TANGERINE DREAM

This Live At Coventry Cathedral performance features the cover of Ricochet, a unique rise, a crescendo symbolizing the march of a caravan through the desert, the heat, the sand; the rest of the album performed live for nearly 30 minutes.

However, there is the real version of the cathedral recording, with its 90 minutes of pure improvisation, electronic tinkering ranging from dark to spatial, sounds ejected from analog synthesizers and sequencers from a bygone era. A unique track that ebbs and flows like a singular experiment, flirting with the work of VANGELIS and the early Tangerine Dream, a unique, austere, and intimate sound that goes beyond electronic music by striking head-on with progressive rock at its peak. A beautiful tribute to a time when people took their time. Look for and listen to this real live performance while taking the blue pill.

It is incredible to experience how moving and introspective electronic music can be - digging through the archival works of the late Edgar Froese, Thorsten Quaeschning, Hoshiko Yamane, and Paul Frick, or the trio comprising the currently-active incarnation of Tangerine Dream, had refined various pieces found sufficiently intriguing both for the musicians and for the listeners (as they might have imagined), and had crafted a stunning seven-piece studio work that dazzlingly reminisces the cosmic explorations of some of the German band's finest classic albums. Of course, the compositions ultimately remain original, with the three experienced musicians giving the archival tapes a refreshing contemporary spin, unsurprisingly placing Tangerine Dream among the most innovative and forward-thinking electronic music acts, well into the 21st century.

The sweeping electric violins and the floaty synth loops and soundscapes introduce lush, expansive and often sublime sonic "paintings", with the band daring to experiment within that well-recognizable framework of many of their previous albums. The influence of IDM and downtempo can be appreciated within the shorter pieces on here, while the two longer suites ('In 256 Zeichen' and the title track 'Raum') evoke the brilliant construction of sounds and nuances, as heard on some of Tangerine Dream's most novel 70s releases. The production and the arrangements on here are simply excellent, with the trio provoking their audience with an audacious album that only outwardly resembles some already-familiar works - in reality, this album seems to be the natural step forward from 'Quantum Gate', with its novel soundscapes and contemporary motifs, it is everything that one might desire from a rejuvenated Tangerine Dream. Pieces like 'Continuum', 'You're Always On Time' and 'What You Should Know About Endings', alongside the longer suites, are undoubtedly colossal, and the entire 'Raum' album is a daring addition to the massive Tangerine Dream catalog.

Largely experimental and occasionally provocative, 'Alpha Centauri', or the second studio album released by Tangerine Dream, is a 1971 album that bridges a supposed gap between krautrock and electronic music, seeing the German band led by Edgar Froese embarking on a space-themed odyssey developing in peculiar cosmic movements with the predominant use of organ and flute., eventually inspired by the experimental sounds of Pink Floyd's early psychedelic recordings, particularly 'A Saucerful of Secrets' and 'Ummagumma'. Froese and Co. had taken up that chilling cosmic soundscape-creation and elevated it to a hypnotic work where electronic instrumentation prevails and provides an often-ominous but always intriguing musical background as well as a fine space for improvisation, which is what this album is largely about.

And while the remains of the group's krautrock pedigree can still be heard, 'Alpha Centauri' is the first really significant step towards Tangerine Dream's magnificent exploration of texture, timbre, and ambience, all sheathed in cosmic reverence, making this a somewhat transitional recording. Here we have the organ-heavy 'Sunrise in the Third System', a fine tone-setter for the record, the skeletal and tender composition 'Fly and Collision of Comas Sola', which reveals a distant krautrock echo towards its ending, and the first massive movement of sound by Tangerine Dream, the 22-minute title track, a worthy anticipator of the musical form explored more thoroughly on 'Zeit'. Reissues of the album bring along fascinating bonus tracks like the ethereal 'Oszillator Planet Concert' and the rare and abrasive prog single 'Ultima Thule', developing in two parts. All this makes 'Alpha Centauri' incredibly interesting as well as an important piece of the Tangerine Dream puzzle, with its spacey sounds and structure-less experiments.

