Diaphane: München

The quartet Diaphane lives up to its name, creating music marked by an exquisite delicacy of form. Yet, their sound is as dynamic as it is subtle —quiet and loud, minimal and intense, ethereal and robust. Longtime collaborators in ensembles such as Natura Morta and the Frantz Loriot Systematic Distortion Orchestra, Italian percussionist Carlo Costa and French-Japanese violist Frantz Loriot founded this free improvisation group with Swiss pianist Raphael Loher and German tubist Carl Ludwig Hubsch. Together, they have toured extensively across Europe and previously released Paris (Neither/Nor, 2021), a recording of their 2019 live performance.

Like Paris, München presents a single extended track—51 minutes of live improvisation recorded at Offene Ohren in Germany on October 8, 2021.

The performance begins with breath sounds, whispered through Hübsch's tuba, one of the few moments in which individual instruments are easily distinguishable. Is that Costa drawing a bow across metal? Or Loriot's viola? This ambiguity is intentional—a testament to the quartet's interplay, where the boundaries between instruments blur. Once a collective sound emerges, the group follows its evolution.

At times, a gentle pulse may arise, sustained by Loher's repetition of two notes, Costa's deft percussion, Hübsch's muted tuba or Loriot's pizzicato. Each musician employs extended techniques, transforming their instruments into soundscapes of surprising texture. The piano might evoke a harp, the viola a bird, the tuba a resonant subwoofer, while Costa's drum kit morphs into a steampunk contraption of vibrating objects. Hübsch's airy exhalations amplify Costa's improvised machine, with Loher's and Loriot's strings forming its intricate gears and levers. Hearing München without the visuals enhances the mystique; the listener is free to discover unfamiliar sounds and marvel at innovative techniques that redefine what instruments can do. The result is a sonic journey that challenges perceptions and rewards curiosity.