Extended II, 2021:

Am Anfang war die Idee, aus einer Art Ursuppe, also auf verschiedenen Ebenen fluktuierende Klangwelten, Geschwindigkeiten, Zeitlichkeiten, Verläufe, Strukturen, Texturen, bis hin zu erstarrten Situationen herauszuschälen. Eine Installation von Olafur Eliasson bestärkte diese Idee. Sie wurde vor allem im zweiten Teil von Extended II ausgearbeitet. Weiter war schnell klar, dass die Musiker um das Publikum herum angeordnet sein sollen. Die Zuhörerinnen und Zuhörer können so in der Mitte des Klangraums in verschiedene Klangwelten eintauchen: Klangraum-Raumklang, Klangort(e), Klang im Klang, Raum im Raum sowie Zeit.
Wie bei Extended I ist das Stück für improvisierende Musiker geschrieben. Die Vorgaben nehmen im Verlaufe des Stückes immer mehr zu (werden umfangreicher). Im ersten Teil gibt es nur wenige konzeptuelle Vorgaben. Im zweiten Teil werden verbale Angaben, visuelle Anregungen, Verläufe in Skizzenform, wie auch eine traditionelle musikalische verwendet. Der dritte Teil ist am genauesten notiert.

In the beginning, the idea was to extract fluctuating soundscapes, speeds, temporalities, progressions, structures, textures and even frozen situations from a kind of primordial soup. An installation by Olafur Eliasson reinforced this idea. It was developed mostly in the second part of Extended II. Quite quickly it became clear that the musicians should be arranged around the audience. This allows the audience to immerse themselves in different worlds of sound in the middle of the sound space.
As with Extended I, the piece is written for improvising musicians. The specifications increase (become more extensive) as the piece progresses. In the first part, there are only a few conceptual instructions. In the second part, verbal indications, visual suggestions, progressions in sketch form, as well as a traditional musical notation are used. The third part is the most precisely notated.

music (excerpts):
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

score:
download

infosheet:
Deutsch, download
English, download

cd:
Extended II, 2023
hathut-bandcamp

concerts:
14.11.2021, 20:00, UA, Musikpodium der Stadt Zürich, Kunstraum Walchetrum, Kanonengasse 20, Zürich

Fotos von Lorenzo Pusterla (Walcheturm):

Extended I, 2018:

In diesem Musikstück wird die formale, visuelle und zeitliche Organisation von Bewegungsabläufen der Klangerzeugung vertieft. Texte, Worksongs, manuelle wie maschinelle Arbeitsprozesse sind Inspirationsquellen.
Improvisation und Komposition werden miteinander verknüpft, sodass die Qualitäten der Improvisatoren gestützt und die Musik in vorgesehene Bahnen projiziert werden kann. So wenig wie möglich und so viel wie notwendig wird festgelegt und ausnotiert.
Das Trio Kimmig-Studer-Zimmerlin ist Kern des Ensembles. Es arbeitet seit 10 Jahren erfolgreich als improvisierendes Trio.

In this piece the formal, visual and temporal organization of movement sequences of sound production is deepened. Texts, worksongs, manual as well as machine working processes are sources of inspiration.
Improvisation and composition are linked so that the qualities of the improvisers can be supported and the music can be projected into intended paths. As little as possible and as much as necessary is determined and notated out.
Trio Kimmig-Studer-Zimmerlin is the core of the ensemble. It has been working successfully as an improvising trio for 10 years.


Extended (I), music examples (excerpts):
motus
comprimere
verba 2

infos:
download deutsch (pdf)

cd (HatHut, ezz-thetics):
see

concerts:
07.02.2018, 20:00, UA, Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zürich
08.02.2018, 20:00, Galerie Schneider, Freiburg i. Br.

reviews:

“…The quintet navigates the pieces in this live recording with an astute ear for the fractured counterpoint and timbral contrasts of the pieces. Spikey angularities, sputtering stopped strings, and strummed resonance fly by with precision and clarity of trajectory. Studer collaborates regularly with the other string players and the synergy of their approach to collective improvisation within the context of compositional forms is what makes this project work so well.
Michael Rosenstein, point of departure, 2019

“…Their music is an authentic fusion of various jazz styles and contemporary academical music. Free improvisation, special effects, sound experiments, contemporary and modern jazz, mainstream and some various jazz styles are combined together to experimental music, academic avant-garde and contemporary academical music. The music is bright and expressive. It’s always balancing somewhere between free improvisation and composing. Musicians have a new conception of jazz – it’s full of innovative ways of playing, crazy ideas, frantic and spontaneous solos, wild and dynamic turns, furiously fast passages and all kinds of modern, evocative and impressive expressions.…
Avant Scena, 2019

…Nevertheless, Studer and co. take their amelodic, frequently minimalist tendencies in a somewhat different direction. Dynamics play a major role in this music, as scrapes, saws, and strikes arise almost organically out of silence, only to fade just as abruptly. The tracks cohere, but focus is placed on each piece as an atemporal, non-progressive whole, sans the slow welling and layering of sound… There is a fragility, subtlety, and deep pensiveness to the performances on this album.
This is not traditional jazz in any sense of the term. Yet, it harkens back to the curiosity that inspired those early experiments into the turn of the 19th century’s “new music,” the quest for novel sounds, timbres, and musical space. This string sextet is far from alone in this pursuit. That fact, however, makes the peculiarities of this album all the more important.
Nick Ostrum, free jazz blog, 2019

…De la démarche de Daniel Studer aidé par ses quatre camarades, on retiendra une remarquable extension des possibilités sonores, des formes musicales, de la mise en abîme des timbres, de l’intégration de chaque voix instrumentale dans l’ensemble, … Les neuf pièces enregistrées évitent radicalement ce qu’on appelle « le noodling » (péché mignon de la musique improvisée) par la précision du jeu, la clarté des intentions, et la variété des formes qui se dessinent dans chaque composition. On ne va pas se casser la tête pour ranger Extended dans tel ou tel type de démarches de compositeurs en se référant à X, Y ou Z. La musique d’Extended vit et existe par elle-même et son déroulement se révèle complexe, peu prévisible, et complète par la richesse de son imaginaire et des perspectives nombreuses dans sa géométrie spatiale, intégrant une foule de traitements sonores et de modes de jeux acquis par des décennies de travail ardu dans l’acte d’improviser librement.
Jean-Michel Schouwbourg, 2019

In his sleeve notes for Daniel Studer’s “Extended”, Brian Morton draws quite an eyebrow-raising comparison between ‘professional’ versus ‘improvisational’ musical methods and the industrial methodologies of old East Germany and Nigeria, praising the virtues and effectiveness of the latter and stating that Studer’s work is effective in the same manner. It’s an ambitious comparison, but in “Extended” you can see what Morton is getting at- that both organisation and beauty lie underneath the apparent chaos.
Playing the double bass himself and working with four other performers with whom he is already very familiar, Studer offers up a series of works that are extremely spacious, sometimes minimalist, impulsive and unpredictable.
…It’s a bold, accomplished and confident 54-minute CD that’s moderately purist in its approach, the sound of assured high quality improvisation and musical virtuosity that defies traditionalism and manages to forge the template for a new form of traditional in the process.
Stuart Bruce, Chain D.L.K. 2019

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