Conrad Schnitzler – Convex

“On Convex, as on many of his other albums, Schnitzler definitely used a sample-and-hold generator (S/H generator), a device that converts sounds stored as desired into random sequences of tones. This is important to know because this album is also non-keyboard music, i.e., it was not played ‘by hand’; instead, the experimental setup is: synthesizer — sequencer — S/H generator. Whether Schnitzler could foresee the respective results for each piece or whether he let himself be surprised is uncertain. But I believe he let himself be surprised and decided in each case whether to accept the result or not. Because one of the cornerstones of his artistic concept is controlled chance. However, it is not this method that makes Convex so special, but the slow tempo of the music. With one exception, the other pieces are almost sluggishly slow. Schnitzler certainly never had ambient music in mind, as his music is defined throughout by transparency and dynamic movement. However, Convex does meet some of the criteria defined by Eric Satie for ‘musique d’ameublement’ and also the concept of ‘ambient’ further developed by Brian Eno: its calmness and apparent uniformity — both of which require no attention and yet are a pleasant addition to the atmosphere of a room. A prerequisite for this, however, is a discreet volume level. Schnitzler would probably turn in his grave if he knew that I was placing his music in the vicinity of ambient. And of course it’s not ambient. With Convex, Schnitzler remains consistently true to himself. The only unusual thing is that he experiments with ‘slowness’ here. Schnitzler has carefully faded out some pieces, even though they are suitable for filling an entire LP side. If I were to stick with my thought experiment, this would be another characteristic of ambient music. Convex raises questions that cannot be answered with certainty. But that is precisely why Schnitzler’s music remains so interesting.” –Asmus Tietchens, 2025