This is a dazzlingly virtuosic extravaganza of extended performance techniques from Swiss flutist Matthias Ziegler, even if it’s a mystery how he achieves them (Mark Dresser’s liner notes provide little information). Ziegler collaborated with instrument builders to develop the Quarter Tone Flute, the Contrabass Flute, and other instruments (the liner notes don’t tell us about them either), and the resultant remarkable array of sounds makes flutter-tonguing seem positively old-fashioned. Ziegler has toured with new age star Andreas Vollenweider, worked with Mauricio Kagel and George Crumb, and improvised with Dresser; he brings all this and more into his album. Some pieces resemble etudes, exploring particular effects, from ghostly harmonics and singing through the instrument to rapid-fire repeated notes and elaborate multiphonics. The most immediately appealing selections are the arrangements of two of Diego Ortiz’s 16th century Recercadas, in which we hear a whole ensemble of Zieglers simultaneously. A must for flute fanatics.
