Steffen Schorn - Universe Of Possibilities (2011)

“Universe of Possibilities” attempts to use the pure possibilities of a large ensemble in a smaller frame, and the music is as extraordinary as its instrumentation is: dense grooves, timbered contrasts and a harmonic boldness, which seems both familiar and strange. Steffen Schorn’s pieces move between the poles of harmonically rich sentences with a high degree of tonal blend and chamber music-like tonal culture and bass-stressed grooves with up to six different basses and two drummers – without a conventional bass. As a consequence a very specific sound emerges, which is characterized by Schorn’s abundant harmonic tonal cosmos, by his characteristic unity of structure and sensuousness as well as by an immediately perceivable energy and pull. The nine outstanding tonal individuals invent the sound of the ensemble anew in complex arrangements and the most varying of constellations, and they have it dazzle in a multitude of colors. The whole time they move highly flexible and virtuous in musical aggregates between composition and improvisation and let us divine what the universe keeps open as possibilities.