CHR1ST0PHER BUTTERFIELD / KURT SCHW1TTERS - MUSIC FOR KLEIN AND BEUYS / URSONATE / PILLAR OF SNAILS (1993)

An extremely rare edition and interpretation of Schwitters' Ursonate (1922-32), his epic vocal/sound composition. The CD was a gift from this Canadian composer himself in 1993 and includes two beautiful works of his own. A Swiss label owned the Schwitters copyright/license, and this album--marked "not for sale"--was nonetheless legally threatened and deleted into obscurity. Butterfield's take on Schwitters is cool, understated and precise, a work of particularity and aural estrangement. Out of Ursonate renditions heard and seen by Jaap Blonk, Eberhard Blum, Christian Bök and others, this remains our perennial favorite.