Franz Koglmann with Wien Klangforum, Emilio Pomarico: Don't Play, Just Be

Avant Jazz / Free Improvisation / Avant-Garde
premiera polska: 2011-01-18
kontynent: Europa
opakowanie: Gatefoldowe etui
opis:
Editor's info:
Franz Koglmann, who likes to cross borders, pursues a dialogue between styles. Using this dialogue, which he consciously allows to include disruptions, Koglmann elegantly and expertly weaves his way along a path that avoids both the classical jazz clichés and the hermetics of e-music. His cool way of bridging worlds is often referred to as the "3rd Vienna School" by critics.

On Don't Play, Just Be Koglmann collaborates with one of the world's leading New Music orchestras, the Klangforum Wien, conducted by Emilio Pomárico, and with outstanding jazz soloists. He impressively succeeds in harnessing the traditions of classical modernism and jazz for his very own world of sound.

The four movements of the suite Don't Play, Just Be are a dialogue between a jazz quartet the legendary British tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Tony Coe, guitar virtuoso James Emery from New York, Franz Koglmann on the flugelhorn and Klangforum bassist Uli Fussenegger and composed and written processes of European e-music. The dialogue is enhanced by references to a text by Jean Cocteau and the films of Jacques Rivette, as well as hints of French film scores brought in by the accordion and violin.

The second section of the CD, entitled Späte Liebe (Late Love), features four songs based on texts by Franz Schuh. Koglmann's music gives a gentle ironic twist to the poems, which are moving in their existential immediacy and are interpreted with great subtlety and virtuosity by the outstanding soprano Ursula Fiedler.

The final track on this CD, which is so exemplary of Koglmann's work, is a piece typical of his Monoblue Quartet. Conceived as a signature tune for "Reporters without Borders", it allows Koglmann and his exceptional musicians to highlight once again the essence of Koglmann's music on this CD: a melodious and delicate, smiling melancholy.

allmusic.com
It is not easy to create with the humor, melodic ingenuity, and harmonic complexity of Franz Koglmann and produce something this light and accessible. The trumpeter's soft lines belie an ability to dig deep, and whether he brings an operatic presence to his music (for example on the majestic "So rühr' ich um mit meinem Sabel," or an avant garde interpretation to "Voralberger Schuhgroβ händler (Some Like it Hot)," the results are always unique. The recording is divided into three parts The first and longest, comprising the first twelve tracks, and a sort of homage to Marilyn Monroe, was composed for a theatrical performance entitled "Venus in Transit." The three tracks of the middle section ("Wahlverwandtschaften") are loosely based on architecture. The short, final, track is simply called "Epilogue." This is music of great depth infused with European influences, but also incorporating some of the cream of the American improvisational community, performers such as violinist Mat Maneri and tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Chris Speed, each of whom plays a prominent role. Koglmann's stamp is clear throughout, his alternately dense and open arrangements always tied together with a sophisticated vision, his constructs full of surprises. Impossible to categorize, but never succumbing to pastiche or cuteness, Venus in Transit is another fine contribution by a composer whose work as a whole is a function of consummate skill and imagination.
by Steve Loewy

muzycy:
Franz Koglmann fl-h
Tony Coe ts, cl
Ursula Fiedler soprano
James Emery g
Uli Fussenegger b
Peter Herbert b
Klangforum Wien

utwory:
1. Nuit blanche
2. Don't Play, Just Be
3. Rivette
4. Blue Look
5. Späte Liebe
6. Stilleben
7. Mutter
8. Radio banal
9. Entre chien et loup

wydano: 2002-05-17
nagrano: Recording date: 22.-23. September 2001
Recording place: ORF Radio Studios, Wien, Österreich

more info: www.challenge.nl