Details (1996) by Daniel Studer double bass

DETAILS
DANIEL STUDER double bass

1. EINLEITUNG (FÜR VIER KONTRABÄSSE) 2: 16
FÜNF SOLOSTUCKE:
2. DETAILS 5:00
3. WANDELN 5:23
4. WIEGEN 4:40
5. WEITE 5:18
6. MÄANDER 6:18
7. TRANQUILITAS MARIS (FÜR VIER KONTRÄBASSE)
8. AUSKLANG (FÜR VIER KONTRABÄSSE) 5:06
Total time 44:44

All tracks composed by Daniel Studer
Recorded: October 27, 1994, January 18 and February 1, 1995, Coltempo Studio, Rome;
Engineer: Piero Schiavoni, Alessandro Cercato; Text: Giancarlo Schiaffini; Cover: Daniel Studer; Design: Alberto Agazzani, Milan.
Produced: Daniel Studer and Heidi Amrein

more informations: http://www.danielstuder.ch/discography-cd6.php

Liner notes:
Let's consider the situation in which a soloist -composer has to work. We will soon trace both advantages and some disadvantages as well. Among the former, a comforting punctuality on rehearsal and a rather economical musical ensemble and among the latter, a seemingly limited range of sound sources.
Joking apart, when a composer -performer -improviser chooses to work as a soloist, this happens as the result of a very deeply rooted need for expression.
From the second half of the Sixties many musicians, coming from varied cultures and traditions, have selected the solo-performance as a privileged means of expression. Yet in many circles the figure of the composer -performer is still looked upon with a certain distrust, simply because it contrasts with the idea of society as a specialised and compartmentalised whole (a widespread joke about the virtual president of the United States Gerald Ford was that he could do just one thing at a time, thinking or chewing gum). As a matter of fact, a composer who performs his own music will surely present its true rendering. lt is in such a perspective that a particular and unique instrumental technique is thought and developed, often far from and in contrast to tradition. Matters of both expression and technique develop coherently, often depending on one another in an endless feed-back, the mastery of instrumental technique being nothing but the result of the urge for seif expression. lf we now add to all this the particular bent of an improviser for instant composition (Misha Mengelberg), we will obtain a fully alive, unforeseeable and endlessly changing musical reality. Moreover, hints of James Joyce's stream of consciousness allow further achievements in musical research that is set in a precise planning frame.
Daniel Studer is an influential representative of this musical notion. 1 have known him for a long time and have had the opportunity to follow his personal research which has developed on a soundly eclectic basis. lt's a pleasure for me to work with him. His music is very well-constructed but immediate and attractive at the same time.
lt is not my intention to speak here of those whom he regards as his "musical fathers" because any direct comparison would be unavoidably limiting, compelling us to consider just some aspects of his work. His musical achievement is, on the contrary, a very original one and deserves to be esteemed for its richness.
The consideration for the pick-up techniques in this CD is worth noting and overdubs are never commonplace. Note also the stereophonic setting of the double bass sources of sound (Details). The structures of composition are extremely varied, ranging from the fully aleatory (Ausklang), through a most exquisitely timbral approach (Tranquilitas Maris), up to a radical fragmentation and reassembling of heterogeneous elements (Details). Despite its manifold aspects, you will never miss the work's deep coherence. This first solo album already shows the multi-coloured landscape of the potentialities of the Daniel Studer-double bass duo, suggesting further and welcome developments.
Giancarlo Schiaffini (translation: Silvia Schiavoni)

Tracklist

1.	Einleitung (FÜR VIER KONTRABÄSSE)	2:20

2.	Details (excerpt)	2:03

3.	Tranquilitas Maris (excerpt)	5:41

4.	Ausklang (excerpt)	2:03

5.	Einleitung (4 basses)	2:20
6.	Details	5:04
7.	Wandeln	5:27
8.	Wiegen	4:44
9.	Weite	5:22
10.	Mäander	6:22
11.	Tranquilitas Maris (4 basses)	10:20
12.	Ausklang (4 basses)	5:06

Credits

released January 1, 1996

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