Koch-Schütz-Studer & Christian Uetz
Live im Schiffbau

Hans Koch: bass clarinet, soprano and tenor saxophone, electronics, sequencer
Martin Schütz: electric 5string cello, acoustic cello, electronics, sequencer
Fredy Studer: drums, percussion
Christian Uetz: spoken poetry

Recorded live by Daniel Schneider at Schauspielhaus im Schiffbau,
Zürich, October 27, 2000
Mastered by Jean-Claude Pache at Soundville Recording Studios, Luzern
Artwork: Othmar Rothenfluh
Liner Notes: Beny von Moos
Executiv Production: Patrik Landolt
Intakt CD 074 / 2002

 

Was ist das Wort, und wie verhält es sich zur Wirklichkeit? Was ist der Klang,und was bewirkt er im menschlichen Geist und Körper? Diese existentiellen Fragen werden auf der hier vorliegenden CD aufgeworfen, mehr noch: Die Wahrnehmung von Wort und Musik wird in ihren Tiefen ausgelotet und alsdann sogar in ihren Grundfesten erschüttert. Beim Schriftsteller Christian Uetz sind Wortklang und Wortsinn Anlass und Ziel seiner Texte. Das hochkonzentrierte Verfolgen sowohl der Sinn- als auch der Klangspur führt zur Mitteilung von scheinbar zufälligen Inhalten. Sprachliche Bocksprünge und die Lust an Wortverwandlungen, ja sogar Wortneubildungen, heben die Texte von Christian Uetz auf eine neue Sinn-Ebene. Koch-Schütz-Studer unterstützen diesen Prozess mit ihrer empfindlichen Klangmaschinerie, indem sie sowohl zustimmend als auch ablehnend, sowohl ergänzend als auch verwandelnd auf die gesprochenen Texte seismografisch reagieren. Die musikalische Antwort steht für sich. Dem Hörerelebnis öffnet sich damit eine neue Dimension: Sprache geht über in Musik. Musik wird beredte Mitteilung. Koch-Schütz-Studer und Christian Uetz vereint die Gemeinsamkeit hrer Ausdrucksstärke: In der absoluten Konzentration ihres Bei-Sich-Seins wie in der Wucht ihres Ausser-Sich-Geratens bleiben sie stets auf's Engste miteinander verbunden. Und die Zuhörerinnen und Zuhörer Ð ob sie es wollen oder nicht Ð werden zur inneren Beteiligung gedrängt. Sie sind diesen Kräften auf's Heftigste ausgesetzt. Was in ihnen ausgelöst wird an Vorstellungen und Bildern Ð etwa von Licht- und Raumverwandlungen Ð , ergänzt das Gehörte: Das musikalisch literarische Erlebnis wird zum Gesamtkunstwerk. Beny von Moos, aus den Liner Notes zur CD.     What is the Word and how does it relate to reality? What is the meaning of sound and how does it affect the human mind and body? Such existential questions are raised by the production on this CD. Even more: it penetrates the perception of word and music to its very depth. Christian Uetz's texts are inspired and moved by the sound and the meaning of words. With concentration and utter alertness he follows the tracks of meaning as well as the traces of sound, a procedure which juxtaposes and assembles contents seemingly by chance. His often fast and daring associative leaps and his breathtaking speed of reading recall the storms of thought - and at the same time, the impossibility of verbalizing those thoughts - as experienced in psychedelic states. The texts which are created in this way imply an inner logic: the sometimes eager, sometimes desperate search provokes the listener to expect (or else to create) meaning. Uetz, however, does not fulfill this expectation. As soon as meaning begins to take shape, he cuts the thread, evades and deprives the listener of the security and the comfort of understanding. Linguistic capers, word-transformations and resulting neologisms put his texts on yet a different level of meaning. The listener is forced to have thoughts and feelings of his own. He will approve or disapprove, will follow or refuse to go along, and will thus take part in the process of creation. Koch-Schütz-Studer support this process with their highly sensitive sound-machinery. They react to the spoken word like seismographs, sometimes in agreement with the speaker and sometimes not. The musical answer stands for itself. It is not simply a translation or a sound-mirror of the texts. Radiating from their inner selves the speaker "sings" and the musicians "speak", thus opening a new dimension to the listener's experience: language is turned into music and music becomes eloquent language. The instrumentalits amplify the "supra-level" of comprehension with their flow of sound and noise. Hardly audible, still undetermined vibrations become condensed into cosmic "joyful noise", sound-waves of submerged haziness suddenly become focussed into crystal-clear tone-cascades. Ecstasy is the ultimate goal of all the shocks and eruptions. Numbing and painful loudness leads the listener to his innermost self, according to Zen: to his inner breath. The arising emptiness makes consciousness implode. The intensity of sound originates from the intensity of silence. The silence, loaded with tension and boundless energy, bursts out into sound and then falls back into silence again. The path is full of risks, there are moments which are dangerous and frightening, and others which are of overwhelming magnitude and beauty. Koch-Schütz-Studer and Christian Uetz are unified by the intensity of their expression: the absolute concentration of their "being-within-themselves" as well as by the strength of their "getting-out-of-themselves" keeps them intimately bound together. The listener is forced to participate whether he wants to or not. Being exposed to the texts and to the music he will generate images and thoughts of his own. Light-, colour- and space-transformations will ultimately complete the experience into a "Gesamtkunstwerk". Beny von Moos. English-Translation: Markus Jans

Reviews of Koch-Schütz-Studer: Intakt CD 060: Roots and Wires and Intakt CD 074 Live im Schiffbau

Koch-Schütz-Studer Intakt CDs

Werner Lüdi about Roots and Wires

Interview Koch-Schütz-Studer (dt)

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