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Hans Koch
London Duos and Trios. Intakt CD 081
4 stars (best of artist)
In questo nuovo CD vengono
documentati una serie di incontri di improvvisazione tra il cinquantaseienne
svizzero Hans Koch e alcuni musicisti londinesi, in forma di duo e trio.
Forte della sua esperienza con i capiscuola inglesi ed europei in genere,
ma anche con l'avanguardia americana, Koch s'imbarca per l'isola britannica
per mettersi alla prova e rinnovarsi misurandosi con gli improvvisotori
della fumosa capitale. I terreni d'azione sono diversi ed è notevole
l'interplay mostrato dal clarinettista con ogni suo partner. In un galleria
di suoni dalla dinamica avvincente il CD di Koch si sviluppa con coerenza
e misura. L'autore sembra a volte voler contenere eventuali deviazioni
eccessive mostrando di adattarsi e di condividere l'umore dei compagni
per poi moderare e modulare il discorso musicale riconfinandolo in ambienti
più consoni al suo sentire. Buona l'intesa con l'elettronica di Pat
Thomas, forse in diversi momenti un po' troppo frastagliata e difficile
da seguire. Ottime le percussioni di Roger Turner che fanno da collante
in diversi brani, mentre il bravo Steve Noble compare solo nella concitata
terza traccia. Straordinario e abbastanza inedito, direi, l'incontro
con l'arpa di Rhodri Davies nell'ottavo brano dove Koch imbraccia il
clarinetto basso. Eccitante nel finale il duo tra sax soprano e contrabbasso,
seppur non corroborato dalle percussioni come nel terzo brano. Quando
la tensione sale e l'ancia di Koch stride come un arco di violino, prendono
il via lunghe catene di suoni staccati tesi a contrastare lo strumento
di John Edwards che ormai immerso in una stretta bolla esplosiva, a
lui naturale, sembra volersi moltiplicare fagocitando chi gli sta intorno.
Forse qualche difficoltà in più Koch deve averla avuta con l'eccezionale
vocalismo di Phil Minton che tanto modula il suo tratto vocale così
da indurlo spesso ad emettere suoni più tradizionali, per assorbire
forse le crude spigolosità proprie delle sonorità del compagno. Anche
in questo caso Koch se la cava benissimo, mostrando quella delicatezza
nel trattare materiali sonori difficili che è propria dei grandi. Riconosciamo
dunque al musicista svizzero il merito e la capacità di far emergere
i compagni di incisione in tutta la loro peculiarità costruendo un percorso
equilibrato, per nulla piatto. Valutazione: * * * *
Hans Koch: riskante Dialoge
Manchmal handeln die Tracks
des Bieler Holzbläsers Hans Koch in den London Duos and Trios von fast
gar nichts. Ein Rascheln nur. Hohe, kaum hörbare Effekte auf dem Sopransaxofon.
In dieser Niemandsmusik werden einem die Töne nicht um die Ohren geschlagen.
Es sind lauter Fussnoten: Luftgeräusche, Spalttöne, Klappengeräusche.
Koch, ursprünglich klassisch ausgebildeter Klarinettist, schon lange
aber zum radikal freien Improvisator geworden, hat sich mit der Crème
der freien Londoner Szene getroffen und eine Serie so konzentrierter
wie intimer Dialoge eingespielt. An der Grenze zum Verstummen ist das
meist. Richtig spannend wirds in den Duos mit Phil Minton, dem Grossanarch
der Noise-Vokalisten. Das ist perfekt chaotisch. Und sehr aufregend.
(cme)
Der 55-järhige Schweizer
Reeds-Spieler ist immer findig in imporovisierter Musik. Seit zwei Jahrzehnten
stellt er in wechselnden Konstellationen seine Experimentierfreude,
Radikalität und Innovationskraft unter Beweis. Dies gilt auch für seine
neuesten Aufnahmen, die er im Winter 2000 in London mit einigen der
wichtigsten britischen Improvisatoren machte. Neun Begegnungen sind
dokumentiert: Soundexperimente, Zwiegespräche, Klangexkurse. Ob im Trio
mit Phil Minton und Roger Turner oder im Duo mit John Edwards oder Phil
Minton, stets wird das Feld freier Improvisation ausgelotet. Koch erweist
sich als Meister der kreativen Anpassung, der um neue Ideen nie verlegen
ist. Die "London Duos and Trios" sind für Hörer mit offenen Ohren.
