Tetragon - Nature 1971 (Germany, Krautrock/Jazz Rock/Fusion) Full Album

The appearance of Tetragon coincides with the beginning of the musical career of Hendrik Schaper (born 1951), a schoolboy from Osnabrück (Lower Saxony). In 1967, Schaper met another of his school friends, bass guitarist Rolf Rettberg (born in 1950). The two of them decided to create a new group, including drummer Ralf Schmieding. Hendrik suggested the name of the new group “Tricolon“ - a concept borrowed from the ancient Romans. By 1970, the group performed regularly in their region. On October 19, 1970, Trikolon opened the Ekseption concerts. Peter Kretschmann (born December 31, 1951), a rock fan of such bands as Nice, Procol Harum, and Pink Floyd, came to the concert with a tape recorder to record “Ekseption.” In the lobby he met Hendrik and asked him for permission to record the Trikolon performance. Soon Peter becomes a great friend and fan of the group. He was fanatical about recording; He had excellent recording equipment at his disposal. He even organized one concert of the group at school, after which the group unexpectedly suffered a blow of fate, losing Ralph, who decided to deal with more earthly problems and left show business. An urgent replacement was needed. The gifted guitarist Jürgen Jener (born 1950) and drummer Joachim Luhrmann (born 1952) were discovered at his home school. The quartet was called “Tetragon“ - a word borrowed from the ancient Greeks (a 4-sided figure). Now Hendrik and Jürgen began writing music and lyrics together. The group did not even have a manager, so all concerts were organized by members of the ensemble. The Tetragon repertoire consisted of original compositions and popular cover versions. The numbers “Nice”, “Brian Auger/ Trinity”, “Traffic” arranged by Jurgen were also performed. On stage, the musicians behaved quite decently, preferring to focus all their attention on the instruments. Peter insisted on releasing an album, which was recorded on an old farm turned into a home by friends. The sound recording took place on May 22, 23, 30 and 31, 1971. The duties of the sound engineer were performed by Peter Kretschmann, using a tape recorder with seven microphones. The musicians wanted to amaze the audience with their professionalism and virtuoso use of instruments. Hendrik played the organ and clavinet simultaneously with different hands. Jürgen switched from electric to acoustic guitar with lightning speed. The album was entitled “Nature” after the composition of the same name. It was entirely devoted to environmental issues. 400 copies of the record were released by the company created by Peter and his friend Jürgen Osieka - Soma in August 1971 and were completely sold out during the band’s concerts and in local record stores. Promotional duties were mainly carried out by Peter, since he was friends with Klaus Wellerhaus, an employee of one of the radio stations. That is why the ensemble’s music was sometimes broadcast on the radio. The musicians recorded a new album in a week at the Windrose studio in Hamburg. The record leans more toward , the record company considered the ensemble’s music too commercial (despite the completeness of the album) and therefore it was never released. Despite this setback, the group continued to tour the country. In 1972 (by the way, Rolf becomes a professor of music in Berlin and leaves), Norbert Wolff joins the ensemble. During 1973, work takes place on new recordings, which are then sent to Peter for presentation to the famous producer Connie Clark. The latter simply believed that since the group did not adhere to any musical direction, it had no future. Completely disappointed, the musicians separated in 1974. Joachim became a drum teacher at the Osnabrück Conservatory (rock and jazz). In 1976, Hendrik received an offer to join Passport, which was accepted. Together with this group, Hendrik recorded 5 albums between 1976 and 1981. Since 1983, he has collaborated with famous vocalist Udo Lindenberg, serving as co-author and producer. Peter worked in radio. Tetragon made music typical of the 70s, mixing classical, jazz and rock, creating complex and original music. The main instrument was the electric organ. Tracks: 01. Fugue - 00:00 02. Jokus -16:10 03. Irgendwas - 16:29 04. A Short Story - 22:30 05. Nature - 36:12 Personnel: Hendrik Schaper - organ, clavinet, cembalet, piano, vocals Jürgen Jaehner - electric & acoustic guitar Rolf Rettberg - bass Joachim Luhrmann - drums