PRESS

Press releases from: MUSIKWoche

Valle Venia Music connecting different worlds

Neustadt/Weinstraße (mw) - The music published under the Valle Venia label does not fit the traditional patterns used for describing music. it refuses to be categorised and classified, which is why it takes the listener on a multi-facetted and fascinating journey of sound. 
To quote Dr Hermann "Leo" Schmidt and his wife Dr Johanna Michel, who are both practising doctors, "We are particularly interested in creating links between art, nature and science". And this is the exact interface where they place their label Valle Venia, which brings the works of the creative multi-talented Schmidt - he is not just a composer but also a painter, sculptor and photographer with an additional interest in architecture - to the listener. If you involve yourself with Valle Venia CD‘s, you will find it hard to compartmentalisetheir style. The catalogue of Valle Venia contains four lines of music: Contemporary, World, Rock and "Crude", the latter being a style which probably had to be invented for the music of the current single: "Life is back" (Valle Venia 04002) which combines Techno elements with free electronic forms. one could describe it as a crude variation of current dance patterns.

The album "The children of The Sea" (Valle Venia 02003) shows another facet of Schmidt‘s oeuvre: On this CD the mellifluous smoothness of the percussion combined with the crispness of the guitar is merged with the electronically modified sound of singing whales and the voices of the Schmidt daughters Lea, Anna Theresa and Dorothea. the visitors to the marine museum in Monaco have already been able to experience the sounds of this CD while watching the marine mammals: futhermore, in summer 2000 a laser show is to immerse the marine museum in iridescent light (according to the reports published in MUSIKWoche 7/99). During this year‘s MIDEM Leo Schmidt and Johanna Michel, who writes scripts, produces the music and films and manages the recording and mixing have been recommend by Playboy magazine as "Tip of the Month" in their January issue, are available via Koch Classics or through the Internet (www.valle-venia.de).