Alterity Stream presents a unique composition cycle by Christopher Dell, the internationally acclaimed composer and vibraphonist, who is known and highly respected for his experimental music. Taking the confrontation of the jazz quartett and classical wind ensemble as point of departure, Dell transforms this hybrid into an ecstatic montage of forms. Superimposed on the grid of serial structures, Alterity Stream unfolds as a captivating musical relais, which not only indulges in the overview, but also in the insight of the simultaneity of manifold musical practices. This publication is the first publication in the new retroactive series of the exclusive artist’s label edition niehler werft (enw). Conceptualized and produced in the year 2000, the recording was meticulously re-mastered by the German sound engineer and composer Arne Schumann in 2020.
Christopher Dell sees composing as a multidisciplinary exploration of the combining elements of music, as well as its modes of representation and its situations of performance. Dell constantly aims to reassess that what is considered as the musically realizable according to its practice and production of signification. He manages doing that by finding new constellations through the structural procedure of focused analysis, shifts and reassemblage of individual musical elements. This disposition also gave rise to the concept of Alterity Stream: How can the ensemble groupings as body of sound be grasped and that in the intricate interplay of the individual and the collective, between difference and equality?
The invitation by the Theo Jörgensmann Quartett in the year 2000, to write a new ensemble piece, encouraged Dell to these preliminary considerations towards this scenario of two ensemble groupings. The ensemble’s totality is staged as the constellation of two quartets a collective of instrumentalists who not only act as soloists, but at the same time as collective body of sound. This way the opposition of groupings emerges as fascinating plasticity of bodily movements relative to different genres of music making. This applies to every single gesture but seems even more intriguing when it comes to the multiplicity of the individual actions in the collective, also known as the ‘acting in concert’. The form and body of the whole are in constant change and it can never be clearly discerned who the actor and who the re-actor might be. Moreover this body of sound is held together by collective moments in alterity – and this is the only way that makes the work effective.
Alterity, as a compositional and potentially political trace, is of central importance in Christopher Dells music. Compositional experiences can be discovered during the structure of musico-clash, the confrontation of musical material, genres or actors propelling and facilitating processes of differentiation. The compositional interspace is the site of the most sensitive musical differentiation. At the same time, Alterity most likely belongs to the central categories of the political. It is the political where categorizations of humans and nonhumans are established, so that the latter can be differentiated in status or identity. This situation of alterity leaves us with the intense presence of the differentiated.
An experimental jazz quartet confronted with a classical wind quartet – both are put into perspective through the lens of a contemporary revision of the historical movement “Third Stream”. An explorative process of identity, style and time, a remix of the approaches of high, as well as late modernism once reflected in “Third Stream”, and most and for all a celebration of one of the most important, most modern ensembles in 20th century music: the Modern Jazz Quartet. Neither mixing genres nor crossing over from one into another, Alterity Stream constitutes the testimony of a casting aside of the category of genre itself, as if it were a relic of a long-vanished era.
About Christopher Dell
Christopher Dell, is a Berlin and Copenhagen based composer and instrumentalist working with a multidisciplinary approach to musical composition, its representation, its performance and the concert situation, resulting in works at the intersection of the genres of music, performance, installation, urban design theory and architecture. In 2001 he founded the Institute for Improvisation Technology (ifit) and in 2001 he founded the artist’s label edition niehler werft (enw).
01 First Piece 4:19
02 Sentenzen 2:54
03 Nummer 26 0:39
04 Kontext 5:05
05 Konturen A 2:44
06 Konturen B 4:23
07 Konturen C 4:31
08 En Face 5:39
09 Oleaster 6:28
10 Sandzeit 2 5:22
11 Glut 2:49
12 Nummer 26 Reprise 0:41
13 Maserung 6:54
14 Vektoren 5:24
15 Last Piece 2:26
Theo Jörgensmann – clarinet
Christopher Dell – vibraphone, composition, conduction
Christian Ramond – bass
Klaus Kugel – drums
Camilla Hoitenga – flute
Anja Schmiel – oboe
Berhard Kösling – clarinet
Christine Chapman – horn
Recorded 11th of April 2000 by Michael Peschko
Mastered 21st of December 2020 by Arne Schumann at Schumann & Bach
All compositions and concept by Christopher Dell
© & ℗ Christopher Dell
Design by Christopher Dell
All Compositions by Christopher Dell (GEMA)
With essay by Christopher Dell
Produced by enw and Christopher Dell
Cover art picture by Christopher Dell