Le Parc is a homage to multiple public spaces across the globe and unlike the extended experimental work that gave Tangerine Dream its identity and fanbase this is a group of more concise interpretations leading to a more relaxed and diverse album of music. A couple of the tracks do step far too close to those rather simple melodic arrangements that plagued 80s pop music and so there are a couple of jarring moments that for me at least, represent significant regret. However if you compare this work with the similar shortened creations of Froese, for example, then we do have a far more polished and expertly executed set here. Unfortunately almost all the tracks could easily be transformed into mediocre pop songs with the simple addition of a few repetitive lyrics.

There is a decent level of complexity brought to bear by the layers of sound employed but it simply isn't enough to elevate the work beyond forgettable pop or contemporary film soundtrack. Let's face it, in the 80s, TD really became a bit of a cliche as the kings of film soundtracks. The real value in this set boils down to whether or not the music captures the essence of those locations it is intended to represent and the only way to know that is if you have actually visited them. I am lucky to have experienced a couple of these places so I can see that the general arrangement of each track has been tempered in an attempt to evoke a similar ambience to reality but I can't really see it being anything more than a rather tenuous scratching of the surface. In addition to that, surely there are better subject matter to apply your considerable creative talents to than a short list of public places?

So I am not enamoured by the concept of this album and owing to the differing nature of some of these places, I am not even convinced that these tracks belong in the same place but this album is nothing if it is not inoffensive. I say that but I am a little upset by the Zen Parc interpretation; using a few oriental sounds is not enough to evoke my memories of this place especially when adding in a little symphonics and most especially when using what is obviously a non-Japanese vocalist in a kind of choral, almost ecclesiastical effect. Awful as an interpretation as far as I'm concerned. Like much of TDs later work, this is the kind of stuff that can be used to help you drift off at night or as a back drop to a quiet introspective moment on a rainy Sunday afternoon. I have listened to this a dozen times and haven't noticed any lyrics so far, so if they exist then they are completely forgettable.

The production quality really should be perfect but it isn't as it comes with a slight muffle.

Ok so if you know some of these places and you want a quick reminder of them in rapid succession then you might get something from this album. Unfortunately that probably excludes almost the entire planet especially since there is nothing new or innovative included in the album, so it is not even of significant interest to the Electronic prog community. Overall this is pleasant enough, really quite accessible but almost entirely without purpose or worth. TD are milking it by this stage, unfortunately.

Clearly the most successful stage of Tangerine Dream was the so-called Virgin Years, between 1973 and 1983. Indeed during those years the band recorded several acclaimed albums like Phaedra, Stratosfear or Tangram, just to mention some of them. In the middle of this period there was an isolated experiment and this was Cyclone. This moment coincides with the departure of Peter Baumann, whose last presence was in the previous album Sorcerer. The band recruited and english multi-instrumentalist called Steve Jolliffe, who in fact was a band member in the very early years as a flute player, even before the recording of Electronic Meditation. The novelty was that Jolliffe would sing in two tracks and his aura would fly over the entire album. This fact divided the Tangerine dream followers. Edgar Froese, TD mastermind, said once talking about Cyclone "As far back as I can recall some people have thought we're geniuses and others have dismissed as a bunch of dumb knob-twiddlers". The truth is that probably the majority of TD fans dismised Cyclone and a minority love it. You can count myself between this minority. The album begins with what I think is a prog masterpiece of 13 minutes long called Bent Cold Sidewalk, with real drums, flutes and an extraordinary voice, all of it over the typical TD kind of music. Starting with a vocoder intro, the piece gets into a four minutes sung section. The voice of Jolliffe sounds amazing and the same goes for the melody line, which added to the kind of lyrics creates a sort of mysterious enviroment. After that the track flows into a fascinating instrumental section of six minutes long to then returns to a sung conclusion with the same motive than the begining. Amazing really. Second track is by far the weakest, sung again, luckyly it is the shortest piece of the album. Finally, Madrigal Meridian is a typical Tangerine Dream instrumental, very well designed, with a "train" rhythm pattern over which the synths make a great job. About this Jolliffe said "For Madrigal Meridian, Chris (Franke) worked out some nice bass and sequencer patterns, and we just sort of began jamming over the top of that". Highly recommended at least to give it a spin and check the feelings.

Review Nº 823

Tangerine Dream is a German progressive electronic band that was formed in Berlin in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The band is considered a pioneering act in electronic music, one of the earliest explorers of the electronic instruments, which was something new at the time. Their electronic work produced albums that had a pivotal role in the development of the German music scene known as "kosmische music". They were able to create music without a regular pulse but just with organ chords, a few manipulated guitar lines and synthesizer effects. Tangerine Dream became a landmark band.

