Norbert Möslang (October 6, 1952 in St. Gallen) is a Swiss musician in the field of

free improvisation Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any general rules, instead following the intuition of its performers. The term can refer to both a technique—employed by any musician in any genre—and as a recognizable genre of ...

(

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone (or rarely, slightly small ...

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

Live electronic music Live electronic music (also known as live electronics) is a form of music that can include traditional electronic sound-generating devices, modified electric musical instruments, hacked sound generating technologies, and computers. Initially the pr ...

) and

luthier A luthier ( ; ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments. Etymology The word ' is originally French and comes from ''luth'', the French word for "lute". The term was originally used for makers of lutes, but it came to be ...

Life and works

The first instrument, which Möslang learned to play was piano. Then, he learned soprano saxophone and

contrabass clarinet The contrabass clarinet (also pedal clarinet, after the pedals of pipe organs) and contra-alto clarinet are the two largest members of the clarinet family that are in common usage. Modern contrabass clarinets are transposing instruments pitche ...

by self study. From 1972, he worked with Andy Guhl in a duet for 30 years. Since 1984, they have been both in the duet

Voice Crack Voice Crack was a Swiss electronic free improvisation band. Formed in late 1972 by Andy Guhl and Norbert Möslang, Voice Crack began as a free jazz duo. Then they used pre-recorded tape effects and live sound processing. By 1983 they had elimina ...

. With eRikm and

Günter Müller Günter Müller (born October 20, 1954) is a German sound artist who originally performed as a percussionist and drummer, active primarily in free improvisation. He was born in Munich, West Germany, but has lived in Switzerland since 1966. Ba ...

, the duet expanded to the ensemble ''poire_z''. He has performed also with ''Barbetomagus'', Jim O’Rourke,

Otomo Yoshihide is a Japanese composer and multi-instrumentalist. He mainly plays guitar, turntables and electronics. He first came to international prominence in the 1990s as the leader of the experimental rock group Ground Zero, and has since worked in a ...

Keith Rowe Keith Rowe (born 16 March 1940 in Plymouth, England) is an English free improvisation tabletop guitarist and painter. Rowe is a founding member of both AMM in the mid-1960s and M.I.M.E.O. Having trained as a visual artist, his paintings hav ...

Carlos Zingaro Carlos Zíngaro (or Carlos "Zíngaro" Alves, born 15 December 1948) is a Portuguese violinist and electronic musician active in free improvisation. Biography Zingaro studied classical music at the Lisbon Music Conservatory from 1953 to 1965, and ...

Irène Schweizer Irène Schweizer (2 June 1941 – 16 July 2024) was a Swiss jazz and free improvising pianist. Life and career Schweizer was born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland on 2 June 1941. She performed and recorded numerous solo piano performances as well as ...

Kurt Liedwart Kurt is a male given name in Germanic languages. ''Kurt'' or ''Curt'' originated as short forms of the Germanic Konrad/Conrad, depending on geographical usage, with meanings including counselor or advisor. Like Conrad, it can also a surname an ...

and Jason Kahn. He composes also

film music A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

. He won the

Swiss Film Award The Swiss Film Awards (, , , ; also known as the Swiss Film Prize) are national film awards awarded in several categories of Switzerland, first given out in 1998. History Between 1998 and 2008 the prize was given during the Solothurn Film Fest ...

in 2010 for the music he composed for Peter Liechti's documentary film ''the Hummings of Insects''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Möslang, Norbert Swiss jazz saxophonists Swiss clarinetists Swiss male musicians Swiss luthiers 1952 births Living people Musicians from St. Gallen (city) 21st-century clarinetists Atavistic Records artists 21st-century male musicians