Matthias Muche
MUCHE/ZOUBEK/TANG
Matthias Muche (trombone)
Achim Tang (double bass)
Philip Zoubek (Piano)
m.z.t. arbeitet ausgehend von offenen improvisationskonzepten seit 2005 an einer konsequenten ausdifferenzierung klanglicher räume und musikalischer verläufe. das trio investiert viel zeit in einen intensiven gemeinsamen kompositionsprozess, der musikalische texturen und formale struktur definiert, um sie die dann in einer intuitiven und interaktiven performance live auszuformulieren. nach der erstveröffentlichung des trios SATOR ROTAS (creative sources, cs109 2007), ein akustisches remake von marcus schmikler´s 2000 entstandener elektronischer komposition stellt m.z.t. seine neue produktion EXCERPTS OF ANYTHING vor(creative sources, cs192 2011), in der sich die typische klangwelt des trios vertieft und verdichtet.
Muche/Zoubek/Tang
Sator-Rotas CD
(creative sources recordings cs109cd)
www.creativesourcesrec.com
>SATOR ROTAS<, die Aufnahme gab es schon mal. 1999 veröffentlichte der Kölner Komponist und Produzent Marcus Schmickler eben jenes >SATOR ROTAS<, ein Werk, das man über einige Jahre hinweg als seine wichtigste ansehen konnte: mehrdimensionale, mannigfaltige schimmernde elektronische Musik, die trotz ihres strengen Aufbaus ungemein beweglich und lebendig klingt.
Der Posaunist Matthias Muche, der Pianist Philip Zoubek und der Kontrabassist Achim Tang arbeiten in Köln seit 2004 an einer improvisierten Trio- Musik, die gängige Parameter der Improvisation, wie man sie aus dem dem Free Jazz kennt, überwindet: Ihre Musik klingt flächig-statisch, verzichtet auf offensichtliche rhythmische Impulse, verweigert sich vordergründigeren Kommunikationsritualen.
Mit ihrer Adaption des Schmickler'schen Werkes für akustische Instrumente und improvisierende Musiker haben Muche, Zoubek und Tang einerseits die Genregrenzen mal ganz locker gesprengt, andererseits aber eben auch das Naheliegende getan: Nicht nur, dass sie mit ihrer Adaption die Kontinuität der Kölner Experimental-Szene versinnbildlichen, sie zeigen, wie dicht zunächst verschiedenen Spielhaltungen zusammen kommen können.
Sie spielen das Original nicht nach, kopieren seine Struktur nicht sklavisch. Sie fangen, um das Wenigste zu sagen, die Stimmung ein. Was bei Schmickler mächtig und überwältigend klingt, definieren sie als Präsenz und Gegenwärtigkeit. Es flirrt, vibriert, zerlegt sich wieder und zerfällt - so wie man das von Schmicklers Einspielungen kennt. Aber es klingt doch anders: Die Ähnlichkeit überdeckt nicht die Eigenständigkeit. Der heilige Lärm, den die drei Akustiker am Ende erzeugen, ist ihr eigener.
Quelle: StadtRevue 05-08
by Felix Klopotek
Drei der Aktivposten aus Kölns lebendiger Improvszene haben sich eienr elektronischen Komposition angenommen und diese in ihr Metier frei transkribiert. In der akustischen Besetzung Kontrabass (Tang), präpariertes Klavier (Zoubek) und Posaune (Muche) wird Marcus Schmicklers Stück Sator-Rotas neu interpretiert. Die malmende Klangwalze besonders in der Verdichtung zum Ende des Tracks verdeutlicht die Vehemenz und das gar nicht zimperliche musikalische Denken Schmicklers. Die Instrumentalisten schaffen es aber vor allen Dingen, der Komposition eine neue Wendung, eine zusätzlcihe Facette zu geben. Auch wenn es klischeehaft klingen mag: durch die kraftvoll mit Körpereinsatz bedienten Instrumente spinenn sich lebendige Fäden zwischen einzelnen Blöcken des Stücks, die dem Ganzen einen Human Touch geben, der in der sperrigen Kälte des Originals nicht zu finden ist. Herzlichen Dank hierfür!
