Koen Nutters | double bass
Boris Baltschun | electric pump organ
Morten J. Olsen | vibraphone, percussion
Michael Thieke | clarinet
Burkhard Beins | percussion
Anthea Caddy | cello
Anat Cohavi | bass clarinet
Axel Dörner | trumpet
Kai Fagaschinski | clarinet
Robin Hayward | microtonal tuba
Steve Heather | percussion
Chris Heenan | bass clarinet
Mike Majkowski | double bass
Matthias Müller | trombone
Magda Mayas | clavinet
Andrea Neumann | inside piano, mixing board
Simon James Phillips | piano
Jules Reidy | guitar
Ignaz Schick | turntables, oscillators, electronics
Mario de Vega | objects, electronics
Sabine Vogel | flutes
Biliana Voutchkova | violin
Marta Zapparoli | tape recorders, reel to reel tape machine
Frozen Orchestra (Splitter) 01:00:00
Splitter Orchester is managed by Patrick Klingenschmitt
Mixed by Boris Baltschun & Morten J Olsen
Mastered by Mike Grinser/Manmademastering
Recording Engineers Richard König and Roy Carroll
Recorded at Studio Börne, December 12-13 2017
Cover Design Kurt Liedwart
Photo Uta Neumann/strahler-berlin
about:
The third release of the 24-piece Splitter Orchester is, like its predecessors, a collaboration. This time they team up with the The Pitch, a quartet consisting to 3/4 out of Splitter Orchester-members. „Frozen Orchestra (Splitter)“ is their latest compositional effort in translating the quartet’s language to a large format ensemble utilizing the sensibilites and possibilites of Splitter Orchester’s electro-acoustic instrumentation. „Frozen“ thereby indicates a very slowly moving field of harmonic relationships consisting of so-called pitch sets, which are augmented by noise sets, that is, non-periodic sounds organized in equivalent relationships. The score guides the group through various defined states of frozen surfaces where each player makes individual choices from a set of intervals or noises and thus constantly shifts harmonic weight and textural quality. In the multicoloured sound of Splitter Orchester, the planar drones receive an iridescent depth. Monochromatic fields of sound grow out of the continuum, its steady flow letting them vary almost unnoticeably.
links:
reviews:
Toneshift
This hour long work presented by The Pitch & Splitter Orchester is now out on Vienna’s Mikroton Recordings. This full orchestra made up in two dozen players in two parts forming an atonal harmony in union. The album is available on CD (edition of 500) and Digital formats. The long form sustained drone is heady, hive-like — the players’ synergy sculpted as one unit. It’s feel is central, growing from the core playing like a work of endurance as the variances are limited for the first quarter of the recording.
The cohesion here is remarkable, the individual players add their full instrumentation into the piece without stemming out save for some minimal strumming and minor chord inflections. At about sixteen minutes in the effect is mildly trance-inducing. Then there is a soft gong which subtly breaks the fourth wall, and so it goes. When they call this ‘frozen’ they are not kidding, I’d call it arctic in terms of its pace, everything is super slowed down with a blurred drone background. The piece crescendos in a built-up noise like collected chaos, shifts chord structures, in metered time, and slowly erodes its din for an ending stoked with airy silences and muffled hiss. This work, due to its subtleties and din, most certainly takes an expectant listener. The last three or four minutes are worth the playtime, so stick around if you can.
TJ Norris
Jazz Word
Performing nearly ego-less group music is an indomitable task as combos like AMM and other reductionist ensembles have found. Imagine trying to do the same for a 23-person aggregation. That’s the challenge realized on this fine CD. Played by a combination of two Berlin-based bands, the Pitch quartet and the 19-member Splitter Orchestra this exactly-one-hour piece moves in a chiaroscuro-like fashion as reeds, brass, strings and electronics intermix for a program that is both languorous and fluid. The upshot is persuasive despite an interface that makes instrumental identification only briefly possible.
Pointillist in execution “Frozen Orchestra” begins with tonal undulations stretching out in a chromatic fashion, with the odd, usually piano or sometime vibraphone, patterns appearing like buoys in undulating, ever-flowing waves. Meanwhile the undulating drones produced by architecturally massing contributions from all the participants thickens and as slowly move upwards in pitch, so that mid-way through the track the addition of crackling static and buzzing electronic pulses to harmonized reeds makes the sound even more ferocious and violent. Although at points notes from one or more of the three keyboard-like players cut a short path through the crunching electronic curtain, the effect is presented in microtonal traces rather than as a full sequence. Eventually keyboard cadences signal that an early crescendo of unexpected pan-tonal loudness has been reached and is further strengthened by granular synthesis from the electronics. Having attained the solid mass of a Sun Ra Arkestra-like space chord, guitar and vibes timbres calm the program. Backing into a postlude with a low-pitched burr from the reeds and percussion thumps, the massed drone is succeeded by near-thematic clear piano lines which oscillations finally dissolving rather than ending conclusively..
