Brospa

Franz Hautzinger is a one-man industrial band. The way he mikes his quartertone trumpet up close, when he breathes into it (and he does so most of the time), just letting air flow through the pipe, it sounds like a steam engine factory. When he gets in that kind of mood, only improvisers with a strong, original presence will be able to play with him successfully. Pianist Manon-Liu Winter is one such improviser. She uses the whole instrument as a sound-maker, playing it straight, prepared, directly on the strings and on the wood. She has the technique and resourcefulness of Denman Maroney but uses her skill with the pace and taste for microscopic sounds of Sophie Agnel. The music on Brospa crystallizes around the players' attention to detail. But even though it shows interest in the tiny, it doesn't turn into an arid display of restraint. Hautzinger may be making very small musical gestures, but they sound extreme. And Winter responds with insistent motifs and frenetic glissandi in the strings. In "The Respiration," the trumpeter spends ten minutes inhaling and exhaling through his instrument, leaving the pianist the task of dressing up his soundscape. She unfolds marvel after marvel, turning the simple idea into the highlight of the disc. "Strudelhofstiege" also stands out, thanks to a combination of key, string, and frame playing that turns the duet into a full-scale ensemble. Brospa is one of the very good free improv records of 2003 -- surprising and good. 

François Couture, All Music Guide