Thriller mit Hans Koch
UnAMERICAN ACTIVITIES
#08 Minton's near patented collection of guttural gurgles, asylum patient screams and deranged quacks make their appearance on three tracks. Yet Koch, whose experience with his Hardcore Chamber Music partners cellist Martin Schütz and drummer Fredy Studer has included meetings with Cuban vocalists, Egyptian divas and American DJs, takes these Bedlam approximations in stride. Mano à mano, he uses a biting altissimo tone and split-second jumps to the bottom of his horn to make something of Minton's back-of-throat gargles, unhinged screams and near retches. With Turner's version of shaking cutlery and rattling chains added to the background, Minton's homeless person mumbles, pseudo Donald Duck verbal ejaculations and falsetto cries don't faze Koch either. An experienced solo performer, the Swiss reedist varies an expansive vibrating tone with tongue slaps, reed kisses and snorting buzzes. These same techniques, plus some slurs and spetrofluctuation, serve a similar purpose when his sound partners are Minton's glossolalia and Durrant appearing to use a saw blade on his fiddle. More impressive still are Koch's match ups with percussion and strings. Partnering Davies and Wastell, his elongated air exhalation could serve as a textbook example of how to use split tones. As the 30-plus strings wrap ponticello textures around his horn, Koch moves from expelling near static colored air tones to simultaneous chalumeau register snorts and higher-pitched whistles. Soon, as Koch's reed lines combine and expand, the harpist vibrates the horizontal sticks inserted between his strings and Wastell turns from miniscule plinks on the strings below the cello's bridge to jarring, wood-rending arco swipes. Edwards too seems to be approximating wood splintering when he and Noble hook up with Koch -- playing both bass clarinet and soprano sax --- for the closest approximation of a standard (sic) Free Improv trio here. The percussionist confines himself mostly to ratamacues and bell ringing, while the bassist first tries out wide ponticello, then spiccato bowing, as the reedist's lines warble on top of the others' creations. Finally the piece ends in a fantasia of squeaking swipes from top of the bass strings plus tongue slaps and slurs from the soprano sax. Elsewhere Koch, whose past duo partners have included German trombonist Johannes Bauer and French tenor saxophonist Bertrand Denzler, demonstrates that crossing the English Channel merely adds to his inventiveness. With a repertoire of sounds that include bubbling chirrups, falsetto trills, wavering smears, mouthpiece whistles, expelled guttural breaths and percussive key pops, he's ready for anything. So, whether it's angled bowing from the strings, xylophone-like mallet pressure from the percussionists or hissing texture from Thomas' electronics that produce a sound midway between a kazoo and a train whistle, Koch has the appropriate response. With the two live tracks sonically indistinguishable from the studio bits, overall Koch and his British associates show how a bunch of improvisers can get together for a few hours on a couple of days and gracefully create a prime slab of memorable improv. Ken Waxman, One Final Note, USA, June 2004 (http://www.onefinalnote.com)
Für seine London Duos and
Trios (Intakt 081) nutzte der vor allem durch das Koch-Schütz-Studer-Trio
bekannte HANS KOCH Ende 2000 einen längeren Aufenthalt in der englischen
Metropole, um seinen Erfindungsreichtum an Bassklarinette, Kontrabassklarinette
und Sopranosaxophon in einer Reihe von Zwiesprachen und Dreierkonferenzen
auszureizen. Als Partner zum spontanen Austausch von meist gedämpften,
zugespitzten Geräuschen und Klängen im Stil der radikalen Idiomatik,
wie sie die gastgebenden Briten erfanden und seit Jahrzehnten sorgsam
pflegen, fanden sich im Gateway Studio Pat Thomas (electronics), Phil
Minton (voice), Roger Turner (perc.), Rhodri Davies (harp) und John
Edwards (bass) ein, jeweils zu Vier-Augen-Gesprächen. Daneben hört man
den Schweizer Bläser auch noch in Dreierkonstellationen mit Edwards
& Steve Noble (drums, perc), Davies & Mark Wastell (cello) sowie Minton
& Phil Durrant (violin). Offenbar suchte Koch aber in der Begegnung
mit renommierten englischen Improspezialisten nicht die Gelegenheit
für unorthodoxe Sperenzchen, vielmehr Interaktionsmöglichkeiten für
die spezifischen Nuancen und Finessen, die er auf Grund jahrelanger
Erfahrung ins Spiel bringen kann. In strenger Puristik zelebrieren alle
Beteiligten, die englischen Copyrightinhaber und der Lizenznehmer vom
Kontinent, die ungeschriebenen Regeln des Plinkplonk-Codex. Liebhaber
von Cricket und der englischen Küche kommen daher bestens auf ihre Kosten.
