Reviews of the week

Anja Lechner’s cello solo recording with works by Bach, Hume and Abel is praised by UK and German reviewers

Lechner’s playing is communicative. The Hume pieces are engagingly rhetorical and capricious. The Arpeggio and Adagio of Abel come from one of his finest sonatas and are declaimed with concentrated introspection. In the Bach Suites lightly bowed articulation and conversationally punctuated dialogue do not disappoint.

Nicholas Anderson, BBC Music Magazine (Five stars!)

Bach steht im Zentrum dieses Albums, und das in aller Bescheidenheit. Denn Anja Lechners Bach-Spiel ist eins nicht: exzentrisch. Sie geht nicht her wie viele ihrer (männlichen) Kollegen und sagt: Mal schauen, was ICH als Interpretin aus diesen Leuchttürmen des Repertoires herausholen kann. An Spitzfingrigkeiten, rhetorischen Finessen, Krassheiten aller Art. Lechner verbeugt sich vor Bach, und sie tut das in einer hoch konzentrierten, sehr poetischen Natürlichkeit.  Ein Cello-Ton wie ein Feuer in der Nacht: warm, sinnlich, unaufgeregt, frei. Und doch hört man bei Anja Lechner, wie intensiv sie sich mit der historischen Auffüh-rungspraxis beschäftigt hat, wie viel Alte Musik sie kennt und spielt und wie viel Neue und ganz neue. Und dass sie die Kunst der Improvisation beherrscht, immer auch improvisiert hat auf dem Cello. Nichts in ihrem Spiel ist unbedacht oder bloß irgendwie oder zufällig – und trotzdem klingt es wie aus dem Augenblick heraus musiziert. […] Fünf Sterne für diese stille, großartige, zur Einkehr in der Musik und bei sich selbst einladende Aufnahme.

Christine Lemke-Matwey, Südwestrundfunk

Das Murmeln eines Bachlaufs, im Wind säuselndes Espenlaub, Regentropfen auf einem Dachfenster, das hochsommerliche Zirpen von Grillen – das sind Klang-Archetypen, von denen Menschen unmittelbar und tief berührt sein können. Dem Cello Anja Lechners in der Münchner Himmelfahrtskirche gelingt das auch beim melancholischen Nachspüren von Klängen und Gestalten, gleichsam als Meditation über Leben und Tod. Für Cello transkribierte Stücke von Hume und Abel begegnen zwei der sechs Solosonaten für Violoncello von J.S.Bach. Lechner entlockt ihrem Instrument einen tiefen, reichen Klang, auf dunklem Grund glitzern Obertöne, die Gambe bleibt nur eine Erinnerung, die Cellistin spricht.

Andreas Kolb, Neue MusikZeitung

An Italian daily paper on the live album The Old Country by Keith Jarrett with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian

Tutto è emozione in questo disco, un live del 1992 ritrovato, fratello di At the Deer Head Inn, che venne definito il concerto ‘ incantato’ e di cui questo è come una seconda parte. Da everything I love, con gli intrecci del contrabbasso di Gary Peacock e della batteria di Paul Motian, alla delicatezza di I fall in love too easily e, ovviamente, il piano di Keith Jarrett di un’intensità ed eleganza sconcertanti.

Luca Valtorta, La Repubblica

The freshly released album Taking Turns by Jakob Bro with Lee Konitz, Bill Frisell, Jason Moran, Thomas Morgan and Andrew Cyrille impresses reviewers in the UK and USA

Konitz forms a direct link with the style of Euro-jazz embodied by Jakob Bro and the ECM label on this gorgeous and life-affirming album from a decade ago. We’re fortunate that it’s finally seen the the light of day. […] ‘Taking Turns’ requires close listening. The musicians are certainly listening to each other. Call it a conspiracy of beauty.

