Recorded Music
I have recorded 5 CDs/cassettes. All have been engineered, mixed and mastered by Tim Turan and produced by myself.
My recordings are crystal clear expressions of my work as an artist who bridges the traditional and the digitally-enhanced.
FZ1 Floyd’s Dreams (1994)
1993 was a very sad year for me. Within 2 months I had lost 2 close friends – my father and John Blackwood. My father died suddenly of a heart attack – just 3 days after his 70th birthday. John struggled bravely for 2 months with a brain tumor. John left me a generous bequest of £5000, and it with this money that I have been able to produce the album ‘Floyds Dream’. The album is named after a friend unfortunately languishing in Broadmoor Hospital. I visit him regularly and asked him recently what his dream was. He replied simply – “To be somewhere warm with people I love”. These words have stayed with me ever since.
The music on this CD is a one-take recording; as close as possible to a live performance
FZ2 Giselle (1996)
Giselle is an album of portraits and emotions. The title track is about my grandmother who escaped the holocaust by fleeing from Vienna to Budapest. I didn’t meet her before her death and so this music is an imaginary narrative of her life of fun and sadness. Shen’s Song is dedicated to a sixteenth century Chinese healer who travelled from village to village practising his arts. The story was recounted to me by another healer sharing the same name who resides in Oxfordshire close to the River Thames. Yearnin’ is about universal loss and love. Birds at Sunset takes the listener to an imaginary landscape of light and stillness. I hope you enjoy the album.
The music on this CD was recorded live in a single session at Merton College Chapel, Oxford.
Review of ‘Giselle’
Another delight for the fan of flute music, and particularly the discerning ear that demands something creative and original. Frei Zinger achieves a tapestry of wonders with his flute on this disc, using echo, reverb and delay, he often gains the image of a small ensemble, with a music that is both mysteriously haunting and purely melodic. A careful balance that’s held throughout the album’s four lengthy tracks. Though much more involved and imaginative than anything the likes of Paul Horn or James Newton would do, it’s a shame that Frei’s music isn’t more well-known. Naturally, if he had someone like Kuchuck behind him then perhaps he would be. The music world is not fair at all.
Alan Freman
Audion Magazine, Autumn 1996
FZ3 Seasons (1997)
Seasons is an album of complete relaxation telling the simple tale of the year’s natural cycle. It begins with the exuberance of a sparkling spring and ends with the stark beauty of a glistening winter. In between, the seasons of summer and autumn are expressed in terms of warmth and optimism moving to stillness as the last leaves begin to fall. Throughout, I have tried to harmonise my music with the year’s seasons. I hope that I have succeeded in this aim and that you enjoy the album.
The music on this album was recorded live in a single session at Oxford University’s Holywell Music Room.
FZ4 Songlines (1999)
Songlines is an album of journeys both real and imaginary. It begins with a portrait of my great aunt Erzsi laying eight stones on a grave on the ‘Frei Zinger’ family memorial in Vienna – relatives lost to us in the holcaust. Maes-Yr-Haf, in contrast, is the happy song of my mother’s childhood in rural mid-Wales. Set in summer meadows, Blue Mountain portrays the majesty of an enduring landscape just one and a half hours from Sydney, Australia. Finally, May Dance brings us back to Oxford and the boisterous and fun-loving birth of summer celebrations that take place every May morning.
The music on this album was recorded live in a single session at Oxford University’s Holywell Music Room.
FZ5 Flute Dreams(1999)
Flute Dreams is an album of relaxation. The eight tracks are selected to form a tranquil and harmonious experience. The listener is invited to embark on a musical journey through landscapes real and imaginary. Enter the world of “flute dreams” – the gentle sounds of a magic flute.
The music on this album was commissioned by Midpoint Press and recorded live in a single session at Turan Audio, Magdalen Road, Oxford.
Flute Dreams is both a sampler and a re-recording of numbers from the preceding 4 CDs. All five CDs are quite different from one another. If you like one, you will love the others.
You can purchase your cds of my music directly from me. This cuts out the middle man and keeps the costs down. Please send cheques in pounds stirling.
All of the cds cost the same, so feel free to mix and match as you please.
1 cd = £8.00 (plus £1.50 P&P)
2 cds = £15.00 (plus £2.50 P&P)
3 cds = £20.00 (plus £3.00 P&P)
4 cds = £25.00 (plus £3.50 P&P)
5 cds = £30.00 (plus £4.00 P&P)
Please make cheques payable to P Fryer and send to:
6 Peel Place, Oxford OX1 4UT, UK
If you would like to book me to play at an event, or if you have any queries about ordering my cds, please either email frei@freizinger.demon.co.uk or phone: +44 (0)1865 721277