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Oktopus - The Music of Boris Blacher

idée manu

Oktopus - The Music of Boris Blacher

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Between The Lines
UPC: 0608917124422
Catnr: BTLCHR 71244
Release date: 09 February 2018
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€ 19.95
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Label
Between The Lines
UPC
0608917124422
Catalogue number
BTLCHR 71244
Release date
09 February 2018

"All in all, this is extremely intriguing music that fascinates from start to finish."

Rootstime, 13-3-2018
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
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About the album

Boris Blacher (1903-75) got around a lot. His father was born in Reval (today’s Tallinn), worked in management of a German-Russian bank and as such was sent travelling around the world. Young Boris was born in China, lived in Russia and Manchuria; then, as a young man, after stops in Shanghai and Paris, he ended up in Berlin, which in the 1920s was one of Europe’s, if not the world’s, most colourful metropolises. He stayed, studied architecture and maths, then music, and made ends meet composing commissions and accompanying silent film on the piano. After World War II, he became professor of composition, then head of Berlins Hochschule für Musik and was considered one of the most versatile personalities in new music in Germany. Influenced by Schoenberg, Hindemith and Milhaud, the worldly Blacher retained profound musical wit and artistic openness, thus safeguarding his work from the hermeticism that makes much of the music of his contemporaries accessible for specialists only.

“Three years ago, Boris Blacher’s piano music was a new discovery for me,” says Swiss pianist and composer Manuela Keller. “Its lean style, its unconventional rhythm and barren beauty appealed to me immediately and inspired me to dedicate the second Idée manu CD to him. He left a large oeuvre comprising almost all musical genres and also had an interest in jazz all his life. He developed a ‘system of variable metres’ to break musical form and rhythmic symmetry with numerous, arithmetically structured metre changes. Krebs, Sberk, Dugong and Prélude 16 are typical examples of this technique.” Those are four out of 16 compositions that Manuela Keller got her teeth into, both as a soloist and in a quartet with trombone player Nick Gutersohn, bass guitarist Jan Schlegel and drummer Marco Käppeli. Three are written by Keller, the other ten are adaptations, some more subtle, others more extensive, of models from Blachers late 24 Préludes for piano, his piano cycle Ornamente and his Second Sonatina.

Thus, Idée manu’s second album after Water Chute (2010) fits perfectly into the programmatic line of Between the Lines, focusing on sound projects crossing styles and genres between improvisation and composition. Recorded in September 2016 in Winterthur, the music continues Keller’s musical collaboration that originated in 2003 from the electro-acoustic duo with Nick Gutersohn and was extended to Idée manu the following year. Compelling coupling of open and through-composed artistic possibilities, of sonic freedom, acoustic effect and compositional steering of the variables form the heart of the concept. In this light, the connection of Keller and Blacher is a liaison of likeminded artists, as, in the end, it is about finding a surprise in the well-planned. Idée manu does exactly this, all in the sense of the ever-curious Boris Blacher, with winking seriousness.
Boris Blacher (1903-75) kam viel herum. Sein Vater stammte aus Reval (heute Tallinn), arbeitete in leitender Funktion bei einer deutsch-russischen Bank und wurde um die Welt geschickt. Der kleine Boris wurde in China geboren, lebte in Russland, der Mandschurei und landete als jungen Mann über Shanghai und Paris in Berlin, in den Zwanzigerjahren eine der buntesten Metropolen Europas, wenn nicht gar weltweit. Er blieb dort, studierte Architektur und Mathematik, dann Musik und brachte sich als Auftragskomponist und Stummfilmpianist durch. Nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg bekam er erst den Kompositionslehrstuhl, dann die Leitung der Berliner Hochschule für Musik übertragen und gehörte zu den prägenden, weil vielseitigsten Persönlichkeiten der Neuen Musik in Deutschland. Selbst von Schönberg, Hindemith und Milhaud beeinflusst, erhielt sich der weltläufige Blacher einen profunden musikalische Witz und eine gestalterischen Offenheit, die seine Kompositionen vor der Hermetik bewahren, die das Werk vielen Zeitgenossen nur noch für Spezialisten zugänglich macht.
„Boris Blachers Klaviermusik war vor drei Jahren eine Neuentdeckung für mich“, erzählt die Schweizer Pianistin und Komponistin Manuela Keller. „Die schlanke Kompositionsweise, die eigenwillige Rhythmik und die karge Schönheit seiner Musik haben mit unmittelbar angesprochen und mich dazu inspiriert, die zweite Idée manu CD ganz ihm zu widmen. Er hinterließ ein umfangreiches Werk, das fast alle musikalischen Stilgattungen umfasst und war zeitlebens auch an Jazz interessiert. Unter anderem hat er ein ‚System der variablem Metren‘ entwickelt, um musikalischen Form und rhythmische Symmetrie mit zahlreichen, arithmetisch aufgebauten Taktwechseln zu durchbrechen. Krebs, Sberk, Dugong und Prélude 16 sind typische Beispiel für diese Kompositionsweise“. Es sind vier von 13 Kompositionen, mit denen sich Manuela Keller solistisch und gemeinsam im Quartett mit dem Posaunisten Nick Gutersohn, dem Bassgitarristen Jan Schlegel und dem Schlagzeuger Marco Käppeli beschäftigt. Drei stammen aus Kellers Feder, die übrigen zehn sind mal dezentere, mal ausführlichere Bearbeitungen von Vorlagen, die aus Blachers späten 24 Préludes für Klavier, dem Klavierzyklus Ornamente und seiner Zweite Sonatine stammen.
Und damit passt das zweite Album von Idée manu nach Water Chute (2010) perfekt in die Programmlinie von Between The Lines, die sich stil- und gattungsüberschreitenden Klangprojekten zwischen Improvisation und kompositorischer Ausformung widmet. Aufgenommen im September 2016 in Winterthur setzt die Musik Kellers Zusammenarbeit fort, die 2003 aus dem elektro-akustischen Duo mit Nick Gutersohn hervorging und im darauffolgenden Jahr zu Idée manu erweitert wurde. Im Mittelpunkt steht die stringente Verknüpfung von offenen und durchformten Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten, von klanglicher Freiheit, akustischer Wirkung und kompositorischer Steuerung der Variablen. Insofern ist die Verbindung von Keller und Blacher eine Liaison der Gleichgesinnten. Denn am Ende geht es darum, dem Geplanten die Überraschung zu entlocken. Und das gelingt Idée manu, ganz im Sinne des ein Leben lang neugierigen Boris Blacher, mit augenzwinkerndem Ernst.

