SONIC ADVENTURES

X-QUARTET

Raphael Camenisch: Saxophone
Jürg Henneberger: Piano
Aleksander Gabrys: Double bass
Daniel Buess: Drums/Percussion

Music by FM Einheit, Knut Remond, Lee Ranaldo, Stephan Wittwer and Alex Buess (all works commissioned by X-Quartet)Four musicians, dedicated with body and soul to contemporary music and four instruments in a formation which could not be more typical to jazz…
This constellation formed the X-Quartet. In 2004, after working together with several composers and also creating self made pieces they presented the results of this cross-over music creative process.

After performing multiple concerts in Switzerland and in other countries the four instrumentalists of the X-Quartet are now again searching for new symbioses, which will enable them to get closer to the original idea behind the X-Quartet. An established instrumental formation consisting of saxophone, piano, double bass and percussion used as a sound basis, but not in the conventional way.
Differently to their debut program, in this new project, not only the usual context should be changed, but also the art of composing should be adjusted to the origin of this homogeneous sound body, which does not succumb to meticulous notation.

The improvisational energy and the spontaneous individual reactions of the musicians should be the composition’s central component. The musical structure should not necessary be presented in the usual score, but can also be transmitted in the form of pre-structured tapes or through the use of pre-produced sounds, developed and interpreted with a solid background and experience in working on contemporary improvisations in similar interpretation forms.

Consequently, instead of academic composers we searched for musicians who have made their own experience in working with this kind of improvising formations and who work with electronic sound material.
Four highly rated, well established musicians were found who agreed to work with the X-Quartet and compose new pieces.

They are:

Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth, Text of light, etc.),
FM Einheit(Einstürzende Neubauten),
Stephan Wittwer (Polyphonie Zürich, Westblock, Werther/Wittwer, Wittwer solo, etc.) and
Knut Remond (16-17, Voice Crack, soundinstallations, solo-projects and collaborations with several artists, musicians, writer, filmmaker etc.)
Alex Buess (16-17, God, Ice etc.)

We are convinced that this program will bring us closer to our present vision which is to unite the improvisational intensity and spontaneity of each musician and his personal playing qualities with the individual musical and sound inputs from the four composers.

Related Links:

Composers:
Stephan Wittwer: http://www.wittwer.mu/index.html
FM Einheit: http://www.fmeinheit.org/
Knut Remond: http://www.cosmicsonline.com/index.html
Lee Ranaldo: http://www.epitonic.com/artists/leeranaldo.html
http://www.levity.com/corduroy/ranaldo.htm