Nik Bärtsch´s Ronin
Holon
Nik Bärtsch piano
Sha bass clarinets, alto saxophon
Björn Meyer bass
Kaspar Rast drums
Andi Pupato percussion
Modul 42
Modul 41_17
Modul 39_8
Modul 46
Modul 45
Modul 44
Recorded July 2007
ECM 2049
Background
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The second ECM album by Swiss composer-pianist Nik Bärtsch and his band Ronin reaps the benefits of the two years of roadwork undertaken since the recording of “Stoa”
“We’ve simply played a lot more,” Bärtsch emphasises: “The development of the band as an organism is a very important force for the music. It is through playing that the pieces I write grow and bloom.” The distinguishing characteristics of the music are consistent: the modular constructions, the polymetric pulses, the complex interlocking patterns and repetitive motifs. Bärtsch speaks of the band’s way of working as a “spiral continuum” rather than the newness-at-all-costs priorities of the Western avant-garde. Yet it is clear enough that a conceptual leap has been made in Ronin’s music, for the band’s sound is simultaneously looser and indissoluble, without any relinquishing of the grip upon the groove.
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