Peter Jones, Jazzwise

Bro has been described as a guitar anti-hero interested more in the group than individual grandstanding.  The way that Bill Frisell dovetails with Bro is a pleasure to hear:  the blend with Bro is a delight. Thomas Morgan’s bass lines flow in and out of the collective conversation. […] It is essential that an album like this should have a great recording.  The clarity of the recording is an important component of this music.

Jack Kenny, Jazz Views

A full decade has elapsed between the recording of this remarkable album (at Avatar Studios in New York) and its debut release, but it still succeeds in sounding both contemporary and strangely timeless. In contrast to most superstar sessions, where the principal players vie to see who can outdo each other by playing louder, faster or more often than anyone else, the dream-team band of guitarists Bro and Bill Frisell, saxophonist Lee Konitz, pianist Jason Moran, bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Andrew Cyrille, do exactly the opposite. Seemingly content to play as little, and as sensitively, as possible, and favouring the ensemble rather than the solo, their overall vibe is entirely collegiate and supportive. The result is outstandingly beautiful music that can seem to slip by almost invisibly, such is the air of frictionless reverie. […] The presence of the legendary Lee Konitz – a great hero of Bro’s, who is heard playing soprano sax as well as alto – also inevitably recalls the influence of various historic cool school recordings, and perhaps that whole alternative tradition of jazz aesthetics that’s sometimes traced back to Lennie Tristano. […] This may well be one of the albums of the year, ten years late.

Phil Johnson, UK Jazz News

While the title might imply a cutting session with each elite musician trying to outdo one another, the sound is completely the opposite in this super group of guitarists Bro and Bill Frisell, Konitz, pianist Jason Moran, bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Andrew Cyrille. Instead they go for gorgeous, atmospheric and ethereal textures in a blended sound where it is difficult to separate the two guitarists. Egos were clearly left at the door. Yet, it is Bro, the composer of all seven pieces who points to clear influences. One is the trio of drummer Paul Motian with Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano, which treated often familiar tunes with spaciousness and and unhurried approach. The other is the presence of the legendary Lee Konitz, evoking the old school cool era and even the pioneering work of Lennie Tristano. This is music that just washes over the listener like a cool breeze wafting through a prairie. Also, as the title implies soloing, that too is sublimated to the goal of producing this beautiful group soundscape. […] if you delve into the sound, especially with headphones, you’ll emerge refreshed and impressed with the journey.

Jim Hynes, Making A Scene

An early UK reaction to the freshly released album Relations by Thomas Strønen

As the pandemic curtailed opportunities for live music, the drummer felt that it would be good idea to send some of the percussion tracks to other musicians to see what they would bring to the music. Strønen also took onboard Eicher’s advice to send the tracks to musicians that he had not worked with before. The result is an intriguing set of pieces, two solo pieces for drums and percussion and ten duets with four musicians from Europe and the US. […] The different working methods of the participants has therefore created music that is vastly contrasting in nature, with the most hard hitting and direct music coming not surprisingly from Chris Potter and Craig Taborn in the US. […] on careful and repeated listening there is much to enjoy.

Nick Lea, Jazz Views

Arild Andersen’s freshly released first solo recording Landloper is welcomed by media in the US, UK and Germany

Though an exceptionally fine player, bassist Arild Andersen tends to make music that focuses on ensemble work, highlighting his talent as a composer and savvy as a bandleader. For Landloper, he hooks his double bass up to a set of effect pedals and goes it alone. Some of it’s what you might expect – ambient washes of reverb or looped arco lines over which he solos in his inimitable (i.e. bluesy and melodic) way (‘Dreamhorse’), or himself playing a melody over his own bassline (‘Mira’). […] While never shy about soloing in his bands, Andersen clearly relishes the chance to be in the spotlight, putting his magic touch to work on as strong a set of songs as he’s ever had.