Artist(s)

idée manu

Idée manu has been in existence for four years and bears the signature of Manuela Keller. Together with Nick Gutersohn, Jan Schlegel and Marco Käppeli, who has come on board last year, she has compiled a new programme. The band plays compositions from Manuela Keller, as well as music from Olivier Messiaen and Erik Satie, which she has arranged for the group. Originally trained in classical music, the pianist Manuela Keller moved into the area of Jazz music and free improvisation quite a while ago. After a period of intensive exploration of electronic music, her focus has returned to solely playing the piano for some time now. With this band, she is fulfilling a long held wish to bring together...
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Idée manu has been in existence for four years and bears the signature of Manuela Keller. Together with Nick Gutersohn, Jan Schlegel and Marco Käppeli, who has come on board last year, she has compiled a new programme. The band plays compositions from Manuela Keller, as well as music from Olivier Messiaen and Erik Satie, which she has arranged for the group. Originally trained in classical music, the pianist Manuela Keller moved into the area of Jazz music and free improvisation quite a while ago. After a period of intensive exploration of electronic music, her focus has returned to solely playing the piano for some time now. With this band, she is fulfilling a long held wish to bring together her diverse musical experiences. The musical language of the quartet is defined by the spontaneity of free improvisation, the sophistication of classical music, and the groove of Jazz. The improvisations are based on sound material or rhythms of the music pieces, sometimes opening windows for completely free parts. A groovy played Messiaen has its place as much as rhythmically complex themes, free improvised parts and jazzy passages. What connects the four musicians is the love for music that arises on the spur of the moment and leaves room for spontaneous interaction. With passionate playfulness, openness and curiosity they navigate through diverse musical worlds and surprise themselves again and again.

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Nick Gutersohn (trombone)

Composer(s)

Press

All in all, this is extremely intriguing music that fascinates from start to finish.
Rootstime, 13-3-2018

Play album Play album
01.
Krebs (Prélude Nr. 5)
03:01
(Boris Blacher) Marco Käppeli, idée manu, Manuela Keller, Nick Gutersohn, Jan Schlegel
02.
Oktopus (Prélude Nr. 15)
04:08
(Boris Blacher) idée manu, Manuela Keller, Nick Gutersohn, Jan Schlegel, Marco Käppeli
03.
Prélude Nr. 10 (Solo Piano, original B.B.)
00:45
(Boris Blacher) Marco Käppeli, idée manu, Manuela Keller, Nick Gutersohn, Jan Schlegel
04.
Anemone (2. Sonatine)
04:42
(Boris Blacher) idée manu, Manuela Keller, Nick Gutersohn, Jan Schlegel, Marco Käppeli
05.
Tentakel (M. Keller, inspired by Ornament Nr. 7)
03:55
(Boris Blacher) idée manu, Manuela Keller, Nick Gutersohn, Jan Schlegel, Marco Käppeli
06.
Seenadel (M. Keller, Solo Piano, inspired by Prélude Nr. 9)
00:59
(Boris Blacher) idée manu, Manuela Keller, Nick Gutersohn, Jan Schlegel, Marco Käppeli
07.
Carcharodon (Prélude Nr. 11)
06:01
(Boris Blacher) Nick Gutersohn, Jan Schlegel, Marco Käppeli, idée manu, Manuela Keller
08.
Dugong (Ornament Nr. 2)
05:26
(Boris Blacher) idée manu, Manuela Keller, Nick Gutersohn, Jan Schlegel, Marco Käppeli
09.
Prélude Nr. 3 (Solo Piano, original B.B.)
00:46
(Boris Blacher) Marco Käppeli, Manuela Keller, Nick Gutersohn, Jan Schlegel, idée manu
10.
Zitteraal (Prélude Nr. 7)
02:57
(Boris Blacher) Nick Gutersohn, Manuela Keller, idée manu, Marco Käppeli, Jan Schlegel
11.
Hippocamp (M. Keller, inspired by Prélude Nr. 14)
06:22
(Boris Blacher) Marco Käppeli, Jan Schlegel, Nick Gutersohn, Manuela Keller, idée manu
12.
Prélude Nr. 16 (Solo Piano, original B.B.)
01:37
(Boris Blacher) Marco Käppeli, Jan Schlegel, Nick Gutersohn, Manuela Keller, idée manu
13.
Sberk (Prélude Nr. 20)
02:24
(Boris Blacher) Marco Käppeli, Jan Schlegel, Nick Gutersohn, Manuela Keller, idée manu
show all tracks

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