Raccolto
Stefano Battaglia
- CD 1
- 1Raccolto
05:43 - 2Triangolazioni
14:42 - 3Triosonic I
03:47 - 4All is language
11:01 - 5Our circular song
04:25 - 6Coro
04:24 - 7Triosonic II
01:22 - 8In front of the fourth door
04:33 - 9L'osservanza
04:21 - CD 2
- 1Lys
05:04 - 2Canto I (dell'agonia della terra)
04:11 - 3Riconoscenza
04:05 - 4Réminiscence pour violon et piano
04:09 - 5Pourquoi?
03:47 - 6Il circo ungherese
03:27 - 7Veritas
01:55 - 8Velario de marzo
05:04 - 9Recitativo in memoria di Luciano Berio
05:40 - 10Canto II (Dell'agonia dei cieli)
03:01 - 11Trois brouillons
06:02 - 12... Dulci declinant lumina somno
03:53
BBC Music Magazine, Jazz Choice
Battaglia approaches improvising as if it were an exercise in classical form and line: these are spacious, unhurried episodes where every gesture seems suspended in still, cooling air, dissonance and rhythmical daring seamlessly integrated into abstract yet curiously songful shapes. If anything, the pieces with Pifarely are darker than those with Maier: a recitative in memory of Luciano Berio reminds us forcefully of that master’s vision. Difficult, demanding and fascinating too.
Richard Cook, BBC Music Magazine
Although two CDs of essentially free jazz is essentially something for committed fans, rather than those who like it as an extra colour on the music’s palette, it has to be said that the two trios featured here offer some highly focused playing throughout. At their best there’s little to choose between them.
Ray Comiskey, Irish Times
Zwei Seiten eines Pianisten. ... So riesig der Radius auf den ersten Blick aber ist, den Battaglia mit zwei Trio-Formationen bietet (auf der zweiten CD übernimmt Pifarély den Platz von Giovanni Maier), so gibt es doch zahllose Kontaktstellen zwischen den neun Kompositionen von CD1 und den nachfolgenden zwölf von CD2. Denn wer wie der Italiener Stefano Battaglia nicht nur mit altgedienten Meistern der improvisierten Musik zusammengespielt hat, sondern sich auch auf dem Feld der zeitgenössischen Klassik von Messiaen bis Boulez auskennt, der hinterfragt jeden Takt aufs Neue die Möglichkeiten des Mit- und Gegeneinanders. ... Es sind vielmehr die labyrinthisch versteckten Ausdrucksmöglichkeiten, die mit einer ungemein lyrischen Emphase den Instrumenten entlockt werden. Battaglias Improvisationen sind geheimnisvoll, hier und da leicht verspielt und aufmüpfig, mit Ecken und Kanten in dem stets „runden“, plastischen Sound.
Guido Fischer, Jazzthetik
Der italienische Jazzpianist Stefano Battaglia lässt sich nicht einengen, obwohl er innerhalb eines Formats musiziert. Ein Wille zur Erkundung aller denkbaren Klangkonstellationen prägt das Spiel auf seinem Doppelalbum Raccolto. CD 1 bietet eine Alternative zu jenen Jazzklaviertrios, die immer noch im Gefolge von Bill Evans musizieren: Battaglia mit dem Kontrabassisten Giovanni Maier und dem Schlagzeuger Michele Rabbia. ... Battaglia hat lange Neue Musik von Boulez bis Ligeti gespielt. Dieses Wissen kombiniert er mit Jazz. Geradezu abenteuerlich ist CD 2, ein Trio Battaglias mit dem französischen Violinisten Dominique Pifaréli und Rabbia. Musik, die jeden Schematismus unterläuft.
Christoph Merki, Tages-Anzeiger
“Raccolto” marks the ECM debut of Stefano Battaglia. An important addition to the label’s expanding roster of Italian artists, Battaglia has made his mark as player of great capacity, heard in many contexts since the 1980s. This double album features two separate trios: the group with bassist Giovanni Maier and Michele Rabbia, which has toured as ‘Triosonic’; and the trio known as ‘Atem’, with Rabbia and French violinist Dominique Pifarély. Both groups were formed in 2001, both have roots going back much further, and each has an entirely different character. ‘Raccolto’ means ‘harvest’ and Battaglia’s recording suggests a cornucopia of inspirations: the two trios overflow with ideas. Battaglia/Maier/Rabbia offers music of a reverent lyricism, which nonetheless has its roots quite clearly in a jazz piano trio tradition, that goes back at least to Paul Bley’s ‘Footloose’. The trio with Pifarély, on the other hand, focuses on collective playing, timbral exploration, and free dissolved rhythms – all part of the language of free music, but as Battaglia points out, he and the French violinist share an interest in “creating form through improvisation, which is uncommon amongst the free players. We’re trying to make music that is very close to composition, but there are also emanations from the languages of folk music.” Drummer Rabbia plays jazz drum kit in the trio with Maier, and a percussion set “with more of the sonorities of contemporary classical music” in the trio with Pifarély, further emphasizing the distinction between CDs 1 & 2. Together they give a powerful indication of the scope of Stefano Battaglia’s musical convictions. “I find it symbolically important, “Battaglia says, “that my first ECM album is an improvisations album, free and rigorous at the same time.”
