Carl Ludwig Hübsch & Christoph Schiller
Giles U.

“On the surface, the pairing of tuba with spinet seems an eccentric one, both for historical and sonic reasons. The spinet—a smaller version of the harpsichord—was losing popularity by the time the tuba was on the rise. Each has largely been used in an accompanying role, and there are few contexts in which the two have played together. The tuba's bass sounds are in complete contrast to the higher pitches of the spinet, bringing to mind cartoon images of an elephant and a mouse.

But none of that concerned tuba player Carl Ludwig Hübsch and spinet player Christoph Schiller when they first played together in 2008-09; they felt a strong connection in their playing—the kind of thing that transcends details of instrumentation; it remains obvious here.

In fact, both Hübsch and Schiller have modified their chosen instruments, in the process getting rid of the seeming disparity. Schiller's spinet has become a semi-percussive instrument, amply illustrated by this CD's opening sounds which are most reminiscent of the clacking of an old-fashioned typewriter. Elsewhere, it sounds more like prepared piano—or even a detuned guitar when Schiller strikes or plucks the strings inside. In similar fashion, the tuba produces notes far higher than its stereotypical oom-pah, the result of Hübsch's breath control and circular breathing. Put that all together and it is certain less than one person in a hundred could correctly identify the instrumentation here.

Be that as it may, the dominant factor is that strong connection that Hübsch and Schiller recognised in each other. It means they produce subtle music that is both sympathetic and beautiful, ultimately making the vagaries of their instruments irrelevant.”
John Eyles, All About Jazz

“This evening’s CD of choice has been another in the recent Another Timbre mini series of “Duos with Brass” recordings, this time the all acoustic combination of Christoph Schiller’s spinet and Carl Ludwig Hübsch’s tuba. The music is indeed all acoustic, but in the liner notes written by Hübsch he describes some of the sounds he makes as “mechanically created electronic music” a description that essentially doesn’t make any sense, but does perhaps lend some kind of meaning to the way these two musicians, like in the case of the Hayward/Fabbriciani album I wrote about a couple of days ago, use their instruments merely as tools to create as wide a range of sounds as possible, escaping their histories, and starting instead with a new palette. For once on this recording I think I can always tell the two musicians’ contributions apart, but this time I am often stumped when trying to figure out how either of the musicians came up with the sounds they use.

I have written about Christoph Schiller’s music a few times here before, and described his spinet, an instrument I have never known used in free improvisation before, This slightly adapted traditional relation of the harpsichord is used by Schiller as much as a stringed instrument as a relation of the piano, but he adds eBows, fans and other non traditional items to the strings to pull out a wide range of tonal, as well as percussive sounds. Hübsch is new to me, but he has a very delicate touch with an instrument that he himself describes in the liners as having “the clumsiness of an elephant” In actual fact elephants are known to be very gentle and sensitive creatures, and Hübsch’s playing is similar here, usually quite muted, raging between breathy hisses and low smooth tones, far from clumsy, full of refined craft and thoughtful placement. There are tiny sounds, passages of longer tones, scratchy, fidgety periods, soft, textural exchanges and moments of near silence.

The album, which is intriguingly titled Gilles U is mostly an understated, thoroughly considered and thoroughly beautiful affair. There are no fireworks, few shocks and no interest in finding new ways of playing purely for the sake of it. This is another case of strong improvisation played by dedicated, sensitive musicians that makes no attempt to rewrite the rulebooks, but is just a fine example of musicians fully in tune with both their instruments and each other. (the duo have played together often in the past). I have said similar things about other CDs before, but sometimes this is all that matters. Schiller and Hübsch’s music here is lovely to follow, to wrap your ears around and into."
Richard Pinnell,  The Watchful Ear