"Paul Klee, a Balloon, the Moon, Music and Me" receives Special Mention at the Prix Italia

Ergo Phizmiz's radiophonic work "Paul Klee, a Balloon, the Moon, Music and Me" has received the "Special Mention" in the category of music radio at the 2010 Prix Italia in Turin.

"An interesting and even daring experiment. The painter Paul Klee was deeply inspired by music and now Klee’s works are translated back into music and soundscapes. Movement and colour is suggested in an almost cinematic way."

The work, which told of an adventure through the paintings of Swiss painter Paul Klee in sound, was commissioned by the BBC for Radio 3's Between the Ears, and entered by the Beeb into the prize.

Prix Italia prizes news article (Italian).

Does this mean we can crack a bottle of wine?

"Paul Klee, a Balloon, the Moon, Music and Me" on BBC iPlayer, and new Ergo Phizmiz website

For the next five days you can stream the new Ergo Phizmiz radio-art piece "Paul Klee, a Balloon, the Moon, Music and Me" on BBC iPlayer. Direct link to listen.

And why not head over to the swish and swanky new Ergo Phizmiz website, now at the new address of www.ergophizmiz.net

Paul Klee, A Balloon, The Moon, Music and Me - On BBC Radio 3 - December 5th 09

BROADCASTING 2130 GMT, on BBC Radio 3, Saturday December 5th 2009, and on BBC iPlayer for one week after broadcast.

On BBC Radio 3's Between The Ears, "Paul Klee, A Balloon, The Moon, Music and Me"...

A fantastical encounter with Swiss painter Paul Klee, in an imaginary Klee-world of twittering machines and dream landscapes, singing colour polyphony and scribbling violin. Composer and writer Ergo Phizmiz wanders through Klee's paintings in the company of their creator, evoking their vivid colours and whimsical humour in intricately composed soundscapes. Klee takes Ergo on a hot-air balloon ride which, like a magic carpet, miraculously flies them to Tunisia, the land where he 'became a painter'. Their voyage also passes through paintings of strange gardens, mountain carnivals, and abstract colour gradations, before they finally ascend to the moon, a dream-world populated by lunar monkeys, peculiar birds and trees bulging with seeping paint.

This programme’s music and sound-design was entirely composed by Ergo Phizmiz, who also wrote the script and plays himself. The role of Paul Klee is taken by Felix Kubin, also a prolific composer and radio-play maker, who lives in Germany, and Klee's violin is performed by composer John Matthias, winner of the 2008 PRS New Music Award and collaborator with artists including Radiohead, Coldcut and Matthew Herbert.

Go to Between The Ears