Quelle: http://www.aufabwegen.de/magazin/?p=429#more-429
by Till Kniola
Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas. Arrange these five words into a square, and they form a palindromic entity, a talismatic square of letters that date from ancient times. The sator square has been etched into walls from Pompeii to the Middle East to Manchester. It´s suspected that early Christians used it as a subtle calling card; Anton webern used it as the conceptual underpinning of his concerto op. 24, and so did markus Schmickler for a piece of computer composition released on A-Musik in 2003, although it´s difficult to interpret exactly how the idea relates to the audio. On this Cd, a trio of Cologne improvisors interpret that work in the form of – forgive me the oxymoron- AAM-style-non idiomatic Improv. They are certainly adept, especially when you realise the phenomenally piercing frequencies from what sound like ultra-thin slices of bowed metal are in fact all emanating from their own acoustic instruments.
In the footsteps of Warp´s collaborations withe the London Sinfonietta and Zeitkratzer´s transcrition of Metal Machine Music , here the Cologners Matthias Muche (trombone), Philp Zoubek (prepared piano) and Achim Tang (contrabass) have made an instrumental arrangement of Schmickler´s original. Is there any point to these acoustic reversions of stubbornly electrical pieces?
It´s easy to assume electronic music has a certain inevitabillity, an imperviousness to human imput, so anyone "scoring" it implies a controlling hand, a markers´s mrak that can be entirely extracted and reproduced. I`m not entirely convinced of the need for a live interpretation of Schmickler´s inricate piece, but there is still much to admire in the way this trio rise to the challange.
Quelle:THE WIRE, MARCH 2008
by ROB YOUNG
"Sator-Rotas” is an electronic composition by Marcus Schmickler, from which the trio of Muche, Zoubek and Tang took inspiration for a total reworking of the concept. The new "score”, or interpretation if you prefer, is for trombone, piano and double bass played by the artists according to the order in which they're quoted above. Lasting about 37 minutes, this is an excellent, concise work that exploits dynamics and colours beautifully, to the point of finding its niche both in the realms of the most advanced new music and in the kind of contemporary jazz explorations of which Creative Sources has presented several examples in recent times. The musicians show composure, self-reliance and inquisitive minds in abundant doses, their reciprocal attentiveness commendable since the very beginning. Mental fixedness and feverish states alternate in a succession of scenarios, the attention to the sonic details reaching points of tension at the drop of a needle, such is the responsiveness of the players to the single event. In the final section of the piece a hellish clangour is progressively raised, our ears completely invaded by the thunderous power of the instruments nearing breakup. But, all of a sudden, everything ceases - the menace rapidly becomes vapour, the venom is dispersed, the noise mutated into near- silence. The music returns to the initial state of ambivalent quietness from where it started and, when the CD is over, a strange mix of satisfaction and unexpressed rage permeates the surrounding air. Is this version better than the original? Maybe so. It sure sounds like an original itself.
Quelle: http://touchingextremes.wordpress.com/
by Massimo Ricci
Standing on their heads earlier electronic proj such as Switched on Bach that were based on the adaptation of traditional music to wave-form material, the three Köln-based improvisers on this CD do just the opposite. They recreate German composer Marcus Schmickler's award-winning pop-minimalist electronic composition "Sator-Rotas” using only acoustic instruments.
Although the three sonic researchers involved are usually affiliated with more acoustic music, the surging textures of this nearly-40-minute session, suggest similar musical alchemy performed by cerebral performers such as Britain's AMM or Australia's The Necks. More beguiling however is that unlike bands such as those, which use standard rhythm section instruments, this trio integrates the extended techniques and minimalist approach of trombonist Matthias Muche along with a piano and double bass in this sonic transformation.
