Members of Eddie Prevost's weekly improvisation workshops, violinist Jennifer Allum and cellist Ute Kanngiesser, recorded these 3 improvisations, running the gamut from spacious harmonics to vigorously weaving dialog, in 3 rooms of St Augustine's Bell Tower in London.

This duo arose from the meeting between two violists avid to confront with their instrumental double to create a common sound universe from the same instrument played by two different personalities.

Theo Ceccarelli expands his string trio from their Ayler debut album, "Carrousel", adding bassist and free vocalist Joelle Leandre to the group, yielding a new dimension to their rapidly expanding repertoire of rich, interactive improvisation.

A set of playful, upbeat duos from West Coast-born bassist Greg Cohen and NY guitarist Bill Frisell, celebrating Cohen's home state of California in 6 originals and 3 California covers.

The 2nd volume of "Music for Piano and Strings" by Morton Feldman is performed by The Smith Quartet with John Tilbury, presenting "Patterns In a Chromatic Field", and "Piano, violin, Viola, Cello", on DVD audio to allow for the length of these large works.

Double bassist Alexander Frangenheim, peer to Phil Durrant, Evan Parker, Phil Wachsman, Thomas Lehn, Roger Turner, &c., in a 17 part solo work of gripping and exhilarating playing.

"Zwirn" means "twine" in German, an apt description of the interweaving sound that double bassists Daniel Studer and Peter Frey play together, in 7 freely improvised works of unusual technique and new musical structures.

Since 1995 the string trio of Rhodri Davies, Simon H. Fell & Mark Wastell have created sparse, introspective improvisation, performing here at the Contemporaneamente festival in Lodi, Italy.

Detroit creative improvisers Christopher Riggs on guitar and Mike Khoury on violin in six studio tracks demonstrating unique approaches to their respective instruments.

Detroit area improviser Mike Khoury in live solo recordings from various radio broadcasts in Maine, Illinois, and DC, ribbons of lyrical, stream-of-consciousness violin playing.

Two compositions by the young Austrian composer/organist Klaus Lang, who currently lives in Berlin, Germany.

The string duo Bobun celebrates ten years of creative collaboration with this six piece suite, a studio recording of diverse improvisations that runs the gamut from lowercase minimalism to dense and technically exuberant interaction.

Serbian string player and band leader Szilard Mezei in an impressive solo performance of three works - Heat; Snow; and Chrom - performed on viola and double bass.

The unusual cello duo format is explored by Mitzlaff and Mira in these experimental contemporary improvisations using acoustics and techniques mimicking live electronics to create a uniquely informed music.

Ever-active bassist Pascal Niggenkemper in his first solo album of riveting and intriguing double bass work, from aggressive to contemplative and immersive improvisations using work using bass preparations to transform the instrument and make us rethink its potential.

The Bozzini string quartet working with the melodic and unique universe of Toronto-based composer and performer Martin Arnold, whose roots are in the music of avant and improvisational work.

Premiered by the Bozzini Quartet at Berlin's Ballhaus Naunynstrasze, this haunting work was composed for temporal and architechtural space using unusual tuning systems producing natural harmonics.

Horatiu Radulescu's String Quartet No 4, opus 33 (1976-87) performed by the Arditti String Quartett at IRCAM/Centre Pompidou Paris in 1996.

Portugese harpist Eduardo Raon uses harp, daxophone, electronics, voice & percussion to create dramatic music that applies his classical training to improvisational methods, using real-time electronic processing to create encompassing yet intricate and unusual sonic environments.

Ullman's composition of subtle gradations in sound performed very softly forcing the ear to notice the smallest variations, as realized by the string trio Ensemble Oriol Berline.

Electronics artist Watkins wrote this piece for resonant spaces, interactive electronics, audience participation & string quartet, here in a special version tuning each string to an odd partial of 60Hz.

A portrait of Christian Wolff, documenting the composer's early activity through recordings made close to the time of their composition from artists including Cornelius Cardew, Frederic Rzewski, David Tudor, &c.

Portuguese violinist Carlos "Zingaro" in a string trio work committed to reinventing chamber music through improvisation that bridges contemporary classical music.

A beautiful solo album from Montreal/Brooklyn trumpeter Philippe Battikha, who also developed the field recordings over which he plays, joined on two tracks by double bassist Johan Fortune, in a melancholy and haunting album of emotionally rich soundscapes.

The quartet of Cosottini, Melano, Pisani, Miano (EAQuartet Electroacoustic) in compositions referring to the 4 cardinal map points using graphic scores, games, open readings, &c.

