The Night of the Prog festival is showcased at The Loreley Amphitheater is a UNESCO World Heritage and holds legendary ROCKPALAST shows in the 70s and 80s. On the hill of the River Rhine, it is located between Frankfurt and Cologne in Germany. Since 2006 the Night of the Prog Festival is happening at the legendary rock.
Featured bands and artists over the last years were: Dream Theater, Eloy, IQ, Riverside, Jethro Tull, Asia, Anathema, Steven Wilson, Spock’s Beard, Arena, Pendragon, Tangerine Dream, Fish, Steve Hackett, Marillion and many more.
VOYAGER IV will perform Sunday, 19th July at Night of the Prog 2020 promoting their current release Pictures at an Exhibition
The classic piano-cycle “Pictures At An Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky from 1874 was only the start of an exciting musical journey. VOYAGER IV then just stop along the way at 70ies supergroup ELP (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), who reworked three of Mussorgsky’s “pictures” for their album “Pictures At An Exhibition” back in 1971.
Arriving in the 21st century, those three and further five of the “pictures” can be found on VOYAGER IV’s most recent album and live shows, reworked with vocals and virtuous instrumentation. London based producer Jon Caffrey is responsible for the fresh sound design.
They have a stunning light show, special and rarely seen instruments and they create a mix of cosmic space rock sounds and vocal arrangements plus instrumental passages. VOYAGER IV is one of the most exciting cross-over projects within the prog genre. Singer and songwriter Johannes Kuchta also has a stunning voice, that reminds fans of Peter Gabriel, Greg Lake, Phil Collins or Fish.
“Really enjoyed the new album! Some very bold and adventurous avenues taken with Modest Mussorgsky. I always enjoy listening to someone’s interpretations of otherwise well-known themes. I like that fact that you incorporated those ideas in your own way and varied them enough to make it your own. Well done!”
Marc Bonilla (recorded 4 albums with Keith Emerson)
Other shows include Voyager IV – Pictures At An Exhibition Tour
Friday, February 21, 2020, at 8 PM
Kesselhaus & Maschinenhaus (Kulturbrauerei) Schönhauser Allee 36, 10435 Berlin, Germany
Voyager IV – Pictures At An Exhibition Tour
Friday, April 17, 2020, at 8 PM
Unna Lindenbrauerei 59174 Kamen
Mission Overview Keeping in tradition with mankind’s need to explore and bring unity and hope to the world, Voyager IV aims to do just that with their upcoming tour.
52 years ago Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to successfully orbit the Moon and return to Earth. 52 years later Voyager IV takes flight with a debut album under their belt while eagerly awaiting fans will soon witness first hand the unity, hope, and peace that music brings.
Apollo 8 Crew: Commander Frank Borman Command Module Pilot James A. Lovell Jr. Lunar Module Pilot William A. Anders
Voyager IV Crew: Piano & Keyboards Marcus Schinkel Vocals & Drums Johannes Kuchta Bass Fritz Roppel Drums Wim de Vries
Pictures At An Exhibition TourDates
Friday, January 24, 2020, at 8 PM Hypothalamus Auf dem Thie 15, 48431 Rheine, Germany
Saturday, January 24, 2020, at 8 PM Jahnhalle Nordenham Jahnstr. 20, 26954 Stadt Nordenham, Niedersachsen, Germany
Friday, January 31, 2020, at 8 PM Harmonie-Bonn Frongasse 28-30, 53121 Bonn, Germany
Saturday, February 1, 2020, at 8 PM Bürgerhaus Nistertal Westerwald, Germany
Sunday, February 2, 2020, at 8 PM Bürgerhaus Nistertal Westerwald, Germany
Thursday, February 6, 2020, at 8 PM Scheuer Wallbacher Straße 2, 65510 Idstein
Friday, February 7, 2020, at 8 PM Kantine Köln Neusser Landstr. 2, 50735 Cologne, Germany
Saturday, February 8, 2020, at 8 PM Riff Bochum
Friday, February 21, 2020, at 8 PM Kesselhaus & Maschinenhaus (Kulturbrauerei) Schönhauser Allee 36, 10435 Berlin, Germany
Friday, April 17, 2020, at 8 PM Unna Lindenbrauerei 59174 Kamen
What you can expect
Voyager IV has won awards in 3 categories at the 2019 German Rock & Pop Price Awards Johannes Kuchta: best progressive rock singer, 1st place Marcus Schinkel: Best keyboardist, 2nd place. Samuel Goldenberg: best progressive rock song, 1st place, from the album Pictures at an Exhibition
What’s being said aboutPictures At An Exhibition Courageous, diggin’ deep in the universe of Modest Mussorgsky and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, masterfully, creative, without wanting too much, absolutely admirable and worth listening! (Jazzrock TV)
“Really enjoyed the new album! Some very bold and adventurous avenues taken with Modest Mussorgsky. I always enjoy listening to someone’s interpretations of otherwise well-known themes. I like the fact that you incorporated those ideas in your own way and varied them enough to make it your own. Well done!” Marc Bonilla (recorded 4 albums with Keith Emerson)
I can’t believe there are any progheads out there who don’t have at least one copy of the ELP album in their collection, and if they are anything like me then they probably have it on vinyl, a couple of different CD releases as well as the accompanying DVD.
