INTAKT RECORDS – CD-REVIEWS
OBJETS TROUVÉS
FRESH JUICE
Intakt CD 225 / 2013
Was wäre gewonnen, wenn man genau wüsste, wo bei der Musik von GABRIELA FRIEDLI OBJETS TROUVÉS das Notat endet und der Instinkt übernimmt? Friedli lenkt zwar auch bei Fresh Juice (Intakt CD 225), live in Maiers Theater Zürich, ihre Partner wieder durch ihre Kompositionen. Aber sie enthalten weiterhin genug Spielräume, die erst gefüllt werden von der Persönlichkeit von Co Streiff an Alt- & Sopransaxophon, Jan Schlegel an E-Bass & Electronics und Dieter Ulrich an den Drums und verlebendigt von deren Spontanität. Das Wissen um die jeweiligen Denkwege und Artikulationsvorlieben hat seit 1999 beständig zugenommen. Nur so kann ein so intimer 'Gesang der Nacht' so gut gelingen, als ein fein blinkendes, getupftes, tropfendes Notturno. Streiff singt, die andern spielen die zunehmend erregte und bewegte Nacht, mit Schlegels Gefinger und elektronischen Faserspuren als jetztzeitigem Fixpunkt, der Friedlis manchmal messiaenschen Noten oder ausgreifenden Sehnsuchtsgesten und Streiffs Modern-Jazz-Stimme nah an der Gegenwart hält. Das groo- vige oder auch einmal unisono geführte Miteinander schweift nämlich intuitiv durch die letzten drei, vier Jahrzehnte, die den Fundus der vier ausmachen. Nahtlos driftet man in 'Terris Hut', weiterhin mit nicht von grellem Tageslicht geschärften Konturen. Streiff behält ihr träumerisches Phantasieren bei, ihre geschmeidigen Linien, die, luftig und flüssig, nur ein Biegen, kein Brechen zu kennen scheinen. Elektronisch zischende und metallische Geräusche und verhaltenes 'Flöten' bestimmen 'Weißer Zwerg'. Der zarte Abgesang auf eine uralt gewordene, auf ihren Eisenkern geschrumpfte Sonne, die allmählich verdämmert, nimmt plötzlich aber, gnomig krabbelnd, quäkend und mit einer zwergenhändigen Piano- elegie, seine zweideutige Metapher wörtlich. 'Equilibre Tendu' wird ganz von Streiffs voge- liger coltrane-liebmanesker Sopranistik bestimmt. Bis die andern derart ein Juckreiz befällt, dass 'Faden der Ariadne' zuerst noch davon kribbelig ist, bis Streiff als kleiner Vogel tiefer ins Labyrinth einfädelt, gefolgt von Friedlis wieder sehnsuchtsvollem Drängen. 'Straying Horn' ist zuletzt ein Eilmarsch im Gefolge des Horns, das allerdings nichts Kriegerisches im Sinn zu haben scheint, sondern nichts als Verliebt- und Beglücktheit. Da beißt auch der kurz mal nörgelnde Bass keinen Faden ab.
O quarteto de sax, piano, baixo eléctrico e bateria começa timidamente. Uns sons apagados, propedêuticos, afirmam a presença dos músicos na sala (o disco capta um concerto em Zurique). A música organizada surge mais tarde, com composições de Gabriela Friedl que servem de bengalas organizativas: ajudam a criar pontes para o grupo, que depois mergulha na improvisação, saindo muito para fora do pé da escrita.
Chi ben conosce gli sviluppi dell'avanguardia nord-europea degli anni '70, non si lascerà incantare da questo disco. Il gruppo che lo propone mira con risultati discontinui a rinverdirne gli esiti timbrici ed architettonici. Se non sostenuta da idee veramente originali, tale pratica rischia di essere altrettanto normalizzata rispetto al mainstream contemporaneo di derivazione hardbop. A dispetto di quanto il nome del gruppo lasci immaginare, non di bevanda fresca si tratta ma di minestra ben riscaldata. I quattro musicisti non lasciano il segno nella loro esplorazione timbrica rivolta a delineare schizzi più che linee di disegno.
Was da leise und verhalten beginnt, steigert bald Tempo und Lautstärke, entwickelt sich zu einer dichten und doch transparenten Klangwolke. Die vertrauten und einander vertrauenden MusikerInnen sind schnell auf dem Hochseil, lassen das schützende und rettende Netz weg und stürzen sich vehement und mutig ins Geschehen. Friedli gelingt es am Klavier immer wieder, diese Turbulenzen zu einen, dabei trotzdem selbst kein Risiko meidend. Co Streiff lässt ihre Saxofone in lapidarer Selbstverständlichkeit durch den Raum schweben, so als wäre schon alles gesagt worden, aber wegen der dummen Kinder wiederholt man es eben noch einmal. Dieter Ulrich, ein stiller Meister seines Fachs, ist da unterstützend, fordernd und begleitend dabei. Auch der elektronische Unruhestifter und Bassgitarrist Jan Schlegel ist wichtig für die gruppendynamische Grunddisposition. Er harmoniert mit dem schon bei Urs Blöchlinger engagierten Schlagzeuger Ulrich auf eine traumwandlerisch ruhige und reduzierte Art, dass es eine helle Freude ist, den beiden zuzuhören.