Alle übrigen werden gebeten, die Künstler nicht durch Grimassenschneiden
zu stören und beim Rausgehen die Tür möglichst leise zu schliessen.
I first heard Koch on his
initial release for ECM, ÒAccelerationÓ, around the time of its release
in 1988. It was a pretty attention grabbing effort, combining some motoric,
surging themes sporting an almost punk edge with spirited free improvising.
Aside from his appearance in Barry GuyÕs New Orchestra a couple of years
ago, heÕd fallen off my radar however so I was a bit intrigued to hear
this collection, to discover where heÕd explored since then. Well, heÕs
certainly moved on a bit. This is a series of nine improvisations recorded
in late 2000 with members of the London improvising community, about
equally divided between those who fall slightly on the jazzier side
of things (just slightly) and several with feet planted more in eai
territory. Koch wields soprano sax, bass clarinet and contrabass clarinet,
going up against the likes of Pat Thomas, Phil Minton, Steve Noble,
John Edwards and Roger Turner of the former allegiance and Phil Durrant,
Mark Wastell and Rhodri Davies of the latter. To the extent that trouble
brews here, it usually derives from Koch himself. He often seems reluctant
to sink himself into the proceedings, either noodling about to no great
effect with his partners (in the case of the duos with Thomas and Turner)
or overriding their quieter, more group-oriented ideas (Wastell). In
the latter, Koch appears to begin with the best of intentions, though
even here he falls back on the breath tones that are generally the first
refuge of reed players confronted with the difficult situation of ÒdepersonalizingÓ
their sound. As though feeling the need to progress to other sound areas,
he migrates to the sort of squawks and bleats that one has heard hundreds
of times (while Wastell and Davies, true to form, continue to play marvelously
and imaginatively beside him, creating a wonderful, if brief, continuo
right near the end of their track). ItÕs not that he falls back on free
jazz clichés; he rarely does. Rather, he seems to have a limited
palette of sounds to use in lieu of a ÒtraditionalÓ attack and doesnÕt
even get so much out of those (unlike, say, the ability shown by Stephane
Rives of his recent solo disc on Potlatch, ÒFibresÓ, where a given mode
of attack was investigated with a merciless obsession). Happily, there
are exceptions. The trio with Noble and Edwards has much of the clattery
abandon one might expect, KochÕs claustrophobic, high-end wheezing playing
off rather nicely against his companionsÕ more expansive, lower rumblings.
And the penultimate track, a lovely exchange with harpist Davies comes
as close as anything to the potential one might have anticipated coming
into the project, causing one to rue many of the earlier pieces. Davies,
as is almost always the case, manages to tightrope between tonal and
abstract with delicious perversity while Koch at long last reins himself
in a notch and glides along with his partner, finally creating a performance
where the music itself is perceived before the individual musicians.
Overall, I get the perception that, as valiant as the effort was, Koch
might be better served by more structured surroundings, something like
GuyÕs tentet where the robust framework allows for (encourages, even)
more extravagant, extroverted playing. Some good playing here, perhaps
more often by the supporting characters than the lead, but too much
thatÕs simply unmemorable and not very finely observed or considered.
Nutzung des Moments
London ist hinsichtlich kompromissloser,
non-idiomatischer neuer Improvisationsmusik nach wie vor eines der heißesten
Pflaster. „Insekt Music“ war einmal eine recht treffende
Bezeichnung der englischen Klangästhetik. So packte auch der Schweizer
Klangindividualist Hans Koch seine sieben Sachen, sprich Bassklarinette
und Sopransax und machte sich nach London auf, um mit einigen der Leuchtfiguren
der jüngeren wie älteren Generation der englischen Improgilde
seine Erfahrungen und Erkundungen auszutauschen. Auf der Suche nach
neuen Räumen Und Konfigurationen. Sowohl im Studio als auch auf
der Bühne kam es zu diversen Duo und Trio-Begegnungen. In diesen,
von aperiodischen Strukturen, Geräuschfarbenreichtum und spontaner
Imaginationskraft geprägt, deklariert sich Koch als klangsensibler
mit eigener Note agierender „Phonetiker“. Einige der spannendsten
Momentaufnahmen dieser Kollektivgeschehnisse sind auf seiner jüngsten
CD versammelt. Außerordentliche Intensität und Stringenz
bestimmen die Dialoge mit dem fulminanten Phil Minton bzw. einem energiesprudelnden
John Edwards. Die konzentrierte Kontemplativität der Stücke
wechselt geschickt zwischen knisternder Anspannung und dichter Ereignishaftigkeit.
London is calling.
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