24.02.2023 | Reviews of the week
The freshly released album Stravaganze consonanti by Gianluigi Trovesi and Stefano Montanari is welcomed in a Swiss weekly
Respektvoll, con amore e passione. Keinerlei dekonstruktivistischer Furor. Er reisst die alte Kunst nicht gewaltsam in aktuelle Bezüge, verdringlicht sie aber in intensiven Klarinetten- und Saxofonkantilenen. Und er spiegelt sie in ein paar eigenen Stücken. Das letzte davon ist eine Art Heimkehr in die Jazz-Gegenwart. Wobei: Gegenwart wird ja alles, was einer wie Trovesi mit seiner entzündeten Neugier im fernen alten Land entdeckt.
Peter Rüedi, Weltwoche
UK and Italian reviewers on A Short Diary by Sebastian Rochford with Kit Downes
Quiet celebrations of a life and of shared family bonds. They also stand out for the strength of their composition, all by Rochford himself, who wrote them at his father’s piano. […] Throughout, the dynamics of each piece are important, their gentle delivery and intense evocation requiring the subtlest of touches, provided empathetically by an ever thoughtful Downes, Rochford’s drumming often minimal in its presence. The role of label boss Manfred Eicher in mixing this album is rightly noted, his sensitivity crucial to its overall feel. Rochford might be best known as a drummer, but this quietly fine set proves his worth as a composer. It is an extraordinarily personal document, an eloquent testimony, and one that bears repeated listening. It is also undoubtedly one of ECM’s finest releases of recent years.
Simon Adams, Jazz Journal
‘A Short Diary’, viaggio in otto tappe registrato in Scozia, offre momenti di magnifica rarefazione, un’atmosfera sospesa che fa respirare il silenzio.
Guido Festinese, Il Manifesto
UK papers on Sir András Schiff’s new recording of music by J.S. Bach on the Clavichord
In the two-part inventions Nos 1-15, the three-part sinfonias Nos 1-15, the duets Nos 1-4 and other JS Bach works, Schiff makes a persuasive case, if not a definitive one, for the clavichord as an equally revelatory vehicle for the pieces as harpsichord or piano.
Dan Cairns, Sunday Times
Recorded at the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn and produced by Manfred Eicher, the detail, warmth and clarity in the midrange frequencies is particularly striking. […] ‘The sound of the clavichord is’ says Schiff, an invitation into ‘a new world, a quiet oasis in our noisy, troubled times. Thanks to the clavichord I now play and hear Bach differently. On the clavichord we only have our fingers at our disposal, and they must create the music with the finest gradations of touch.’ In a way that illuminates the rest of Bach’s œuvre, the clavichord helped him to realise his ambition of making highly complex, emotional music while at the same time aiming for a clear objectivity, with a great attention paid to detail and structure. This album captures that often allusive essence.
Simon Duff, Morning Star
A French reaction to the album Drifting by Mette Henriette
Il y a du mystère dans cette partition meditative, sensible et poétique, enregistrée au Musée Munch d’Oslo par Manfred Eicher […] c’est surtout là l’œuvre impressionnante d’une artiste qui ne ressemble à aucune autre.
Marc Zisman, Jazz News