Michael Toland, The Big Takeover

It is surprising to note that in a long career at the forefront of contemporary bass playing along with an extensive discography that this is Andersen’s first solo double bass recording. It is, needless to say, totally enthralling with wonderful melodies in plentiful supply and all delivered with the bassist’s marvellous tone and arranger’s touch. […] This is a superb album that does not just demonstrate Andersen’s talents as a virtuoso bass player, but serve to illustrate how, in the right hands, a solo performance on just about instrument can be a transformative process and that loops and pedals are not merely gimmicks but a useful and valid tool for making music.

Nick Lea, Jazz Views

The use of the various pedal-driven loops means that several tracks have an almost orchestral feel, with washes of sound forming the backdrop to Andersen’s virtuoso bass playing. His plucked, pizzicato playing is still astoundingly fast when it needs to be, with impeccable intonation, while his bowing is also used for live sampling that can conjure up the sound of a saxophone or a seal. Whatever he’s doing, Andersen seems able to communicate real lyricism and tenderness in a way that many co-instrumentalists fail to do

Phil Johnson, UK Jazz News

Über die gesamte Spielzeit hält Andersen die Spannung seines Vortrags hoch, fesselt mit jeder Note und entzückt seine Zuhörer:innen mit seinen zahlreichen kleinen Verspieltheiten. ‘Landloper’ ist das beeindruckende Zeugnis eines großen Geschichtenerzählers mit vier Saiten.

Sebastian Meißner, Sounds And Books

Yuuko Shiokawa and Sir András Schiff’s recording of works by Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann enchants a US reviewer

The two performances and the two works here are profoundly linked by the backdrop of the complex relationship among Brahms, Robert Schumann, and Clara Schumann. Brahms’ Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major, Op. 78, is known as the ‘Regenlied’ (‘Rain Song’) sonata because it prominently incorporates a motif from that song, which Brahms had given Clara as a present. It is a splendid work with a complexity approaching that in Brahms’ final style, and the septuagenarian violinist Shiokawa feels her way beautifully through the complexities. However, those are balanced with the nostalgic feel of the raindrop motif, which Schiff renders with appropriate evocativeness. The rather rare Violin Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121, seems to have influenced the young Brahms, and for a slow movement, it has a limpid set of variations that sounds as though it, too, could be representing raindrops. The performers have a profound mutual understanding, and the listener feels that they have entered an inward realm that is deep and unfathomable. A wonderful Romantic chamber music release.

James Manheim, All Music

The new recording of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concertos by Alexander Lonquich with the Münchener Kammerorchester is reviewed in an Italian newspaper

Per come li fa Lonquich, ognuno con carattere spiccato, questi cinque Concerti (in tre cd) mostrano appieno l’evoluzione di Beethoven. Dapprima virtuoso della tastiera capace di originalità impudente e freschezza. Poi irrompe nella storia Napoleone, la sordità, ed ecco che tutto si drammatizza, proteso al sublime.

Gregorio Moppi, La Repubblica

The album Ashes To Gold by the Avishai Cohen Quartet is acclaimed in a German daily paper

Unter dem Eindruck der Terroranschläge vom 07. Oktober 2023 hat der israelische Trompeter Avishai Cohen die titelgebende, fünfteilige Suite seiner neuen CD geschrieben und mit drei Landsleuten an Klavier, Bass und Schlagzeug als emotionsgeladenen Klangreise umgesetzt. Verständliche Extreme wie resignative Verzweiflung und kämpferische Wut klingen zwar an, doch nichts davon lässt Cohen die Oberhand gewinnen. Eher mündet seine Suche nach Klängen, die der Trauer Raum geben, aber dennoch das Leben feiern, in einer Stimmung, die man melancholische Widerstandskraft nennen könnte. Auf der Suche nach Schönheit unter widrigen Umständen war Cohen im Herzstück des Albums jedenfalls ebenso erfolgreich wie  bei der brillanten Jazz-Adaption des ‘Adagaio assai’ aus Maurice Ravels Klavierkonzert in G-Dur sowie der Interpretation einer von seiner Teenager-Tochter geschriebenen Melodie, die das Album mit einer heiter-optimistischen Note abschließt.

Reinhold Unger, Münchner Merkur