It had to happen. Rüdiger Carl is so prolific and so prevalent on the new music scene with his band Cowws and in his duets with everyone from Anthony Braxton to his lifelong friend Hans Reichel that it is only natural that he has finally issued an entire disc of his solo work. Carl is no note slave. His compositions are created by ear, trial, and error. It is obvious here, especially in the accordion work in the first few selections, how exacting he is when seeking a pitch or timbre. There may be hesitations or the extension of one theme for a fraction of a second before he moves toward the sound he seeks, that sonic space where the instrument itself breathes and sings. The staccato phrasing and incredibly large complex chords are all about timbre for Carl. His melodic sense is based on the relationship between vibrational spaces; one listen to the nearly ten-minute Hans in Rauschen reveals that the extrapolation of single notes from these extended chords becomes a new melodic architecture that invokes the music of Europe from the 17th century on. When the sound palette of an instrument is more limited, as it is on the clarinet, Carl again seeks to combine microtones (playing two notes at once, supposedly a technical impossibility) in a glissando that gives the impression that tonality itself is effusive and evasive (Stutzpunkt I). The hints of Gershwin that are littered throughout bring a warm smile as the very structure of how music is made on the clarinet is called into question. The true masterwork on this set is Woyzeck-Introductions, 18 Miniatures for Solo Accordion, which takes just under 17 minutes to play. Featuring Carl at his most elegiac, the piece is dedicated to the memory of his late father, and evokes history, mystery, and geography as memory. His lines and harmonic seeking is restrained here, keeping the palette narrow and focused. Improvisation must serve the melodic sensibilities of these short works rather than dictate their direction. The result -- though warm and accessible -- is breathtaking and daunting. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi

1		Dampfer Elsa
2		Low Blows
3		Hans in Rauschen
4		Hungen 609
5		Pops
6		Stutzpunkt I
7		Stutzpunkt II
8		Woyzeck-Introductions: A/Zeilsheim B/Ginnheim C/Harheim D/Praunheim E

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