Muche, who has worked with dancers and multi-media artist as well as improvisers such as Dutch pianist Misha Mengelberg and American saxophonist Larry Ochs, here exposes ratcheting pops and flat-line expiration as his contribution to the mix, along with more expected brass sounds. As for the chordal instruments, bassist Achim Tang, who has collaborated with sound explorers such as Austrian trumpeter Franz Hautzinger and American slide guitarist David Tronzo, provides the timbres closest to traditional. However, his use of expanding plucks, sul tasto string sawing plus wood and gut vibrato add more color to the undertaking.
On the other hand Philip Zoubek, who in has recorded with trombonist Paul Hubweber, creates prepared piano operations that provide vibrating ostinato wave forms that substitute for similar triggered pulsating sound loops found in true electronic proj. Applying pressure on wound piano strings, stopping, pumping, plucking and strumming highlights complementary partials, thus creating a constant buzzy undertow that frames the others' solos.
Among this output are keyboard resonation from Zoubek himself, who cuts through the engorged layers of inchoate wave forms with arpeggios, single-key plinks, percussive triplets and two-handed cadenzas. Meanwhile Muche reaches past the trombone's regular tessitura with rooster cries, gurgling throat motions and solid breath movements that involve the instrument's lead pipe in preference to its valves or slide. Very occasionally he also produces alphorn-like cries, but they last only as long as similar out-of-character tones – which probably result from string-sawing bass striations as well as the clattering of a miniature cymbal against the piano action.
Eventually, the program reaches a crescendo of layered dissonant pitches and harmonies. Soon, the blurry, tremolo chunks dissolve, trans-mutate and are revealed as properly acoustic, individually shaded, keyboard notes, plucked bass lines and back-of-the-throat capillary trombone rumbles.
Operating as if a parallel music world exist the three players have modified "Sator-Rotas” so that it is the same, yet different. On this CD, Muche, Zoubek and Tang have produced a notable interpretive improvisation, while retooling the composition for the acoustic realm.
Quelle: http://www.jazzword.com/
by Ken Waxman
Achim Tang (double bass)
Philip Zoubek (Piano)
m.z.t. arbeitet ausgehend von offenen improvisationskonzepten seit 2005 an einer konsequenten ausdifferenzierung klanglicher räume und musikalischer verläufe. das trio investiert viel zeit in einen intensiven gemeinsamen kompositionsprozess, der musikalische texturen und formale struktur definiert, um sie die dann in einer intuitiven und interaktiven performance live auszuformulieren. nach der erstveröffentlichung des trios SATOR ROTAS (creative sources, cs109 2007), ein akustisches remake von marcus schmikler´s 2000 entstandener elektronischer komposition stellt m.z.t. seine neue produktion EXCERPTS OF ANYTHING vor(creative sources, cs192 2011), in der sich die typische klangwelt des trios vertieft und verdichtet.
Muche/Zoubek/Tang
Sator-Rotas CD
(creative sources recordings cs109cd)
www.creativesourcesrec.com
>SATOR ROTAS<, die Aufnahme gab es schon mal. 1999 veröffentlichte der Kölner Komponist und Produzent Marcus Schmickler eben jenes >SATOR ROTAS<, ein Werk, das man über einige Jahre hinweg als seine wichtigste ansehen konnte: mehrdimensionale, mannigfaltige schimmernde elektronische Musik, die trotz ihres strengen Aufbaus ungemein beweglich und lebendig klingt.
Der Posaunist Matthias Muche, der Pianist Philip Zoubek und der Kontrabassist Achim Tang arbeiten in Köln seit 2004 an einer improvisierten Trio- Musik, die gängige Parameter der Improvisation, wie man sie aus dem dem Free Jazz kennt, überwindet: Ihre Musik klingt flächig-statisch, verzichtet auf offensichtliche rhythmische Impulse, verweigert sich vordergründigeren Kommunikationsritualen.
