Search - Diego Ortiz, Matthias Ziegler :: Uakti - New Music For Flute

Matthias Ziegler is a virtuoso flute player, but he doesn't favor classical showpieces like "Flight of the Bumblebee." Instead, he works along the avant-garde, exploring the timbres and textures of traditional concert flutes, as well as some bizarre-looking hybrids that could've come from Rube Goldberg's plumbing shop. A Swiss musician who has worked with Andreas Vollenweider as well as American contemporary composer George Crumb, Ziegler walks a fine line between accessibility and exploration. Overdubbing multiple flutes and using unusual miking techniques to draw out the overtones, Ziegler creates a unique soundworld. Long, drawn tones create cello-like ambiences on one piece, while folk melodies pop up in others. His hybrid instruments sound like a cross between a Chinese sho and a flute, at other times like a distended bassoon. The name of the CD, Uakti, is derived from a Brazilian Native myth about a creature perforated with holes who runs through the forest, the wind blowing phantom melodies through his body. Ziegler has brought that creature to life. --John Diliberto