Bastarda – Ars Moriendi – Deluxe Box Edition SOLD OUT!

Bastarda are an instrumental Polish trio comprised of clarinet, contrabass clarinet and cello. Their new album, “Ars Moriendi”, released earlier this year in CD format, is a mysteriously minimalist take on certain liturgical compositions and their composers from the medieval ages. It’s time to light the incense, kneel and say your prayers to this appropriately darkly and at times intense soundtrack to the end of life.

“Music in mourning is like a tale out of time’. Thus state the Holy Scriptures (Ecclesiasticus 22:6), suggesting that we fall silent in the face of death. And yet, this biblical admonishment notwithstanding, the passing of medieval and early modern Christians was constantly accompanied by music, from their dying moments to the last rites over their graves. When a Christian felt he was about to die, he would seek the comfort of the Scriptures. He would read excerpts from the Passion of Christ, symbolised here by the chant Vita in ligno moritur [1]. In Commendatio animae, the soul of the dying man was entrusted to God.

Bastarda transfigures this ancient musical ritual: centuries-old chants are fragmented, and the ever-changing counterpoint of early polyphony implodes into minimalism. What is left, is a twenty-first century meditation on death. The ars moriendi, the art of dying well, instructed Christians how to face death and resist the last temptations of the devil. Bastarda’s Ars moriendi does not teach. It is a journey through the paradoxical emotions of the human being, suspended between desperation and hope.

After the rite, those who are left ask themselves ‘Who will give our eyes a fountain of tears?’ (Quis dabit oculis nostris fontem lacrimarum), remembering what is lost. Mourning marks the end, but Bastarda’s interpretation points also at a new beginning of peace and, finally, silence.”
(comments by Antonio Chemotti)

We have ended up having three separate vinyl versions this time around…because we couldn’t help ourselves! All the covers feature the image by Polish artist Stachu Szumski, silkscreened in the San Francisco studio of Morrison Productions in black and gold.

This is the listing for the:

>>The deluxe limited “Box Edition” version of 50 copies comes again in absurdly modified, 50+ year old, hinge lidded classical music boxes, as a few of our other recent vinyl releases have done as well. Each box is covered with the logo image silk-screened onto sheets of antique Japanese bookcloth, and hand outlined in gold oil paint. The edge of each box is hand stamped and titled in gold ink as well. On the back of each box, or inside the box depending on our mood, is a signed and stamped, vintage “Memorial Record” form.

The inside of the box covers are lined with copies of medieval wood block prints, printed on fine art paper, again “illuminated” in gold details. Attached by archival photo corners to each black poly lined sleeve that holds the 180gm black record is a large 11” square, distressed, double sided printed and numbered insert that has been “bloodied”, burnt and spattered with more gold. It includes the track titles and credits, and on the reverse side a full essay by Antonio Chemotti about the band and the inspiration for the music. Behind the sleeved vinyl is a 8” x 10” vellum envelope containing a large hand made gravestone rubbing combining words and details from a pilgrims cemetery in Santa Cruz, and our local Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland California. Tucked in this envelope is a vintage Novena prayer booklet holding 2 sticks of sanctified Catholic Church incense. Also included in each box is an empty, unique and original antique funeral home/mortuary matchbook cover, an old hand colored Catholic saint postcard, and a uniquely dark and original, vintage east European funeral photograph.

TRS085 also comes in a “Vintage Jacket Edition” of only 20 numbered copies, a “Kraft Jacket Edition” of only 60 numbered copies, and a digital version.

As usual, your copy may or may not be one of the ones pictured, as all are unique.
This release will ship the week of October 25th 2019.

More Info about the deluxe packaging and Sound Clips!