Mit ihrer Adaption des Schmickler'schen Werkes für akustische Instrumente und improvisierende Musiker haben Muche, Zoubek und Tang einerseits die Genregrenzen mal ganz locker gesprengt, andererseits aber eben auch das Naheliegende getan: Nicht nur, dass sie mit ihrer Adaption die Kontinuität der Kölner Experimental-Szene versinnbildlichen, sie zeigen, wie dicht zunächst verschiedenen Spielhaltungen zusammen kommen können.
Sie spielen das Original nicht nach, kopieren seine Struktur nicht sklavisch. Sie fangen, um das Wenigste zu sagen, die Stimmung ein. Was bei Schmickler mächtig und überwältigend klingt, definieren sie als Präsenz und Gegenwärtigkeit. Es flirrt, vibriert, zerlegt sich wieder und zerfällt - so wie man das von Schmicklers Einspielungen kennt. Aber es klingt doch anders: Die Ähnlichkeit überdeckt nicht die Eigenständigkeit. Der heilige Lärm, den die drei Akustiker am Ende erzeugen, ist ihr eigener.
Quelle: StadtRevue 05-08
by Felix Klopotek
Drei der Aktivposten aus Kölns lebendiger Improvszene haben sich eienr elektronischen Komposition angenommen und diese in ihr Metier frei transkribiert. In der akustischen Besetzung Kontrabass (Tang), präpariertes Klavier (Zoubek) und Posaune (Muche) wird Marcus Schmicklers Stück Sator-Rotas neu interpretiert. Die malmende Klangwalze besonders in der Verdichtung zum Ende des Tracks verdeutlicht die Vehemenz und das gar nicht zimperliche musikalische Denken Schmicklers. Die Instrumentalisten schaffen es aber vor allen Dingen, der Komposition eine neue Wendung, eine zusätzlcihe Facette zu geben. Auch wenn es klischeehaft klingen mag: durch die kraftvoll mit Körpereinsatz bedienten Instrumente spinenn sich lebendige Fäden zwischen einzelnen Blöcken des Stücks, die dem Ganzen einen Human Touch geben, der in der sperrigen Kälte des Originals nicht zu finden ist. Herzlichen Dank hierfür!
Quelle: http://www.aufabwegen.de/magazin/?p=429#more-429
by Till Kniola
Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas. Arrange these five words into a square, and they form a palindromic entity, a talismatic square of letters that date from ancient times. The sator square has been etched into walls from Pompeii to the Middle East to Manchester. It´s suspected that early Christians used it as a subtle calling card; Anton webern used it as the conceptual underpinning of his concerto op. 24, and so did markus Schmickler for a piece of computer composition released on A-Musik in 2003, although it´s difficult to interpret exactly how the idea relates to the audio. On this Cd, a trio of Cologne improvisors interpret that work in the form of – forgive me the oxymoron- AAM-style-non idiomatic Improv. They are certainly adept, especially when you realise the phenomenally piercing frequencies from what sound like ultra-thin slices of bowed metal are in fact all emanating from their own acoustic instruments.
In the footsteps of Warp´s collaborations withe the London Sinfonietta and Zeitkratzer´s transcrition of Metal Machine Music , here the Cologners Matthias Muche (trombone), Philp Zoubek (prepared piano) and Achim Tang (contrabass) have made an instrumental arrangement of Schmickler´s original. Is there any point to these acoustic reversions of stubbornly electrical pieces?
It´s easy to assume electronic music has a certain inevitabillity, an imperviousness to human imput, so anyone "scoring" it implies a controlling hand, a markers´s mrak that can be entirely extracted and reproduced. I`m not entirely convinced of the need for a live interpretation of Schmickler´s inricate piece, but there is still much to admire in the way this trio rise to the challange.