"The Pink Years" is a compilation album of Tangerine Dream that was released in 1998. As its name indicates it's a compilation that it's only focused in the first years of their career, the years that became known as "The Pink Years". Thus, has only tracks that belong to the first five albums of the band when Tangerine Dream was linked with their record label Ohr, "Electronic Meditation", "Alpha Centauri", "Zeit", "Atem" and "Green Desert", despite this last one have just been released in the 80's. So, from "Electronic Meditation" we have "Genesis". From "Alpha Centauri" we have "Sunrise In The Third System". From "Zeit" we have "Nebulous Dawn". From "Atem" we have "Atem" and "Circulation Of Events". From "Green Desert" we have "White Clouds", "Indian Summer" and "Astral Voyager".

So, "The Pink Years" is a compilation album with eight tracks. It opens with "Genesis" that is dominated by Schnitzler's scratchy creaking cello, combined with wild drumming and furious flute sounds performed by their guest musician on "Electronic Meditation", Keyserling. After a while something like a rhythm develops, but as soon as this is the case, the piece is already over and it goes straight and abruptly into its second track. "Nebulous Dawn" is the second movement of the four movements on "Zeit". It follows in the same vein as the first movement. It has an even more ominous feel and predicts the band's more frenetic later sequencer driven efforts with some shuddery treble rhythms echoing in the background. It's one of the band's most experimental and less accessible pieces. It's a disturbing ambient piece. However, here we have only an excerpt of that movement. "Sunrise In The Third System" contains some slow spacey sounds and effects. It's a stealthy and hypnotic piece, with a dense organ and a ghostly flute. It also has a clear nod to Pink Floyd thanks to the sound of the organ. It forms a perfect introduction to the main cosmic journey, a kind of a decompression chamber that helps the listener get acclimated to the alien landscape of Tangerine Dream's musical world. "Atem" is one of the best and most flawless pieces that Tangerine Dream recorded for Ohr. It opens very powerful and loud with thundering drums and majestic grandiose Mellotrons. This music has a kind of a mysterious and epic ancient feel to it. It picks up the thread that started three years earlier with "Electronic Meditation", with Franke's impetuous drumming dictating the rhythm in a swarm of noises and effects, the organ and the synths to leave a liquid trail, where, for the first time, the unmistakable and the majestic sound of the Mellotron creeps in, which will become recurring in the band's subsequent music productions. However, here we have only an excerpt of that piece. "Circulation Of Events" hasn't a recognizable melody or rhythm. It's dominated by organ and synths, slightly rippled by the vibrations of VCS3. It can be seen as a sinister sounding piece due to the strange electronic effects, basically nearly six minutes of humming and gloomy electronic sounds, making a great tension, reminiscent of the earlier work "Zeit". "White Clouds" has an interesting combination of lively drums and a bright synthetic backdrop. It can be seen as the most rhythmic track on the album due to the strong percussion parts. However, this track contains an overall mellow sound. The piece is pervaded by a fantastic cautiously optimistic melody. "Indian Summer" offers wave movements and scattered string chords that come across as suspiciously modern. This sound image is interspersed with delicate melody lines. It's a mellow piece on which some synthesizers take the lead from time to time. "Astral Voyager" is carried by a fast sequencer-like motif, and with its digital-sounding sounds much like an intensive Edgar Froese post processing, more after 1984 than after 1973. If one knows Edgar Froese's pronounced "improvement vein", this assessment becomes almost certain. You may never know how it sounded in the original, but here it sounds great.

Conclusion: After all I wrote before, we can say that "The Pink Years" is a good compilation album of Tangerine Dream that it's entirely focused in the band's first musical era, the era that became known as "The Pink Years", the era that comprises the first studio albums of the band. Those were the years when the music of Tangerine Dream was more psychedelic, experimental and avant-garde, a music that was closer to the German krautrock scene than to the new electronic music, which is particularly evident on their debut work, "Electronic Meditation". This is a very interesting musical phase of the band, a less known phase and a phase a bit more difficult to digest for some fans of the band that are more used to their later phases, the phases of their better known and melodic works. But, this is an amazing phase.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Review Nº 819

"(3)" is a compilation album of Tangerine Dream that was released in 1992. This is a very special compilation album of Tangerine Dream. This compilation album consists of an economic package that includes their second live album "Encore" that was released in 1977, their ninth studio album "Cyclone" that was released in 1978 and their tenth studio album "Force Majeure" that was released in 1979, in only one package. So, we can say this can be a very interesting purchase for those who don't have the three albums. Besides, with it we can say that we could save in price and space.

