POLWECHSEL

Polwechsel

 Burkhard Beins - percussion

 Martin Brandlmayr - percussion

 Werner Dafeldecker - double bass

 Michael Moser - cello









 Watch: Polwechsel & Klaus Lang at Wien Modern, 2020


Polwechsel formed in 1993, initially as an all Austrian quartet of Michael Moser, Werner Dafeldecker, Burkhard Stangl and trombonist Radu Malfatti. When Malfatti left in 1997, the British saxophonist John Butcher joined them to record Polwechsel 2 and 3, and also Wrapped Islands (with Christian Fennesz as a guest). In 2004 guitarist Burkhard Stangl left the group and two percussionists joined them, Martin Brandlmayr from Vienna and Burkhard Beins from Berlin. During a residency at Berlin's Tesla this quintet recorded Archives of the North in 2006. After recording another CD with John Tilbury (released in 2009) John Butcher had decided to leave the group in late 2007. This had turned Polwechsel into a quartet again.

Traces Of Wood (CD 2013) consists of four pieces, one by each group member, while their 2015 vinyl release Untitled (No.7) presents collective real-time compositions by the quartet. Their 2020 CD Unseen features Klaus Lang on church organ. Celebrating the group's 30th anniversary the 4LP box set Embrace had been released in 2023. Besides all four group members Klaus Lang and Peter Ablinger also contributed compositions, and the ensemble is joined by John Butcher again as a guest musicians, as well as by Magda Mayas and Andrea Neumann.

Polwechsel works with compositions, improvisation and the ambiguity of these methods.


Latest release: Embrace, 4LP box set with 48-page booklet on Ni Vu Ni Connu (2023)



Polwechsel


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