Schu, Concerto, Österreich, Dezember 2013
Composer, pianist and co-leader Gabriela Friedli refers to this group as a “dream constellation.” It’s an interesting choice of words. As any schoolboy astronomer will tell you, a constellation is something of a fiction, an accidental visual alignment of stars that in reality are located at tremendous distance one from the other. There are exceptions, local clusters that have a degree of connection, and that’s rather more the impression given off by this now long-standing group. Objets Trouvés have previous form on Intakt. Their previous CDs, Fragile and This Side Up, seemed to be pursuing a line of thematically-driven improvisation in which rehearsed material was thrown into a performance situation and spontaneously transformed. The suggestion is that in many of the group’s performances the source material is not performed at all, but is merely implicit – or tacit – in the players’ minds. Which leads to another tiny quibble about nomenclature. Schoolboy art historians will also be able to tell you about the role of “found objects” in modern art. It’s a hundred years since Marcel Duchamp began making his “ready-mades,” works that combined great formal purity with a schoolboy snigger: Fountain was an off-the-shelf urinal laid on its side. It seems the wrong analogy for this music, which is thoroughly adult, has a palpable gender balance (way beyond the usual well-intentioned guff about yin and yang) and which breathes life, humanity and the ethical urgency of the improvising moment. It’s not music that is observed. It has to be inhabited in some quite basic way. All this is again to suggest that the only tiny thing wrong with Objets Trouvés is what’s written on the tin. The contents are of the highest order. Far from being sonic pick-ups from the environment, these pieces are highly conscious and sensitively worked, and in a way that is perfectly compatible with the “freedom” of improvisation. It begins on the long “Gesang der Nacht” with very quiet sounds from all four members. Jan Schlegel’s electric bass seems to be murmuring to its own amplifier rather than being played, Dieter Ulrich moves something, maybe a brush, across his toms. Friedli and saxophonist Co Streiff seem to have a quiet exchange. If it’s tentative, it’s certainly not the onstage meet-and-greet that often passes for improvisation on the festival and club circuit. The air is confidently anticipatory rather than uncertain, and this is the pattern of Objets Trouvés performances. There’s always a logic and a sense of destination, in this first case a “night song” that is far from lugubrious nocturne. It has a certain remote kinship with “Round Midnight,” or at least the way Mike Osborne used to weave it into an extended improvisation. Streiff has something of Ossie’s aery, almost fragile tone, but with a tough, wire-wound core. It’s important, though, to dismiss the usual hierarchy of horn/harmony/bass/percussion when approaching this group. The information comes at you from the group rather than delegated to the front. Friedli’s understated playing suggests unease with ostentatious virtuosity. She articulates ideas clearly and with a certain emphasis, but there’s no bluster or emotional display. Schlegel’s remarkable. He plays a relatively unfashionable instrument in this genre, but with a thoroughly personalised delivery, maybe more Bob Cranshaw than Steve Swallow, and he’s always at the heart of every performance. Ulrich sounds more like a jazz guy than some of the European “free” drummers. There’s pulse and direction, and an ability to play melodically. The transition from mobile groove on “Equilibre tendu” to the more jagged, desolate idiom of “Faden der Ariadne” is a nice further instance of the group’s confident occupation of this varied landscape. Streiff’s soprano playing has a quite different impact to her alto work, a good illustration of horns being played as different instruments rather than as different places on a tonal spectrum. The shorter tracks work just as well but don’t necessarily highlight the composed elements any more clearly. Cavils apart, “fresh” seems just the right adjective for this music: bright, sweet, faintly astringent in places, endlessly refreshing.