Beautiful string work and lovely and unusual vocals from the duo of Mary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone, music of "stark clarity and introspection."

A solo work from Pierre-Yves Martel performing two works for the viola da gamba, bringing this fretted renaissance-era ancestor to the violin into the 21st century through two slowly evolving and sonically fascinating pieces.

Two string masters--Mat Maneri on viola and Daniel Levin on cello--recording at The Village in Copenhagen, Denmark in an album titled for psychologist and philosopher Carl Jung, reflecting the balance between intuitive spontaneity and pre-established conditions.

Deining, meaning "heave" or "commotion", is a long composition from the duo of Rutger Zuydervelt on sine tones and violinist Anne Bakker, who bows each string, sliding slowly from the lowest note to the highest and in reverse, creating an hallucination of shifting tones.

Two albums together. "Carrousel": The Paris based Theo Ceccaldi Trio crosses improv with chamber music in a string trio of lyrical, subtle and advanced improvisation. "Can You Smile": Ceccarelli expands his trio with bassist/free vocalist Joelle Leandre for rich, interactive improvisation.

An excellent quartet of 4 female improvisers creating mysterious landscapes, bizarre spaces and surprising topography using dual pianos, flute, melodica, trombone & alphorn.

An engaging encounter between bassist Leandre and pianist Sirjacq, delicate yet intense interaction from two sophisticated & listening players from different generations.

Quartetski Does Stravinsky with drummer Isaiah Ceccarelli, guitarist Bernard Falaise, reedist Phillipe Lauzier, viole de gamaba player Pierre-Yves Martel and violinist Joshua Zubot reinterpret Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in honor of its 100th anniversary.

Harpist Gabriele Emde began performing contemporary music by exceptional 20th century artists in the early 80s; in this collection recorded from 1985 to 1987 she presents one of Cage's "Landscape" pieces, a major work by Hans Otte, and several short pieces by Lou Harrison.

Composer Jurg Frey's 1988 work "String Quartet" realized by Nadia Francavilla, Clemens Merkel, Stephanie Bozzini and Isabelle Bozzini, exploring ideas of audibility: the moment when sound waves move in space and the air touches the body.

Since 2012 the free improvising duo of vocalist Geraldine Eguiluz and double bassist Stephane Diamantakiou have worked together, taking themes from the jazz songbook as a starting point for free form improvisations of a fragile and unpredictable nature.

A solid solo outing from Zurich-based double bassist Friodlin, presenting his 4-part "Camping; Cafe Bar" work, blending the jazz idiom with discursive asides and unusual techniques, plus a lovely and appropriately titled work "But Beautiful".

Unusual approaches to string improvisation from the quartet of Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Guilherme Rodrigues (cello), Maria da Rocha (violin), and Miguel Mira (double bass), using extended techniques in subtle yet detailed discourse yielding unexpected qualities to their instruments.

Using viola, effects, and on one track, voice, New York improviser and Anthony Braxton ensemble member Jessica Pavone presents a uniquely voiced solo album, approaching the instrument through simple means that become increasingly twisted and unforseen as they advance.

A most unusual trio: actually a quartet, this Polish/Ukraine group has three strings (violin, cello, contrabass) with modular synth and electronics reinforcing their sound, less EA than chamber jazz with fascinating orchestration and wonderful harmonic and melodic invention.

Madrid multi-instrumentalist and cross media artist Edith Alonso in an album of prepared solo electric bass improvisations, a four part work of muscular and shadowy sound, dark vibrations with crepitating edges making a sinister and cathartic dungeon of sound.

Double-bassist Carlo Costa, originally from the Canary Islands and who has worked with Tim Berne, Tomas Fujiwara, Ingar Zach, Wade Matthews, &c. in a solo album of solid and unusual bass technique including plucking, bowing and scraping, in his 9-part series of "Doors".

Violinist Clemens Merkel interprets compositions by Wolfgang von Schweinitz's "Sonata for Violine Solo"; Antonie Beuger's "Unwritten Page"; Bruno Madema's "Piece Pour Ivry"; and Thomas Stiegler's cycle "Kammerkomplex" ("quasi una fantasia", "gran partita" and "sonata facile").

A superb program of string trios from minimalist composers Beat Keller, Tom Johnson, and Joseph Kudirka, from cinematic to spacious sound work, as realized by the trio of Julia Schwob on violin, David Schnee on viola, and Nicola Romano on cello.

A beautifully dramatic album from the trio of electronic artist Rutger Zydervelt (Machinefabriek), violinist Anne Bakker, and vocalist Edita Karkoschka, a sculpted work full of dramatic turns, immersive drones, glitchy electronics and intimate gestures.