But of course the music which is the inspiration for this album is from far earlier, in fact in many ways it dates all the way back to 1868 when composer Modest Mussorgsky first met artist, architect, and designer Viktor Hartmann, who gave him two of the pictures that later formed the basis of the inspiration. When Hartmann passed away at the age of 39, Mussorgsky was affected quite badly, and this led to him writing the score in just three weeks. However, a version wasn’t published until some five years after his own death, and it wasn’t until the 50th Anniversary of that event that a complete score was produced.
Over the years it has been recorded multiple times, and within the progressive scene, it was, of course, the inspiration for ELP’s 1971 live album.
Now, nearly fifty years on from that, and some 150 years since the original paintings were given to Mussorgsky, we have a new version from German quartet Voyager IV. The line-up is Marcus Schinkel (piano and keyboards), Johannes Kuchta (vocals and drums), Fritz Roppel (bass) and Wim de Vries (drums). That they have been inspired to undertake this piece of work due to the ELP release is never in doubt, as although they do have ten tracks inspired by the original classical work, they also include both Lake’s “Lucky Man’ and King Crimson’s “I Talk To The Wind” which of course also featured Lake on vocals.
In some ways it is an album which confused me quite a great deal, just because they have been inspired by the original score, just as Emerson was, which means that some themes are familiar yet others are quite different as apart from the two numbers already mentioned the rest were all composed either by Schinkel or in collaboration with Kuchta. Also, there is no use whatsoever of guitar on the album (although there are two drummers it doesn’t sound to me as if they are both playing at the same time, although that could be different in concert), plus this is a studio album which has allowed some layering. Then in Roppel they have a bassist who uses a six-string as his instrument of choice, and sounds to me as if he is approaching music from a jazz background and is certainly not content just to be pinning down the bottom end but is adding his own styles and runs.
It is as bombastic as one would expect, but not heavy-handed, and songs such as “Bydlo” are incredibly accessible, exciting and invigorating. It would also be wrong of me not to mention the packaging on this release – as it comes as a hardback digipak containing multiple pages of photos and lyrics, quite something for what I believe is a debut release. This really is the total package, and fans of the original, ELP, Isao Tomita or any of the many other artists who have taken this as inspiration will find much on here to enjoy. Well worth discovering. 8/10
Almost 50 years after the version of ELP and 100 years after Ravel’s orchestral version we proudly announce a new decade of jazz-rock meets classical music, grand piano meets distortion synthesizer, singer-songwriter meets freak out! – Marcus Schinkel
Voyager IV is a German progressive space rock band with elements of Classical & Jazz music…
Cover Design & Layout by Lieve Vanderschaeve
Track List 01. Promenade 02. Samuel Goldenberg & Schmuyle (From My Point Of View ) 03. Gnomus 04. Il Vecchio Castello (Photophobia) 05. Promenade II (From The Land Of Feathers) 06. Tuileries 07. Bydlo (The Bullock Cart) 08. Lucky Man 09. Catoacombae/Cum Mortus In Lingua Mortua 10. Baba Yaga 11. The Great Gates Of Kiev (Daedalus Calling) 12. Talk To The Wind
Production Notes Arranged by Marcus Schinkel & Johannes Kuchta Recorded October 14-19 2018 at EMI / Maarwegstudio Cologne, Germany by John Caffery, Chris Gardiner, and Franz-Wieland Filtz Produced, mixed, and mastered by John Caffery Co-produced by Marcus Schinkel & Johannes Kuchta
Band Members Marcus Schinkel: Piano & keyboards Johannes Kuchta: Vocals & Drums Fritz Roppel: Bass Wim de Vries: Drums
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