This is a very good compilation album because these are three great albums of the band. But it's also very interesting because it includes three very special albums of Tangerine Dream if we look at them in their position in the band's career. "Encore" is the last album with Peter Baumann and represents the end of a line up and an era. "Cyclone" is a kind of a transition album, an atypical album from the band with vocals and with a unique line up. "Force Majeure" is officially an album with only Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke in the line up of them, an album before Johannes Schmoelling joined the band and began another change to the music of Tangerine Dream. It's also interesting to mention that these three albums belong to their second phase, a phase that became known as "The Virgin Years".

As I've already reviewed these three albums previously on Progarchives, in a more extensive way, I'm not going to do it again. So, if you are interested to know, in more detail, what I wrote about them before, I invite you to read my three reviews. However, here I'm going to write something about them in a shorter way. So, of course, I'm not going to analyze them track by track, as I did before, but I'm only going to make a global appreciation of those albums.

"Encore": Tangerine Dream's USA live tour of 1977 resulted in this excellent "Encore". The title would unfortunately prove to be very fitting, as it was the last album to feature Baumann and the last where the classic band's sound still was fully intact. "Encore" reflects the unique magic of Tangerine Dream's concerts in that era. Every evening was a different event which delighted the fans. It was pure improvisations on sound effects and surprising laser plays that gave unique moments, engraved in our contemplative memoirs. The set is uniquely Tangerine Dream, however, with similarities to other prog rock bands of that era. "Encore" was an enormously worthy way to end their classic years, consisting of four long side tracks that blend new ideas and material with older themes. "Encore" was Tangerine Dream's last masterpiece and is one of the strongest proofs of the genius that the band possessed from 1972 to 1977.

"Cyclone": Atypical is the best adjective that can define "Cyclone". At the time, Tangerine Dream was a renowned electronic prog group formed by Baumann, Froese and Franke. With Baumann's departure, Froese and Franke decided to innovate, bringing Joliffe to take care of wind instruments and vocals. This change was considered a heresy by many of the band's followers who didn't understand the new proposal presented. Many negative reviews have been said about Steve's vocals, especially that his singing style did not match the sound presented. But to say that his voice is bad is close to exaggeration. The album's poor acceptance led the redirection of the band again, which culminated in Jolliffe's departure and the return to the electronics in the following year with their next work "Force Majeure". But, if you like prog rock with elements of electronic and psychedelic music, "Cyclone" is a nice highly recommended album.

"Force Majeure": "Force Majeure" is one of the best albums of this great band. This is a calculated and compelling work from two experienced artists who move through electronic music with great grace and precision. Overall, the album doesn't look as electronic as their earlier works, as the drums in particular, when used, provide a driving beat that is more familiar with rock music and when Froese reaches into the guitar, you may think that you are in the wrong film. But we cannot complain too much. After all, it's a good thing when a band tries to develop further. Due to its more rock oriented music, it may be suitable for people who are otherwise not into electronics. So, it's an absolute necessity for those who might be curious about the band, or even successful experiments within the rock genre. Sections of the album would later appear in slightly altered versions on the soundtracks for the films "Thief" and "Risky Business".

Conclusion: As I mentioned above, "3" is a great compilation of Tangerine Dream that contains three great albums of the band. I also said that it's also a very interesting compilation because it has three very special albums for Tangerine Dream if we look at them in relation to its date of release. So, we have the last album of the band with what is considered their best line up, Froese, Franke and Baumann, "Encore", a transition and controversial album with a unique line up, "Cyclone" and an album released before the beginning of a new era with Schmoelling, "Force Majeure". All this makes that "3" is an interesting compilation to be purchased by those who don't have these three albums yet.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

I have no doubt that Edgar Froese knew the controversy that would erupt upon the release of "Cyclone" in 1978. I'm pretty sure that's why he called it "Cyclone". I would have loved to have seen the expressions on the faces of hard core TD fans when they first heard the vocals here. I mean I was really surprised myself, knowing there were vocals sure, but I didn't expect such a passionate singer. I was thinking the vocals would be more like FLOYD's "A Saucerful Of Secrets" style, you know mumbling the words pretty much. Nope! Steve Jolliffe is a singer. And a player adding more synths, flute, english horn, bass clarinet, tenor and soprano sax, electric and grand pianos. He brings a lot.