Canadian composer Linda Catlin Smith's extended composition for violin and percussion in 15 parts, performed by percussionist Simon Limbrick and violinist Mira Benjamin, a unique orchestration that reveals a journey of steady pace, tension and beauty.

Solo viola and double bass compositions from Voivodina Hungarian composer, violinist, viola player, and double bass player Szilárd Mezei.

Two works from two distinctive composers from different periods--Jurg Frey and Luigi Nono--both for two violins, Frey using the two violins in parallel to emphasize their distinction; Nono using powerful gestures of divergence and contrast in a dream-like duo.

Montreal's Quatuor Bozzini string quartet worked with composer Christopher Butterfield, who wrote two of these pieces ("Trip" and "Fall") specifically for QB, alongside three other works from 20 years of composing that use unusual instructions and scores for the performers.

Heard in our catalog on albums from Improvising Beings and Another Timbre, here we have a stunning solo album of improvised violin from Viennese violinist Irene Kepl, showing a great range of style and technique while keeping the music playful and interesting, invoking a quote from Trisha Brown: "Dancing on the edge is the only place to be."

Synth improviser Jean-Marc Foussat and double bassist Fred Marty join their names and playing together for an absolutely impressive album of exploratory improv, Foussat taking their music into hallucinatory territories while Marty provides both a solid anchor and flights of textural nuance; supberb.

Lisbon's Nuova Camerata brings together a mix of improvisers and contemporary classical players--Carlos Zingaro, Joao Camoes, Ulrich Mitzlaff, Miguel Leiria on string with Pedro Carneiro on marimba--for a set of improvisations bridging both disciplines in passionate and unexpected ways.

Violinist and percussionist Nick Smith, having access to St. Mary's Church at Great Baddow for music performance and rehearsals, made his first use of the space in 1996 in a duo with Mark Wastell on violincello, preparations and percussion, where they used the acoustics of the church to enhance their detailed and absorbing improvisations.

The French Le Bruit de la Musique festival is run by Le Quan Ninh and Martine Altenburger, who invited Simon H. Fell to perform a solo set on the doublebass, the result being this fantastic album that takes the largest of bass instruments through an astonishing array of approaches enhanced by the acoustics of the church of Toulx-Sainte-Croix.

Extending his own ensemble into a 10 piece orchestra of impressive range and tonal colors, Szilard Mezei presents 3 compositions that bridge modern classical and improvisational music.

Free ranging and captivating improvisations between Hungarian violist Szilard Mezei and cellist Albert Markos, a remarkable duo of the string's potential.

Ten pieces dating from 1995 to 2015 from Canadian composer Linda Catlin Smith, performed by Quatuor Bozzini and Apartment House, the first in Another Timbre's Canadian Composer series, a 2-CD release focusing on Smith's "equal and simultaneous drive toward abstraction and lyricism" in slowly developing, lush and sophisticated compositions.

Roman philosopher Titus Lucretius Carus named "Clinamen" the unpredictable (in time and space) swerve of atoms falling in the void, which aptly describes the unexpected directions taken in subtle free improvisation from this French trio, led by bassist Louis-Michel Marion, with Jacques Di Donato on clarinet, and Philippe Berger on viola.

Live recordings at Exploratorium, in Berlin, Geremany in 2010 from the quartet of Klaus Kurvers on double bass, Andrea Sanz Vela and Ernesto Rodrigues on violin, and Micha Rabuske on dlute, bass clarinet, and soprano sax, collective improvisation with complex interplay and a bright spirit as the group follows their instincts in interesting dialog.

The transatlantic string trio of Amsterdam-based cellist Tristan Honsinger (also on voice) with Montreal free improvisers violinist Joshua Zubot and double bassist Nicolas Caloia in an album of informed improvisation that bring an upbeat approach to authoritative dialog which is both sharp-witted and irreverent, but never less than engaging.

Portuguese electric guitarist Luis Lopes met Chicago free improvising cellist and electronic artist Fred Lonberg-Holm in the studio in Lisbon to record these five improvisations, both using innovative approaches to effect processing to expand their sound into unusual sonic environments, balancing beauty and abrasive sound.

Michel Gonneville's dreamlike, shamanistic journey, "Hozhro", in a brilliantly executed reading by Montreal's Quatuori Bozzini with vocalist Marianne Lamber & saxophonist Mathieu Gualin.

ist (The Improvising String Trio) of Rhodri Davies (harp), Simon H. Fell (bass) and Mark Wastell (violincello) performing at The Natural Music Club in London, 1997, using unorthodox techniques in indeterminate systems and free improvisation for fascinating results.

