This cd is a collection of 4 pieces for tenor saxophone (Denzler) and bass clarinet & soprano saxophone (Koch). Both musicians create a series of non linear encounters exploring extended techniques on their chosen instruments. Traditional notes and tonalities are ignored altogether in favor of textures created by breath, tongue, lip modulations resulting in percussive attacks, faint whispers, and loving kisses. The CD is appropriately titled: both players come together and then withdrawl as things move in and of sync. But the music is never random as Denzler & Koch make each sound with precision, utilizing space and silence as additional sonic material for exploration. I believe this CD will appeal to fans of microsound and field recordings, as the music avoids the beaten paths of free improv. All in all a very cool cd.

Voilà une rareté: un disque d’Ambiances Magnétiques sans musicien québécois. Denzler (saxo ténor) et Koch (clarinette basse et saxo soprano) sont deux improvisateurs suisses que la recherche d’un nouveau vocabulaire musical a poussés aux limites de l’expression sonore. Rendant floue la frontière entre le corps et l’instrument, leur musique consiste en un tissu de gargouillis, de cliquetis et de cris retenus. Aride, vous dites? Absolument; le genre de disque qui fera dire à plusieurs que «c’est pas d’ia musique, ca». Mais la créativité et le niveau d’écoute entre les deux improvisateurs captiveront quiconque se donne la peine d’écouter avec l’esprit ouvert. 9/10

This album doesn’t come from an expected outlet — after all, Bertrand Denzler and Hans Koch appear to have no ties to the Ambiances Magnétiques collective prior to this CD — but it stands as a peak in the discography of both of these Swiss improvisers. Denzler (Hubbub, Chamaeleo Vulgaris) and Koch had been going down a path of gestural abstraction, digging ever deeper within themselves and the materiality of their instrument (here respectively tenor sax and bass clarinet, Koch also plays soprano sax) to find unheard sounds and develop a new musical vocabulary. Their search parallels that of John Butcher, Wolfgang Fuchs and Axel Dörner. Working as a duo, they apply this new vocabulary in conversation, articulating squeaks, burps and key clicks into an eery jungle-at-nightfall soundtrack. Tongue stabs, multiphonics and circular breathing represent only the tip of the iceberg of their extended techniques. The set is short (37 minutes), but thoroughly captivating. The highly challenging nature of this album is balanced by a wide diversity in textures and dynamics. Asymétrie 1 sees both musicians alternately listening minutely and stubbornly ignoring each other over 17 minutes of subdued pyrotechnics and brilliant creativity. But the highlight is Asymétrie 3, full of fluttering tongues and clattering fingers. The duo’s direction is less clear in the last piece, but it represents a minor flaw considering what came before it. In Asymétries, Denzler has pushed his art further into abstract, so-called non-idiomatic improv. It is one of his most difficult records.

On Asymémtries we have reeds this time being re-evaluated as to how to make sound with them. The Swiss pair behind this disc is Bertand Denzler (tenor sax; Günter Müller, Bob Ostertag) and Hans Koch (bass clarinet and soprano saxophone; Cecil Taylor, Elliott Sharp). The duo goes for a deconstruction that cuts so close to the bone that the pieces are often made up of merely amplified respiration and the sharp squeak of a breath cut in half by a reed… But it is not all about dismantling and rebuilding reeds.