So it's been fun reading the passionate reviews on here for this controversial album. I like it myself but I'm also glad this was a one-off, and I'm sure that was the question many a TD fan had after spinning this record, is this a new direction? I would have been concerned. Reminds me of RUSH's "Signals" album, a complete left turn and I wasn't happy at the time. This is much more extreme. So three tracks with Froese and Franke doing their thing. And yes I like drummer Krieger's playing on here a lot. This is a great sounding album.

The first side has the vocals and certainly that opener "Bent Cold Sidewalk" would have shocked many a fan. I'm not into the processed spoken words to get us started but a nice relaxed sound takes over with upfront bass. Vocals come and go and then a complete change of direction at 4 1/2 minutes as the sequencers kick in along with synths. Some theatrical shouted words before 8 minutes. Back to that original theme after 10 minutes. Then we get the short "Rising Runner Missed By Endless Sender" at under 5 minutes and a post rock- like title. A determined sound that sounds really good as the vocals arrive. And he's singing with passion at times. Some theatrical vocals later and I love those spacey synths when the vocals step aside.

"Madrigal Meridian" ends it at 20 1/2 minutes. No vocals here and more like the TD we know and love. Lots of atmosphere early before it turns experimental. Sequencers kick in after 3 minutes and here we go. Fast moving here with active drumming. Violin-like sounds will follow which is cool. Sequencers continue but when the step aside it turns spacey. Piano after 16 minutes then flute 19 minutes in as it trips along to the end.

This may have been accepted more at the time if the singer wasn't so passionate, but I have no problem giving this 4 stars. I like it a lot.

Review Nº 810

Tangerine Dream is a German progressive electronic rock band that was formed in Berlin in 1967 by Edgar Froese. Tangerine Dream is considered a pioneering act in electronic music. The band's career is divided into several phases. The first one started in 1970 and ended in 1973. It marks a sound inspired by the psychedelic era of Pink Floyd in Syd Barrett's phase, with several keyboard interventions and sound effects. It's close to the German progressive scene called krautrock. Their electronic work in those years produced albums that had a pivotal role in the development of the German music scene known as "kosmische music". In those years Tangerine Dream released four studio works.

"Decades 70's" is a compilation album of Tangerine Dream that was released in 2013. As its name indicates it covers the 70's but it's only focused in the first years of their career, the years that became known as "The Pink Years". Thus, has only tracks that belong to the first five albums of the band when Tangerine Dream was linked with their record label Ohr, "Electronic Meditation", "Alpha Centauri", "Zeit", "Atem" and "Green Desert", despite this last one have just been released in the 80's. So, from "Electronic Meditation" we have "Resurrection" and "Cold Smoke". From "Alpha Centauri" we have "Sunrise In The Third System" and "Ultima Thule Part 1", despite this last track having just been released in the format of a single, at the time, a rare single in our days. From "Zeit" we have "Zeit". From "Atem" we have "Circulation Of Events" and "Fauni-Gena". From "Green Desert" we have "Astral Voyager" and "Indian Summer".

