Sometimes it’s the little things in life. This album from the Italian pianist is subtitled Music For Piano And Percussion, and, using his own compositions and adaptations of ones by Gurdjieff, Komitas and Guillaume Dufay, creates a very particular space in the listener’s mind. It’s probably a church, or at least a space with a lot of air in it, a lot of history, a lot of contemplation. It’s cool, but not unwelcoming, gentle and fairly plain, but certainly not austere. And there is no congregation, just quiet music and dust motes floating in the refracted light. […] A beautiful, unassuming album which defies pigeonholing in favour of a more universal poetic, meditative goal.
Peter Bacon, Jazz Breakfast
This solo debut for the German label places him in a lineage that includes some of the most technically gifted pianists in modern jazz. Rather than compete, Venier takes the form in another direction, adding gongs, bells and ‘tuned metals’ as background colours, in response to which he offers simple, elegiac improvisations which owe more to texture and timbre than to linear melody. Recorded in the natural acoustics of Lugano’s Auditorio Stelio Molo, ‘Miniatures’ is a creditably modest but hauntingly beautiful addition to the label’s solo piano catalogue.
Cormac Larkin, Irish Times
Auf seinem neuen Album erkundet er in 18 Miniaturen für Klavier die Klangwelt seiner Kindheit. Gelegentlich verwendet er auch Schlaginstrumente wie Gong und Glocke. Zu den eigenen Improvisationen kommen eine Melodie von Alessandra Franco sowie Kompositionen von Komitas Vardapet und Georges Gurdjieff hinzu. Wir bewegen uns in einer Art musikalischem Notizbuch, das niemandem zugedacht ist und deshalb so innig wirkt. Gern stellen wir uns vor, wir würden diese meditative Musik in einer kleinen norditalienischen Kirche hören, im halbdunkel, hinter dicken, kühlen Mauern, ganz allein.
Manfred Papst, NZZ am Sonntag
Le pianiste italien mêle avec bonheur courtes improvisations abstraites et pages mélodique. Quelques emprunts à d’autre compositeurs complètent le programme d’un album à la frontiere du jazz.
Pierr de Chocqueuse, Jazz Magazine
Venier’s musical influences span a large spectrum from jazz, to the time played organ in church and studied the instrument at the conservatory at Udine. The fifteen pieces of the program blend these influences into a cohesive whole, mostly improvised but also featuring compositions by Gurdjieff and Komitas. The music itself evokes the visual and meditative, the pianist crafting each miniature methodically and with careful attention to melodic information. […] Glauco Venier through the inclusion of the various percussion instruments has created a rich soundscape that joins the improvised music, sacred, and classical worlds together. When listened to intently, the music consistently reveals subtle details, but when used as background, the music shines for it’s deeply reflective meditative qualities. A fine album that can be enjoyed from a number of different perspectives.
CJ Shearn, Jazz Views
Manchmal schwebt über ‘Miniatures – Music for Piano and Percussion’ der Geist Erik Saties, andere Schattierungen erinnern an Chilly Gonzales’ minimalistisches Meisterwerk ‘Solo Piano’. Und dann wird es plötzlich wieder modern, fast experimentell. Diese Mischung macht Veniers Klangwelt so eigen, so besonders.
Tobias Schmitz, Stern (Five Stars)