier version is included in the bonus download.
The music I am drawn towards—and create—is abstract, impressionistic, and intuitive. It seeks to evoke discovery and exploration. I compose and listen out of curiosity, yearning for intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually stimulating experiences: new thoughts and sights as seen through the ears.

Taueren connects deeply to a specific landscape and draws inspiration from a faded memory: The droning half-awake sounds of a nightly road-trip through Germany and reaching the Austrian Mountains at the earliest light of dawn.. As a child, the world seemed immense, a sensation profoundly imprinted on me as I glimpsed the towering mountain range near Flachau for the first time. goo.gl/maps/jBrguiaKLvWDQqTK7

From the backseat, the mountainous wall of stone seemed to touch the sky. At an age when every moment was filled with fresh wonder—and growing up in the Netherlands, the epitome of flatness—that morning view of the mountain left a lasting impression. Even now, when I think of mountains, that memory surfaces.

A listener once remarked that the horn opening in Taueren felt melancholic or slightly sorrowful. There’s some truth to that observation. In hindsight, I suspect I unconsciously projected my father onto the music. He passed away shortly before the album’s release, and it’s possible I infused the piece with his spirit. He would have been the one driving us through the night toward that Austrian morning. This connection feels like his legacy, a reminder of how profoundly different Holland must have seemed to him. I am grateful for the memory and for the opportunity to reflect on it through music.

Wherever your journey takes you, I hope your passage through Taueren inspires you, in one way or another.

R E V I E W
Bert Strollenberg -- Sonic Immersion // https://www.sonicimmersion.org/review...

When we look at imaginative and narrative ambient, the works of Matthew Florianz always stir a different pair of emotive strings for me that I find rather hard to pinpoint. The version of Tauern reviewed here is actually a re-release of the original 2008 album in a revised, 24-bit edition, for which the composer dropped some of the rhythm elements while replacing the last track entirely.

What at first seems a kind of contemporary classical music on the open track Österreich shifts to gentle textural dwellings and environmental soundscapes thereafter. Best listened to and enjoyed with quality headphones, Florianz spacious sketches can submerge in mesmerizing tranquillity before rising up to elevating states with evocative, morphing waves.

The excellent 6-minute title piece (an old substrate word for mountain, mountain pass or crossing) marks the captivating entrance to a world of lush whirling ambiences and farscapes. Katschberg extends on these enchanting textural worlds marvellously, while the finale (Wolfsberg) adds a spiralling sequencer-pattern and pulsating vibe to maximize the impact of vapour-drawings sketched out previously. Aficionados of cinematic and contemplative ambient should make sure to check this out.

Purchasers of this "re-imagination" of Tauern will also receive the original 6-tracks from the 2008 release as bonus tracks (presented in 16-bit) plus one track not available on the re-release.

#cinematic #ambient #contemplative

Purchases includes the original 2008 release as bonus tracks, presented in 16bit and contains one track not available on the new release. Three bonus tracks contain additional electronic percussion, a notable omission from the new release.

Tracklist

1.	Österreich	1:35

2.	Hiefler	5:49

3.	Ofenauer	11:55

4.	Tauern	6:03

5.	Katschberg	12:38

6.	Wolfsberg	9:23

12.	Tauern - 6. Wolven (sketch)	8:01

Credits

released June 16, 2015

License