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GWILYM SIMCOCK – Near and Now
ACT Records: 9883-2
Gwilym Simcock (piano)
Recorded at the pianist’s home in Berlin, November 2018
Following the highly praised “Good Days at Schloss Elmau”, his award winning solo piano recital recorded for ACT records in 2011, Simcock returns to the format with a suite of pieces dedicated to favourite pianists, many who share his introspective approach and have proved inspirational over the years..
Shunning the amenities of the professional studio, this time Simcock has chosen to record in the intimate setting of his own home and play on his own piano, a newly acquired Steinway of some vintage, rebuilt to his specification. In his ambition to emulate what he describes as “the honest and personal sound” of Keith Jarrett’s `The Melody at Night, With You`, another domestically recorded set, Simcock has also taken control of the production and recording process to bring the finished product as close to a one on one communion with the individual listener as possible. Simcock’s approach is harmonically richer and more abstract than Jarrett’s but a similar end is achieved.
We are told that most of the music was composed whilst Simcock was on a recent tour as a member of the Pat Metheny Quartet and it is conceived in accordance with his predilection for open ended through composed entities which give full reign to his imagination. It has the quality of a narrative that takes the listener on a journey during the course of which aspects of the dedicatees musical personality is revealed but it can be enjoyed on its own terms as pure musical expression that crosses genre boundaries and fulfils all the attributes of high art.
The session opens with a three movement suite, `Beautiful is Our Moment`, dedicated to Billy Childs, brimming with traces of half-forgotten melodies amongst its tripling arpeggios and which intentionally or otherwise incorporates a fragment of the Beatle’s `Here, There, and Everywhere’ in the final movement. This one had me guessing, trying to identify the elusive earworm.
A tribute to Brad Mehldau follows, making a play of his typically pungent rhythmic ostinatos and minor key melodic construction. `Inveraray Air` for Russell Ferrante, has a predictably folksy quality whilst `Many Worlds Away` captures the Latino temperament of guitarist/pianist. Egberto Gismonti to perfection. Perhaps the most eloquent and luminous piece references Simcock’s first piano teacher; at just over two minutes it is poignant vignette suffused with nostalgic memories.
This is music you want to settle down with and wallow in; which balances passages of legato introspection with more passionate moments of rhythmic vitality and appeals equally to the heart and the intellect.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
ACT Records: 9883-2
Gwilym Simcock (piano)
Recorded at the pianist’s home in Berlin, November 2018
Following the highly praised “Good Days at Schloss Elmau”, his award winning solo piano recital recorded for ACT records in 2011, Simcock returns to the format with a suite of pieces dedicated to favourite pianists, many who share his introspective approach and have proved inspirational over the years..
Shunning the amenities of the professional studio, this time Simcock has chosen to record in the intimate setting of his own home and play on his own piano, a newly acquired Steinway of some vintage, rebuilt to his specification. In his ambition to emulate what he describes as “the honest and personal sound” of Keith Jarrett’s `The Melody at Night, With You`, another domestically recorded set, Simcock has also taken control of the production and recording process to bring the finished product as close to a one on one communion with the individual listener as possible. Simcock’s approach is harmonically richer and more abstract than Jarrett’s but a similar end is achieved.
We are told that most of the music was composed whilst Simcock was on a recent tour as a member of the Pat Metheny Quartet and it is conceived in accordance with his predilection for open ended through composed entities which give full reign to his imagination. It has the quality of a narrative that takes the listener on a journey during the course of which aspects of the dedicatees musical personality is revealed but it can be enjoyed on its own terms as pure musical expression that crosses genre boundaries and fulfils all the attributes of high art.
The session opens with a three movement suite, `Beautiful is Our Moment`, dedicated to Billy Childs, brimming with traces of half-forgotten melodies amongst its tripling arpeggios and which intentionally or otherwise incorporates a fragment of the Beatle’s `Here, There, and Everywhere’ in the final movement. This one had me guessing, trying to identify the elusive earworm.
A tribute to Brad Mehldau follows, making a play of his typically pungent rhythmic ostinatos and minor key melodic construction. `Inveraray Air` for Russell Ferrante, has a predictably folksy quality whilst `Many Worlds Away` captures the Latino temperament of guitarist/pianist. Egberto Gismonti to perfection. Perhaps the most eloquent and luminous piece references Simcock’s first piano teacher; at just over two minutes it is poignant vignette suffused with nostalgic memories.
This is music you want to settle down with and wallow in; which balances passages of legato introspection with more passionate moments of rhythmic vitality and appeals equally to the heart and the intellect.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