Bjarne Soltoft, Jazznytt, Oslo, No, 4-2013
An album that I proposed for the Happy New Ears Award, but that didn't make it to the final list, mainly because it had not been reviewed yet. The Swiss band consists of Co Streiff on alto and soprano saxophone, Gabriela Friedli on piano, Dieter Ulrich on drums, and Jan Schlegel on electric bass, a balanced quartet of two women and two men. The music has a quite unique quality, working with composed parts in a very open-ended context, like islands floating in an ocean of possibilities, with some real jazzy moments in the traditional sense, with some boppish pulse and intimate playing, as on the closing track "Straying Horn", a clear reference to Billy Strayhorn, but then moving outside, almost naturally, without effort, then reuniting in a unison theme to the enthusiasm of the live audience. But what comes before is less easy to pigeonhole. Yes, there are moments of pure minimalism, like in the opening track, when sparse and subtle sounds create an eery atmosphere built around silence, but then suddenly a quiet theme arises, out of nothing, disappears again for further quiet development, then restless interaction, somewhat chaotic, until the theme again grows out of the ongoing agitation, moving into full visibility, then disappears again in strange fluttering and ruffling of alto and drums, in the aptly titled "Gesang der Nacht" (Singing of the Night). "Weisser Zwerg" is a slowly paced avant-garde piece, lightly textured at first, with the sax barely audible taking the lead voice, then density increases slightly when suddenly all instruments are heard together, a rare occurence on this album, then fade away to quiet and eery piano by Friedli. "Equilibre Tendu" in contrast is more post-boppish and expansive, in a kind of Coltrane mood, with all four instruments heard at all time, with the alto soaring above the tight rhythm section. The quartet meanders between inside and outside playing with dexterity and a natural sense of spontaneity that is indeed refreshing and light-footed, and like the Convergence Quartet's "Slow and Steady", they offer the perfect line of eclectic jazz modernism, with a rare sensitive and elegant quality in the overall sound. Nothing ground-breaking, but just beautiful and inventive.
Autre quartette, Objets Trouvés a été créé en 1999 par la pianiste Gabriela Friedli (Cf. Culturejazz - Europe Express, 01/03/2012). Il s'agit cette fois d'une musique plus expérimentale, recherchée, progressant par bribes, fragments, touches, en une « discipline interactive entre liberté et organisation ». Enregistrées en concert, les pièces s'enchaînent, reliées par des thèmes de passage. Beau travail. Jean Buzelin, Culturejazz France. 14 janvier 2014
The Wire, London, March 2014
Se libérant d'une lévitation inaugurale, nos Objets trouvés (Gabriela Friedli, Co Streiff, Jan Schlegel, Dieter Ulrich) observent quelques plats terrains avant de se délivrer par quelque trait compositionnel hardi. Mais ne pas croire pour autant que ce Fresh Juice ne trouve son salut que par la seule écriture. Car, à vrai dire, cette écriture n'est là que pour baliser un itinéraire aux tracés intimes. Presque pas d'éclats fanatiques ici mais une mise en espace de blocs (duo ou trio, rarement quartet) intensifiant sa force en des crescendos entretenus. A ce petit jeu, la saxophoniste gagne la mise : timide au début, elle fore des tracés onctueux qu'elle magnifie avec un aplomb remarquable. De même, le jeu modal de la pianiste ne s'embarrasse d'aucune rupture mais impose assurance et souplesse au récit emprunté. De ces Objets trouvés – et faussement fragiles – on admirera la sage pertinence, le paysage familier.
Christof Turnherr, Jazz'n'more, Schweiz, März/April 2014
Improvising music is imbedded in such a broad spectrum, unpredictable in nature, and impossible to pigeonhole. Objets Trouves represents yet another way to approach this unwieldy and chameleonic beast by elaborating, playing on a myriad of emotions, while giving the challenged listeners constant food for thought. One hopes this approach is not misunderstood, for it is very long winded for the most part. The 20 minute opener "Gesang der Nacht" takes a long time to progress in a low levee moan, and while "Faden der Ariadne" is only half as long, it is reactive and percussive in nature. There's a deeper, modal figure that sets off pianist Gabriela Friedli on "Terris Hut" and showcases the piquant sax of Co Streiff, while the clever "Staying Horn" is a perfect vehicle for Streiff to take off without the rhythm section. The most focused cut "Equilibre Tendu" features a solid jazz swing sense that also includes several loose references that are far from contrived, and seem to be different anytime they might play it. In fact, that may be difference. The constraints of a studio recording - captured in the moment - probably pales in comparison to what they might do stretching out in live performance. This is for specialized tastes, but yields results that fans of improvised music should find satisfying, and eager to hear more.
Het kwartet Objets Trouvés reist tussen de vrije improvisatie en de geschreven compositie en versmelt deze tegenpolen tot een random gebeuren, waarin thema's telkens op een onverwacht moment opdagen als stimulans tot het verder bouwen. Zo kanaliseren ze op frisse wijze het vervolg van hun collectief proces. De muziek draagt het karakter van fragmentering en duidelijk wisselende passages. Het pendelen tussen vrijheid en discipline wordt op zeer creatieve wijze toegepast en de interactie tussen de 2 vrouwelijke en 2 mannelijke musici is ruimschoots aanwezig. De Zwitserse Gabriela Friedli staat borg voor de geschreven composities en is een interessante pianiste met een eigen inkleuring en input. Het betreft hier een concertopname, dus de spontaniteit en het overvloeien van het ene stuk in het andere is een zegen. Dit is een fijnproevertje voor liefhebbers van de collectieve improvisatie en nieuwe muziek. |
