Roscoe Mitchell, Live at the Mühle Hunziken (side A)

At a performance of such austere music, it can already be challenging to concentrate.  Listening at home with the same focus requires an even greater commitment.  1987's Live at the Mühle Hunziken captures Roscoe Mitchell's solo concert in Switzerland from the previous year.  As he changes between different saxophones for different pieces (soprano, alto, and bass sax), he explores the properties of the individual instruments, and stretches their palettes to sometimes illogical extremes.  He moves between notes more to exhibit how the timbre of the sax changes at different frequencies than to create a sense of melody.  When these lines move slowly, they emphasize the sound of air and breath moving through the body of the instrument.  Rapid flurries of notes draw more attention to the metallic body of the saxophone.  While Mitchell typically juxtaposes nearby pitches, he occasionally interjects a radical leap to a different register, which almost sounds like an entirely different instrument interrupting the proceedings.  Through the course of a composition, the energy can build, as he moves from slower, sustained tones to series of notes, and then back.  Different sounds can also emphasize the shape of the room where he performed, which the recording captures nicely — certain bass frequencies find the resonant nodes of the space, while loud passages produce a hint of an echo.   The frequency balance of the album has a slight exaggeration in the presence, but bass notes come through clearly.  It's also interesting how much the recording captures the sound of Mitchell's breathing along with the tones from the saxophone.  The liner notes explicitly mention the use of a Sony PCM-F1, which was one of the earliest professional digital recorders.  The front cover painting and design are tasteful but far less distinguished than Mitchell's playing.