Charlotte Hug - Neuland

Emanem 4085

Since coming into vogue in the mid 70s, solo recordings by musicians using non-chordal instruments have been an acid test of sorts. Although many have had chops to spare, it quickly became apparent that technique alone wasn't enough to carry off the event, that some sort of overall conception, something that made the solo recital necessary, was crucial to an album's success.

Charlotte Hug is a Swiss-born, Zurich-based violist active in the London Improvisers Orchestra among other groups. "Neuland" contains twelve tracks in three sections: two longish pieces bracketing a ten-part suite of shorter ones. Hug claims to employ several new techniques (I have no idea whether or not this is really the case), including the drastic slackening of her bow hairs and the wetting of same. All well and good, of course, but there's always the risk of producing essentially a catalogue of techniques with no raison d'etre aside from showing that one can do this or that and, too often, that's what occurs here.

I also get the sense of a bit of oil and water mixing with regard to Hug's basic temperment which seems somewhat Romantic. In the opening "Delirium", for instance, Hug whipsaws away like some post-mod Paganini (yet with no overdubs, sometimes nodding to the minimalism of Adams' "Shaker Loops"), apparently attempting to summon up images associated with the title. Many of the "House of Detention" suite pieces seem to exist only to showcase a given technique, leading to a rather dry and disconnected experience. Occasionally, as on the brief pieces "Quarry" and "Dwell On", she seems to pause and actually reflect on what she's creating but more often, Hug dazzles then moves on. If using a water-drenched bow opens new sonic territory (and I have no reason to think that it couldn't), why not spend an entire album exploring that area? Why not closely examine the field to plumb its presumed richness? So, in one sense, much of the disc is interesting to hear--it contains sounds drawn from the viola that you're likely never to have experienced before--but on the other hand, what's the net result? Isolated pieces without a lot of meat. One gets the impression of a certain forced quality, that Hug, in her heart of hearts, might be happier playing out of the Romantic repertoire, including modern fare; some of "Neuland" evokes traces of works like Penderecki's "Capriccio for Violin and Orchestra".

This is not to say that "Neuland" is a "bad" disc, by any means. There are many morsels to enjoy here. Just that it fails to avoid some of the pitfalls that have dogged the solo improviser since Anthony Braxton lit the way so brilliantly in 1968. It's a tough job, no doubt, but one of the basic requirements would seem to be to have a good, solid reason for doing it in the first place rather than it's being a routine step along the improviser's career.

-Brian Olewnick