Progressive Rock
Popol Vuh wrote the music in 1974 for “Die große Ekstase des Bildschnitzers Steiner”, Werner Herzog’s documentary about the Swiss ski flyer and woodcarver Walter Steiner. Latency Recordings puts it out on 13 November digitally and on the 20th on vinyl: the first official release, after fifty-two years in which it could only be heard on recordings fans lifted off the film.
The record carries four original pieces by Florian Fricke and his group — “Dream of Flight”, “Utter Solitude”, “Steiner’s Ecstasy” and a studio-session version of that last one — plus three reworks of “Steiner’s Ecstasy” by james K, Lorenzo Senni and ML Buch. Souleymane Said handled creative direction and production, Dubplates & Mastering the mastering and HelloMe the design.
Fricke died in 2001 and Popol Vuh did not continue. The Munich group worked with Herzog on “Aguirre”, “Nosferatu” and “Cobra Verde”, and the scores that did get released span 1975 to 1987. The Steiner music is the one that had stayed out of the catalogue.
Text by Guillem Cardós