The Bozzini Quartet commissioned this work from the duo Derome/Hetu, which tackles the subject of making differences cohabit, calling for the musicians to move & improvise in response to a soundtrack in 4 languages.

An hallucinogenic and commanding blending of improvisation, song, spoken word, and tonal/timbral music from double bassist Christian Meaas Svendsen's Filosofer, creating beautiful sonic environments out of which voice and message emerge and submerge, buoyed by a string quartet (two violins and two double basses), computers, turntables, synths and samplers.

Morton Feldman's final composition, originally premiered in 1987, here performed by pianist Mark Knoop, violinist Aisha Orazbayeva, violist Bridget Carey, and cellist Anton Lukoszevieze, recording a year after their successful performance at London's Cafe Oto, maintaining focus and concentration on this large, unhurried work of micro-variations.

String Theory was formed as the string section for Boston's Leap of Faith Orchestra, the core being David Peck on reeds, game calls, fog horn, sirens, &c, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic and voice, with Jane Wang (cello) and Mimi Rabson (violin), creating a wonderfully assertive and somewhat skewed approach to improvisation, captured live at Mobius in Cambridge, 2016.

A sense of both lightness and weight drawn from Portuguese viola player's Ernesto Rodrigues' 18-piece String Theory, in a large and detailed improvisation using an incredible array of string sources, including viola, harp, violin, cello, viola da gamba, double bass, classical, acoustic and 12-string guitars, mandolin, zither, harpsichord, and piano.

Phil Minton started as a trumpeter and became one of free improv's most outside vocalists; Joelle Leandre is a double bassist who also performs free vocal improv; this is their first recorded collaboration, and it's an unusual and wonderful album of heavy tone improvisation, plucked and bowed, and a masterfully odd free association of vocalisation.

"Farhadian is an American composer and performer with a base in San Francisco and one in Berlin. Her work often is about connecting solo violin and interactive electronics. Combining her classical background as violist (Berkeley Symphon...

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The 4th collaboration for Portugal's Lisbon String Trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Miguel Mira on cello, and Alvaro Rosso on double bass, with Brazilian clarinetist based in Barcelona Luiz Rocha, all captured live at Casa dos Bicos, Fundacao Jose Saramago, in Lisbon in 2017 for free improvisation that maintains a calm center amidst seething and commanding playing.

Drawing its name from the seven members making up this string ensemble led by violist Ernesto Rodrigues, String Theory complements the concurrent Lisbon String Trio albums by magnifying concepts in freely improvised string interactions, using unusual harmonics, melodic and percussive approaches to instruments, and quickly moving quietly intense interaction.

NY Composer and Zs founder Alex Mincek's first release since 2011 also launches Sound American's Young Composer Portrait series, presenting 4 chamber works--"Pendulum VII"; selected movements from "Harmonielehre"; "Pneuma"; and "Torrent"--performed by Wet Ink Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, and Yarn/Wire, in a deluxe hardcover book package with interviews and notes.

A beautiful album of darkly lyrical jazz duos from Israeli saxophonist and bass clarinetist Albert Beger and collaborator and member of the Albert Beger Quartet Shay Hazan, on double bass and guimbri, for seven pieces recorded in the studio: 6 improvised works and the composed piece "Cycles".

Double double bass from the duo of John Edwards and Olie Brice performing live at Iklectik Arts Lab, in London in 2017, a return of sorts as Brice's first live improv gig was opening for the Sunny Murray Trio with Edwards and Bevan; here the two combine, in contrast and confluence as they demonstrate massive technique and concentrative conversation.

Five works for harp and voice from composer Eva-Maria Houben and soprano Tatiana Kuzina, opening with a lovely "Aeolian Harp", and including two works from her "Voice and Piano" album recorded for harp--"Adagio" in 3 movements, and "Songs for the Island" in 5 movements--alongside "Hatid" and "Two Songs with Piano" in two movements.

Buenos Aires double bassist Pablo Vazquez presents nine solo improvisations using an impressive and diverse set of approaches to the instrument, utilizing every inch of the bass to evoke the supernatural beings of Argentine popular culture, in an imaginative approach to sonic narrative that demonstrates powerful control and masterful technique.

The Canadian Council for the Arts commissioned this work by Hungarian composer Gyula Csapo, a student of Morton Feldman amd John Cage, realized by Montreal's Quatuor Bozzini quartet, "Deja? Koja?" meaning "Already? Where to?" is a three-part work with two intermissions, an epic work that references the same basic materials in a variety of perspectives.