It may not be easy to conceptualize a full-length recording of largely freely improvised music by only a clarinetist and bass clarinetist -- even when the duo is as accomplished as
Theo Jörgensmann and Eckard Koltermann. There are no attempts here to impress with virtuosity or advanced technique, although it is evident early on that these are both talented reed players. What this album is about -- and make no mistake, it is fully a joint effort, co-led by each -- is the relationships of sounds, the effect of space, and the subtleties of color. Peter Niklas Wilson wisely comments in the liner notes that this is "third stream" in the best sense of the word (and not in the way the phrase has sometimes disparagingly come to mean): It successfully blends seemingly disparate cultures in a modern setting, not by fusing them, but by exploiting pieces that fit. If the results are sometimes disturbing, they are just as often quiet and simple, with a comforting completeness to it all. While the natural limitations of two similar tonal orbits are not entirely overcome, there is nonetheless plenty here to savor. ~ Steven Loewy