Koch-Schutz-Studer

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Koch-Schütz-Studer & The Young Gods

KOCH-SCHÜTZ-STUDER & SHELLEY HIRSCH

The Washington Post, DC Saturday, April 24, 2004; Page C04

Koch-Schütz-Studer's Extreme Improvisation

The Swiss trio Koch-Schütz-Studer uses the enigmatic label "hardcore chambermusic" to describe its genre. Certainly the term chamber music applies in the strictest sense, referring to a small group of instruments played in an intimate setting, as was the case Thursday night at Twins Jazz.

But hard-core is where the stretch of imagination begins.

Like a Jackson Pollock painting, bass clarinetist/saxophonist Hans Koch, cellist Martin Schütz and percussionist Fredy Studer create seemingly random splatters of sound. But the sounds come together in definable sections -- here jazz, there a rock riff, here something à la Jimi Hendrix, there something akin to Karlheinz Stockhausen. The evening's entertainment was entirely improvised, the members of the trio playing off each other and responding to their environment, coming together to create a through-composed suite. One might ask: Is it music? And the answer unquestionably is yes.

Integral to this avant-garde experience are the computer-generated noises that each member controls with an electronic signal processor, manipulating acoustic events that have just happened. Each instrument is pushed to the limit with extended technique: multi-phonics and tongue-clicks on bass clarinet, brass bowls perched atop the snare drum hit with a mallet, electric cello strings struck with the edge of a guitar pick. Dynamic contrast also plays a big role, ranging from straining-to-hear to fingers-in-your-ears.

This is not music for the faint of heart or the traditionalist. But for the brave and open-minded, it is an astonishingly creative and compelling art form created by three masters of their craft.

-- Gail Wein