A two-part meditation on loss and commemoration
On 24 April 2026, Mute and Future Days Music (Spoon) release Requiem, an album by Irmin Schmidt structured in two sections. The recording locations moved between the interior of Schmidt’s home in Southern France and the surrounding environment, capturing water, frogs, and a nightingale. These nature-produced sounds intersect with the mechanical output of both prepared and unprepared piano.
Artist: Irmin Schmidt
Release Date: 2026-04-24
Genres: Ambient, Avant-garde, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music
Label: Future Days, Mute Records
Description: Irmin Schmidt announces Requiem, out 24 April 2026 on Mute. A meditation of piano and nature recordings from the former Can co-founder.
Schmidt, who reaches the age of 89 in 2026, adopted a methodology of spontaneous piano composition. These sessions underwent a later editing process in collaboration with René Tinner, a long-term associate from the Can studio era. The technical framework of the album relies on the melding of environmental recordings and keyboard manipulation, positioned as a meditation on remembrance and loss. The release follows his 2018 studio work 5 Klavierstücke and the 2020 live recording Nocturne.
Irmin Schmidt studied piano, conducting, and composition under Karlheinz Stockhausen and György Ligeti before co-founding Can in 1968. His professional history includes over twelve solo albums and the composition of the opera Gormenghast, based on the work of Mervyn Peake, which premiered in 1998 and was recently staged at the Linz Opera. In 2018, he published the two-part book Can – All Gates Open via Faber Social, consisting of a biography by Rob Young and a collage of his own diaries and interviews. He has received the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France and the Bundesverdienstorden in Germany.
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