Studio Dan

Extended compositions for mid-sized ensemble from German-speaking countries differ in ways more significantly than composer/violist Julia Purgina is Austrian, while multi-reedist/composer Frank Gratkowski is German. In essence Vienna-based Purgina, who is also an academic and specializes in contemporary music, may add Jazz-like echoes on the three pieces created for the 14-menber Studio Dan, and have Martin Siewert, part of improv units like Radian and Trappist, as soloist on guitar and electronics. But as someone from the notated music tradition she doesn’t play on the tracks and has Xizi Wang conducting the ensemble.

Even though Berlin-based Gratkowski’s Mature Hybrid Talking is through composed, it’s also more infused with his background as a working improviser with associates such as Simon Nabatov and Gerry Hemingway. Joining the 10-member, Frankfurt-based Ensemble Modern’s interpretation of the work, Gratkowski also plays alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flute and conducts.

Interestingly enough while it’s Jazz that’s supposed to be more beat-oriented than so-called classical music, it’s Studio Dan rather than Ensemble Modern which features two percussions, while the other has none. Still it isn’t until the extended title track that the rhythm is really emphasized. During the prior two tracks, hard drumming is usually muted and distant. Instead Margit Schoberleitner’s vibes add pointillist colors to the narratives that are mainly concerned with contrapuntal motion betweenThomas Frey’s flute whisps and near-gutbucket blasts from Daniel Riegler’s trombone nested within the swirling atmospheric themes. Concentrated dynamics are more prominent on “5 pm Istanbul”, with the brass players’ corkscrew upsurges interacting with field recorded clock ticking and steam-engine like puffs plus Siewert’s strained guitar stops and snippets of electronic shredding and crackles.

Lengthier than the first two compositions combined, the title track begins with a brassy fanfare that fades and reappears as the piece judders among triple stroked strings, keyboard clips, siren-like reed treble tones and the percussionists’ smashes and pings on one hand and guitar strums, picks and frails on the other. Additionally, the theme’s looming menace is sporadically upfront or muted as voltage oscillations and buzzy guitar frails glance against Hubert Bründlmayer’s and Margit Schoberleitner’s idiophone clips and shuffles or fade beneath dissolving string patterns. Sampled voices and a snatch of bright marching band sounds eventually fades into an concerto-like formal score reading from pianist Michael Tiefenbacher only to be surmounted by whining electronics and steel-guitar-like echoes from Siewert. Finally the piece ends with a climatic crescendo that’s equal parts electronic buzzes, keyboard clicks, guitar twangs, huffing horns and repeated bell tolling.

Working with fewer musicians, different instrumentation and no percussionists, Gratkowski’s single-track composition moves forward with a series of solos, duos and harmonies, contrasting for instance Johannes Schwarz’s bassoon timbres with or his own or Dietmar Wiesner’s flute trills while integrating trumpet and trombone flourishes and Hermann Kretzschmar raggy piano pumps. Sometimes the linear exposition is carried by trumpet triplets, whining reed trills or sul tasto string strains. However a reference to his Jazz background arrives in the second sequence as Paul Cannon’s walking bass line turns into a full-fledged solo. Pressure mounts as scoops and flattement are heard from the four woodwind players as well as strangled brass tones and string undulations produced with metal thimble-like clicks. Dynamics are maintained and intensifies as sul ponticello strings cut across the slow-moving reed exposition and are replaced by strained flutters that move upwards and intersect with dynamic piano patterning and pedal point emphasis. As every elevation of pitches crisscross and overlap, Till Künkler’s final watery trombone growl stands out from the resulting polyphone, leading to a tutti crescendo and dissolve.

Coming from different sectors of the aleatoric and avant-garde compositional concepts, both Purgina and Gratkowski have created eventful ensemble works that without fissure could be programmed in the same concert.

–Ken Waxman