The era of the universal genius à la Leibnitz is long over. In view of the logarithmic doubling of knowledge, specialization is the trend of the times, and yet there are people like the one who lives in Krailling near Munich Udo Schindlerwho, despite concentrating on their niche, have the big picture in mind. The almost 70-year-old has never lacked interests. During and after school, at that time still in his Franconian homeland (he comes from Zirndorf near Fürth), he wrote poems and plays, at times mixed in with the Munich performance scene, took a lot of photos and completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter and architectural draftsman . But building was not enough for him, so he caught up with his high school diploma and studied architecture. Music was at least as important to him, of course. He played guitar, drums and saxophone in rock and fusion bands and took up flute studies at the Nuremberg Conservatory while studying architecture. The beginning of what he himself admits, a “double life” that he still leads today.
On the one hand, there is the architectural profession. He was successful early on, and after graduating in 1980 he won prizes and was able to realize designs. In 1984 he founded his own office, where, long before the general trend, it was not just about design but also about sustainability: “The energetic and ecological consideration was important to me from the start.” He was therefore primarily occupied with building in existing buildings. “In the beginning I also did town planning, but that was too frustrating. You have your visions of how a society can be on the move together, but that is simply not appreciated. Everything is talked to death and castrated.” Later he was showered with prizes like the building culture award of the Munich metropolitan region and the German landscape architecture award. For a “lucky hit that will not come back in this constellation”: his participation in “wagnisART”, the cooperative residential building of an ensemble of five five-story buildings with 14,000 square meters of floor space on the site of the former creative quarter in Domagkstrasse. For nine years he was busy with this pilot project of flexibly designed apartments with studios, commercial space, workshops and roof gardens.
“When I go to the practice room, there is always an instrument standing around that laughs at me”
If he had only dealt with architecture, “I would probably have ended up in psychiatry by now,” jokes Schindler. Music has always served as a counterbalance to him, and since the early nineties professionally new, improvised music. “My topic is abstraction, the intensive occupation with the instruments. Sounds beyond the conventional sound ductus.” Meeting other musicians is just as important: “Improvisation means communication. You have to listen, be sensitive and have a large repertoire and spectrum in order to be able to react and communicate constructively. That also means taking risks. The kick is that you fail Ability is not simply called up, but you get into situations where you have to look for ways, have to work your way along a ridge and even fall. At every concert, things happen that you could not plan or even expect beforehand but if it succeeds and something new arises, then that is a pure state of happiness. “
Clarinet (especially bass clarinet), saxophone, flute and cornet are his main instruments, but he also uses synthesizers and electronics. When there is no concert, Schindler practices for at least two hours in the evening. “When I go to the practice room, there is always an instrument standing around that laughs at me, well, don’t you want to play me again,” he says. Elliott Sharp, Sebi Tramontana, John Russell, Frank Gratkowski, Gunnar Geisse, Achim Kaufmann, Peter Madsen, Lisa Ullen, Maja Osojnik, Ingrid Schmoliner, Annette Giesriegl and many others – are the musicians who were shining examples before his eyes meanwhile regularly his partner. Of course, also because he can “cross-finance” it with his profession as an architect. “It would be difficult to live on it,” he admits. After all, his two professions and passions are mutually beneficial. When it comes to music, too, the room, its acoustics and the movements in it are essential for him. “Making the third dimension audible is part of my quirk of microphoneing everything extremely close so that you can also hear all the generation noises.”
He has released more than 50 albums
A lot of trappings are part of the commitment to this musical niche. Finding performance opportunities, for example. In addition to the usual contact points such as the Schwere Reiter, the MUG im Einstein or the Seidlvilla, Schindler has opened up places such as the Artoxin gallery, studios, district facilities such as the Sendlinger Kulturschmiede, the Rathausgalerie or churches. “But it remains difficult to find something if you want to do something with a Eugene Chatbourne, for example.” That is one of the reasons why he has been organizing the “Salon for Sound + Art” at home since 2009. It got to the 99th edition, until Corona stopped it. It doesn’t go any further there, but in the “Basis Klangraum” he discovered, the former warehouse of the Basis bookstore in Adalbertstrasse.
Then you can hear the unheard of again, or at best get caught in a flow. It works best live, until it is possible again, you can make do with recordings. Schindler is incredibly productive there too. He has now released more than 50 albums, including on his own label arch-musik (“that too has become too expensive for me”), but most recently mainly with the British special label FMR. Three came out there in November and December: “Related Unique Items”, a duo album by Schindler with double bass player Thomas Stempkowski, who died in June of last year, which is probably his last recordings. “Participation & Interplay”, also a duo in Schindler’s “LowToneStudies” series with bassist Wilbert de Joode. And the trio album “In Search of Surprise” with the American horn player Etienne Rolin and the French vibraphonist Luc Lainé, recorded during their stay at Villa Waldberta in Feldafing. The titles say it all: It’s not light fare. You have to get involved with Schindler’s music, you have to deal with it. But then a feeling of happiness can be all the more intense.