leuchten |cs040

[…] The final two CDs are solo works, and can be seen as showcases for particular musicians. On the first one Michael Thieke plays alto clarinet, and the pieces were all straight recorded to DAT in 2002. And as a showcase this works really fine: Thieke plays the instrument in such a way that is these days required for improvisers. The instrument as an object. There isn't a single, regular note escaping his instrument. Very fine playing going on here, but due to singularity of the instrument, this might be a bit of a long CD. […] Frans de Waard (Vital)

In improvisation, indeterminacy is often the name of the game but Michael Thieke's sharp acumen in manoeuvring his alto clarinet through the five tracks of Leuchten is an admonition not to attribute the same mindless definition to every ceremonial, as each sound captured here represents the involuntary determination of a shape in the imaginary void of content of a peaceful setting. Recorded directly to DAT, these perceptive textures are carefully placed in deliberated manipulations of normality: the sprinkling droplets, the knots coming from lingual juggling in a storm of collaborative airy particles, the few "notes" appearing like a prefabrication of coincident events promptly shaved down to the level of bloody skin by a logical destruction, are all part of a coherent attentiveness to elemental activity. Yet the music is malleable, it gurgles like the water remained in the hosepipe after you've washed your car in the summer heat: the smell of that hot rubber is able to transform a desolate solitude in the recalling of those psychoacoustic memories that re-awaken your stuttering senses. Massimo Ricci (Touching Extremes)

Membre appliqué du Clarinet Trio, Michael Thieke peut envisager son instrument de façon encore plus radicale. En solo, par exemple, venant grossir le nombre des musiciens pratiquant un instrument pour en sortir le moins de notes possibles. Souvent frelaté, ce genre d'expérience trouve une exception dans Leuchten.
Enregistrant en direct sur DAT, Thieke accepte un duel brut et déconcertant avec son instrument. Entre les silences de rigueur, s'y bousculent les chocs, les rythmes à soupçonner, et les luttes intestines que se livrent salive et souffle dans un endroit non identifié du conduit (Nicht Existent). Toujours plus agressifs, les souffles ; jusqu'à se montrer exclusifs (Jene Randfiguren).
Ailleurs, d'autres contrastes encore. Celui de parasites aléatoires profitant d'une clarinette sous crise d'asthme pour mieux se faire valoir (Quellend). Celui qu'imposent les natures différentes de deux morceaux opposés : Digamma, seul à permettre l'évasion de quelques notes - raclées, toutefois, se bousculant, forcément impatientes, au pavillon -, et Diffusion, morceau sans grand intérêt, qui se contente de nappes oscillatoires formées par des souffles en transit.
Comme Michel Doneda, Michael Thieke arrive à faire d'une intention bravache et de postures provocantes une interrogation subtile sur l'utilisation de son instrument. Vision personnelle d'une possible évolution des pratiques, l'exposé qu'est Leuchten est assez bien ficelé pour ne pas lasser l'auditoire. Grisli (Infratunes)

How most Creative Sources artists manage to get such a crisp sound quality by recording directly without overdubs is still a mystery to me. "Nicht existent", the opening track of Thieke's cd, recorded in Berlin in 2002, is a fascinating piece of rolling and dripping sounds - actually sounding like water passing through and dripping from a pipe. The rest of the cd is far more abrasive and hostile, with hardcore experiments of breathing through a muted instrument (by the way, it's an alto clarinet) or small pebble-like microsounds ("Jene randfiguren"). An interesting but unavoidably less involving experience for the listener, and a bit repetitive on the long run. Eugenio Maggi (Chain DLK)

Michael Thieke has recorded frequently for Creative Sources, contributing to excellent ensemble discs by Schwimmer and one entitled Kreis. Leuchten (Creative Sources 040) is a solo recital – comprised of five improvisations from June 2002 – for alto clarinet. In some ways it’s a shame this disc didn’t come out much sooner, as the wonderful techniques Thieke explores are perhaps somewhat more commonplace now than they were three years ago. But the music is still thoughtful, rich, and satisfying. On each track, Thieke rigorously explores a different technical area. He displays a remarkable range of wet noises on “Nicht Existent.” The breathiness of “Diffusion” is quite intense and gets right into your earhole – at times it sounds as if there are multiple players at work here, and in some ways sounds more like a no-input mixing board piece than a reeds performance. Close attention is required to digest the tiny insect noises of “Jene Randfiguren,” yet this is an interval before the boisterous, expressive concluding pieces. On “Digamma” he actually gets his clarinet to sound like a bass flute, and on “Quellend” the already extended and reconsidered properties of his instrument are abstracted and devolved further as hissing, crackling feedback seems to emit from the horn. It’s a fine disc, and more satisfying than some of the label’s other recent solo reeds releases. Jason Bivins (Dusted Magazine)

Não é caso único (Axel Dörner é outro exemplo, e há quem mais faça questão deste tipo de abertura), mas Michael Thieke é dos poucos exemplos de recusa de dedicações exclusivas a um único conceito musical. Se em “Leuchten”, o seu solo absoluto em clarinete alto dentro dos parâmetros microtonais e de laboração das texturas que identificam o chamado “reducionismo” improvisacional, o ouvimos a recusar não só a noção de fraseado como a própria notação musical, substituindo-a por um trabalho que associa de modo particularmente audaz a acção do sopro, da saliva e da língua (o que repetiu em “Kreis”, com Ernesto Rodrigues, e em “7x4x7”, com os Schwimmer) […] Rui Eduardo Paes (rep.no.sapo,pt)