So, "Decades 70's" has nine tracks. "Resurrection" begins with an almost solemn organ melody, to which a narrator declares a true incomprehensible text that was recorded backwards. In the further course, the theme of the opening track is taken up. "Cold Smoke" begins with quiet organ sounds, which are repeatedly interrupted by short outbursts of chaos. Then the cello scrapes again, and snappy drums come and go, and another relentless psychedelic guitar attack ensues. The pounding drums and acid guitar is one of the main characteristics of this track. I think it was mostly Pink Floyd that gave the inspiration to this track with its lengthy guitar and organ freak outs. "Sunrise In The Third System" contains some slow spacey sounds and effects. It's a stealthy and hypnotic piece, with a dense organ and a ghostly flute. It also has a clear nod to Pink Floyd thanks to the sound of the organ. It forms a perfect introduction to the main cosmic journey, a kind of decompression chamber that helps the listener get acclimated to the alien landscape of Tangerine Dream's musical world. "Ultima Thule Part 1" is an excellent song despite being short, an absolutely astounding piece. It offers a very edgy music, dominated by heavily distorted guitar sounds, which is still kept in the style of the debut album. This is an accessible slice of psychedelic rock that implemented heavily distorted guitars and drums for a change. "Zeit" consists of free form synths and electronic effects along with Froese's guitar. It goes into full avant-garde weirdness with a barrage of terrifying sounds. It leaves the listener with the possibility of returning to land or continuing the journey towards unexplored coordinates. "Circulation Of Events" hasn't a recognizable melody or rhythm. It's dominated by organ and synths, slightly rippled by the vibrations of VCS3. It can be seen as a sinister sounding piece due to the strange electronic effects, basically nearly six minutes of humming and gloomy electronic sounds, making a great tension, reminiscent of the earlier work "Zeit". "Fauni-Gena" shows the primitive ancestor lost in the lush and bewildering rainforest. It sounds as a forest of an alien planet bending the sounds of birds and other creatures with Mellotron and flute. The Mellotron is mysterious with notes which are the wide eyed wonder of a human being showing the hesitation of him probing the primeval environment. The band did a superior job evoking birds and insects through electronics, creating a virtual mechanical botanical garden. "Astral Voyager" is carried by a fast sequencer-like motif, and with its digital-sounding sounds much like an intensive Edgar Froese post processing, more after 1984 than after 1973. If one knows Edgar Froese's pronounced "improvement vein", this assessment becomes almost certain. You may never know how it sounded in the original version, really. "Indian Summer" offers wave movements and scattered string chords that come across as suspiciously modern. This sound image is interspersed with delicate melody lines. It's a mellow piece on which some synthesizers take the lead from time to time.

Conclusion: We can really say that "Decades 70's" is a very good compilation album of Tangerine Dream that is only focused in their first years, the years that became known as "The Pink Years", the years when the band was linked with the Ohr record label. As I said, it comprises only tracks that were recorded on their first studio albums, "Electronic Meditation", "Alpha Centauri", "Zeit", "Atem" and "Green Desert", despite the last one having just been released in the 80's. So, these albums are more linked with their most psychedelic, avant-garde and most experimental phase. This is a very interesting phase from the band, the phase where Tangerine Dream used for the first time the synthesizer and Mellotron. This was also the phase where their most known and best line up started with Froese, Frank and Baumann.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

When Karlheinz Stochausen published his paper "...wie die Zeit vergeht..." (How time passes by) in 1957, he was essentially talking to a closed circle of colleagues, who periodically met in the legendary Darmstadt seminars. But the word got spread, as to influence a wider audience. And which was the word? That music is basically time, not only in its rhythmic dimension, but also in the others, such as pitch, - which is the way how we perceive sound above the 16 cycles per second threshold, when the distinction of the individual impulses vanishes, - and timbre, which is the way we perceive the waveform, and it can result from the addition of several different frequencies. The problem was that musical instruments were not constructed to do a continuous shift from rhythms to pitches, experiencing so the "threshold effect", and also that each instrument comes with its own pre-fixed timbre built-in, not allowing the modification of this characteristic at will during the performance.

But, as we know, the problem of one generation can easily be the joke of the next. One of the "infected" by these ideas was, of course Edgar Froese, and by the time he was putting together Tangerine Dream in 1967, electronic instruments capable of doing the aforementioned tricks were leaving the laboratories and falling in the hands of people like them. By the time they recorded Rubycon, sequencers and synthesyzers were already doing exactly what the band wanted, generating and modifying layers of sound with an amazing sense of flow. These are creatures of liminal vibration, so strange in the realm of rhythm, as in the realm of melody, though retaining a bit of both, and mutating their tonal colours with chilling fluidity.

So, welcome to a concert hall of the mind, where the old barriers had fallen, and new questions were raising. Where is this journey taking us? Which can be the place of this piece of time made music in our busy world and life? I think the existence of these questions speaks for itself. After all, only a masterpiece can be able to interrogate its own value as art.