Featuring two pianists--Judith Wegmann and Marlies Debacker--and two percussionists--Lukas Briner and Nicolas Wolf (a duo who play concerts in the dark under the name of Night Shadow Noise)--in collective improvisations of two pianists or as a quartet of duel pianists and drummers, for seven exciting and sophisticated recordings of instant composition.
Label: ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd Catalog ID: ezz-thetics 1039 Squidco Product Code: 31351
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2022 Country: Switzerland Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold Recorded at Musikschule, in Biel, Switzerland, in December, 2019, by Simon Fankhauser.
"This album features the relatively unusual quartet line-up of two pianists and two percussionists. Equally unusual, though less so than it once was: the leader on this date, pianist Judith Wegmann, is equally at home in improvisation and composed music. She's a composer, and an interpreter of composed music - her recording of Morton Feldman's Triadic Memories and For John Cage appeared recently on this label. But she's also a free improviser who draws on the tradition of jazz and improvisation. About the present quartet, she writes that "All four of us are primarily free improvising musicians. But when we play, everyone quickly has a concept in mind, which we then turn into a work. I hear from the first sound that is played where I want to go. When we rehearse, we are sure to try a few things that we might want to come back to later. But first and foremost, we play from the moment and compose in the moment." So this music stands closer to the improvised end of the performance- spectrum, though there are aspects of planning associated with paper composition.
It used to be that those who worked in both improvisation, and in interpretation of works, were predominantly from one or other side of the divide - think of Keith Jarrett (predominantly jazz) or Friedrich Gulda (predominantly classical). Third Stream music of the 1950s and 60s rested on distinct aesthetics, and tried to combine the larger structures of Western notated music with jazz's aesthetics of improvisation. But a growing number of musicians - maybe John Tilbury is an early example - are true masters in both areas. Tyshawn Sorey is a contemporary example; Judith Wegmann is another. Today, thanks to such musicians, improvised and notated music no longer seem like separate musical worlds.
Note that Wegmann used the term "work" to describe the results on this recording. I'd argue that this means that the pieces aren't pure improvisations. An improviser - as opposed to a classical interpreter of paper composition who is concerned to express improvised values - does not produce works, except in the narrow sense of recordings of improvisations. That is because "work" refers to art that is essentially portable, rather than created for a specific occasion; music intended for repeat performance, or a painting that is framed and portable, and so on. Artworks in this narrow sense are a phenomenon of modernity.
As Lydia Goehr argued in her book The Imaginary Museum of Musical Works, the musical work-concept appeared only in the 18th century, and not fully until the early 20th century - though many musical compositions produced earlier are now treated as works. Thus when Bach was Kapellmeister at Köthen, he wrote for a particular location and set of performers, without thought of portability; performers were expected to embellish and elaborate. His compositions became works. A work, strictly understood, may be inspired by or commissioned for a particular occasion, or particular performers, but is not limited in performance by this. There are obvious parallels with developments in other arts, related to art's growing autonomy, and its commodification.
Improvisations are not "works" in that they're not intended for repeat performance - though, to reiterate, recordings of them may be. They're not individually crafted - except, again, in studio post-production - but obviously involve craft. The improviser practises so that they can be more prepared for what Steve Lacy called "the leap", when they create spontaneously in the moment. So improvisation is a method of composition in the broad sense of producing a pleasing structure (as opposed to the narrow sense of writing a score to be interpreted by a performer). But it's not a method of producing works - or so I'd argue. That's not in any way to denigrate it; some of the greatest musical art is improvised. It follows that a musical improviser can be a perfectionist - someone who is concerned to perfect a work - only in specialised senses.
The pieces on this recording have that fluidity of conception characteristic of the greatest improvisations - but also a sense of rightness and permanence. The formation of two pianists and two percussionists isn't unheard of - for instance, it's featured in the remarkable Tonband by Enno Poppe and Wolfgang Heiniger, released in 2021. In Judith Wegmann's case, the line-up evolved from a piano duo. After Wegmann performed a concert in Cologne with Belgian pianist Marlies Debacker, they decided to join forces. As Wegmann comments, "We have similar ideas about music and are both very flexible, from free jazz to classical music to improvisation." In recent years she has drawn intensively on the classical literature, as well creating new and improvised music for piano duos. In 2019, the duo became a quartet with the addition of Swiss jazz drummers Lukas Briner and Nicolas Wolf, themselves duo partners since 2017.
Wegmann comments that in these performances, "Two of the same instruments become one body of sound. That's what fascinates me." Having "one body of sound" means that the two pianists keep out of each other's way, knowing intuitively how to avoid textural congestion - a common problem with piano duos. The pieces are a mix of quartets and piano duos, in contrasting moods. The roiling energy of "Quartett 10" is broken by passages of calm and repose. The vibrant "Duo 07" is replete with darting, quicksilver forays, pulsating with inner life. "Quartett 05" is pointillist, its dramatic gestures isolated in space. The delicately adumbrated "Duo 08" delights with its sotto voce reflections. "Quartett 06" is quietly dirge-like in its tintinnabular tollings, which feature work on the piano's interior. This is a magical collection of pieces whose evanescent effects live in the memory."-Andy Hamilton, October 2021