Distel's first sound art work was the LP We Have A Problem based on NASA recordings of Apollo 13 astronauts that were mixed with a live rendition of George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue' as played by the pianist: Peter Aronsky. In 1973, he completed the sound work The Love Room and later used it in his first short film A Pornographic Movie. Distel was included in Morgan Fisher's 1980 Miniatures with a track called Toscany In Blue .
Die Reise (1985)
In between 1984–1985, Distel worked on Die Reise, a stunning train and railroadfield recordingmontage. Location recordings were made in the Zürich-Bern Intercity on a trip he recorded ten times to get the source material. Die Reise starts and is based on the train sound counterpointing with singing cicadas as well as birds and human voices. It seems the composer is recording the voice of the train to add to the choir of cicadas, birds, hissing electronic sounds and human voices. Ultimately this tour de force of musique concrète technique can also be considered as a paean to the Swiss railroad. In his liner notes to the 2003 CD reissue, Peter Niklas Wilson compared the music to Pierre Schaeffer's musique concrète.
La Stazione (1990)
From 1986 to 1989, Distel took a series of photographs in the Staglieno Genoa in Italy - photographic close-ups of marble sculptures and tombs. The series was exhibited in 1990 in Bern with accompanying poems from Edgar Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology. The cover for 'La Stazione' is excerpted from this series. Source recordings for this sound work - a masterpiece of ambient musique concrète - were made in Milan's Central Station in 1987 with the help of his wife Gil Distel. It was created according to the model of Mario Peragallo's own opera La Collina, itself based on the Spoon River Anthology, so that each part is dedicated to a certain Italian :
La Stazione can thus be considered an homage to Italian art and way of life, as Distel actually lived in Italy for some time. The five parts' subtitles are based on the train station's PA announcements. The music is continuous, so that telling which part is which can prove difficult. One hears recordings of clattering trains slowly stopping on arrival, doors of cars shutting, PA announcements, whistles, people running to get their train. The sounds have been processed and layered – sometimes beyond recognition – to make the industrial sounds mingle in a surrealsoundscape. The technique is well-known, but the result is totally unique. A reviewer compared the music on LA Stazione to Pauline Oliveros's own Deep Listening music. Created 1987-90, La Stazione was premiered on Bern, Switzerland, on May 16, 1990.
Soundtrack (2004)
Originally commissioned in 2004 by a Japanese choreographer, this remix version of Herbert Distel's own Die Reise and La Stazione was broadcast on ORF, WDR and Deutschlandradio in 2007-8, but remains unreleased on disc format at time of writing. Composed for dancers and video, this Soundtrack is a subtle and nuanced mix enhancing details from the originals and adding dramaturgy in the process. The result is a kind of psychological soundscape and less of a train trip or portrait of a train station, since the train sounds are used as a rhythm element here and no more as a psychological, hypnotysing sound. Actually the train sounds only appear 15 minutes into the mix, evidence of a new direction given to the whole project. The work is divided in 2 parts, the first one being a remixing of Die Reise whilst the 2nd part is sourced from La Stazione. The 15mns opening sequence is a kind of surreal vocals+insect chorale. A female singer returns at 23:00-24:00, a heavenly voice amid the concrète music sounds. Generally speaking, this mix stays true to the original La Stazione project, that is to say an opera, enhancing and stressing the role of vocals in these 2 sound pieces. Another prominent element are the numerous electronic sounds brought into focus compared to the originals. Distel deliberately re-install his sound work in the electronic and musique concrète canon. And maybe the cheerful motorcycle engine at 47:30 signals another, noisier trip altogether. Obviously Soundtrack is a fine addition to the 2 previous works on train sounds and the ensemble makes for a perfect trilogy.