In spite of the near low-energy twists and turns, listener absorption has been maintained throughout the 60 minutes, even if only to monitor what comes next within the muted performance. The conclusion and demarcation conclusively proves that speed and noise is not necessary to create high quality music.
Ken Waxman
Bad Alchemy
Seit sich das Orchester 2010 zusammenfand, sind von dieser Berliner Post-Echtzeit-Internationalen Kollaboration mit Felix Kubin („Shine On You Crazy Diagram“) und mit George Lewis („Creative Construction Set™“) aufgezeichnet worden. Drei der Splitter, Boris Baltschun (hier an electric pump organ), den Perkussionisten Morten J. Olsen und den Klarinettisten Michael Thieke, findet man zusammen mit dem Kontrabassisten, einstigen N-Collectivisten & Office-R Koen Nutters auch als The Pitch. Wenn also 22 Splitter-Händepaare mit den 4 von The Pitch zusammenwirken, ergibt das doch nur 23 Köpfe. The Pitch hat 2012 zu zehnt als „Frozen Orchestra (Amsterdam)“ und 2013 zu neunt als „Frozen Orchestra (Berlin)“ bereits Vorstufen verwirklicht mit schon Splitter-Kräften wie Chris Heenan – bass clarinet, Matthias Müller – trombone, Biliana Voutchkova – violin, Johnny Chang – viola oder Robin Hayward – tuba. Aber alle Namen, auch wieder so vertraute wie Burkhard Beins – percussion, Axel Dörner – trumpet, Magda Mayas – clavinet, Ignaz Schick – turntables und Sabine Vogel – flutes, sie werden zu Schall & Wahn, anonym eingefroren für ein kollektives Dröhnen und gleitendes Changieren, immer als Schwarm, aber eben auch mit der dafür unverzichtbaren Schwarmintelligenz. So wie man seit Campbell vom Heros in tausend Gestalten spricht, trägt einen hier eine Welle aus Tausenden von Tönen, die zusammen so etwas wie einen Akkordeonklang erzeugen. Alles Individuelle und selbst die Charakteristika der Instrumente, auch noch von Cello, Gitarre oder Tapes, ordnen sich dem großen Ganzen unter. Bis doch ein Piano eine eigene Spur plinkt und die große Welle kleine Steigungen oder Biegungen nimmt. Mit einem aufscheinenden Schimmern, einem verstärkten Grollen, zeigt sie, dass sie nie ein Singular war. Jetzt klingt sie windumpfiffen, nächtlich gedämpft und von atmoÂsphärischen Störungen, von Funk- oder Radioschleim beunruhigt. Die akustische Gitarre flirrt, die Bläser summieren sich, das Piano macht sich wieder bemerkbar, klingelnd und mit verstreuten Einzelnoten, und das Ganze summt erneut wie mit Akkordeonzungen und in brummiger ‚Monotonie‘. Mit Steve Heather sind es sogar drei Perkussionisten, doch Beats sind bis auf vereinzelte Tupfer der Vibes oder eines Kontrabasses bis hin zum finalen Diminuendo so selten wie Schmetterlinge in Glyphosatien.
– Rigobert Dittmann
taz
….Das Splitter Orchester jedenfalls macht komplett andere Musik, es handelt sich um ein 24-köpfiges Ensemble, in dem viele tolle Musiker der Berliner Echtzeitmusikszene spielen. Gemeinsam mit dem Quartett The Pitch, die wiederum zu drei Vierteln Ensemblemitglieder sind, hat man nun das dritte Album aufgenommen: „Frozen Orchestra“. Man könnte insgesamt von einem genau 60-minütigen, meditativen Drone sprechen, der mit voller Orchesterstärke erzeugt wird und trotzdem sanft, behutsam klingt. Man kann zuhören, wie sich langsam die Tonhöhen verändern, wie Klavier, Flöten, Streicher und viele andere Instrumente zueinander finden und sich wieder voneinander entfernen – um dann wieder zusammenzufinden. Dazu kommt Rauschen und Geraschel, Gerödel und Geklapper, Gezirpe und Gewaber. Eine Stunde voller spannender Sounds.
Jens Uthoff