Quelle:THE WIRE, MARCH 2008
by ROB YOUNG
"Sator-Rotas” is an electronic composition by Marcus Schmickler, from which the trio of Muche, Zoubek and Tang took inspiration for a total reworking of the concept. The new "score”, or interpretation if you prefer, is for trombone, piano and double bass played by the artists according to the order in which they're quoted above. Lasting about 37 minutes, this is an excellent, concise work that exploits dynamics and colours beautifully, to the point of finding its niche both in the realms of the most advanced new music and in the kind of contemporary jazz explorations of which Creative Sources has presented several examples in recent times. The musicians show composure, self-reliance and inquisitive minds in abundant doses, their reciprocal attentiveness commendable since the very beginning. Mental fixedness and feverish states alternate in a succession of scenarios, the attention to the sonic details reaching points of tension at the drop of a needle, such is the responsiveness of the players to the single event. In the final section of the piece a hellish clangour is progressively raised, our ears completely invaded by the thunderous power of the instruments nearing breakup. But, all of a sudden, everything ceases - the menace rapidly becomes vapour, the venom is dispersed, the noise mutated into near- silence. The music returns to the initial state of ambivalent quietness from where it started and, when the CD is over, a strange mix of satisfaction and unexpressed rage permeates the surrounding air. Is this version better than the original? Maybe so. It sure sounds like an original itself.
Quelle: http://touchingextremes.wordpress.com/
by Massimo Ricci
Standing on their heads earlier electronic proj such as Switched on Bach that were based on the adaptation of traditional music to wave-form material, the three Köln-based improvisers on this CD do just the opposite. They recreate German composer Marcus Schmickler's award-winning pop-minimalist electronic composition "Sator-Rotas” using only acoustic instruments.
Although the three sonic researchers involved are usually affiliated with more acoustic music, the surging textures of this nearly-40-minute session, suggest similar musical alchemy performed by cerebral performers such as Britain's AMM or Australia's The Necks. More beguiling however is that unlike bands such as those, which use standard rhythm section instruments, this trio integrates the extended techniques and minimalist approach of trombonist Matthias Muche along with a piano and double bass in this sonic transformation.
Muche, who has worked with dancers and multi-media artist as well as improvisers such as Dutch pianist Misha Mengelberg and American saxophonist Larry Ochs, here exposes ratcheting pops and flat-line expiration as his contribution to the mix, along with more expected brass sounds. As for the chordal instruments, bassist Achim Tang, who has collaborated with sound explorers such as Austrian trumpeter Franz Hautzinger and American slide guitarist David Tronzo, provides the timbres closest to traditional. However, his use of expanding plucks, sul tasto string sawing plus wood and gut vibrato add more color to the undertaking.
On the other hand Philip Zoubek, who in has recorded with trombonist Paul Hubweber, creates prepared piano operations that provide vibrating ostinato wave forms that substitute for similar triggered pulsating sound loops found in true electronic proj. Applying pressure on wound piano strings, stopping, pumping, plucking and strumming highlights complementary partials, thus creating a constant buzzy undertow that frames the others' solos.
Among this output are keyboard resonation from Zoubek himself, who cuts through the engorged layers of inchoate wave forms with arpeggios, single-key plinks, percussive triplets and two-handed cadenzas. Meanwhile Muche reaches past the trombone's regular tessitura with rooster cries, gurgling throat motions and solid breath movements that involve the instrument's lead pipe in preference to its valves or slide. Very occasionally he also produces alphorn-like cries, but they last only as long as similar out-of-character tones – which probably result from string-sawing bass striations as well as the clattering of a miniature cymbal against the piano action.
Eventually, the program reaches a crescendo of layered dissonant pitches and harmonies. Soon, the blurry, tremolo chunks dissolve, trans-mutate and are revealed as properly acoustic, individually shaded, keyboard notes, plucked bass lines and back-of-the-throat capillary trombone rumbles.
Operating as if a parallel music world exist the three players have modified "Sator-Rotas” so that it is the same, yet different. On this CD, Muche, Zoubek and Tang have produced a notable interpretive improvisation, while retooling the composition for the acoustic realm.
Quelle: http://www.jazzword.com/
by Ken Waxman