JOHANNES BERAUER’S HOURGLASS
Basho Records - SRCD-55-2
Thomas Gould (violin) Mike Walker (guitar) Gwilym Simcock (piano) Martin Berauer (electric bass) Bernhard Schimpelberger (drums, percussion) Johannes Berauer (composer). Recorded at Masterchord studio, date unspecified.
Like Maria Schneider and Darcy James Argue, Johannes Berauer, an Austrian composer active in various cross genre fields, was a pupil of Bob Brookmeyer and also, like them, has normally applied his talents to the composition of music for large ensembles.
This recording represents his first attempt at writing music for a small chamber jazz ensemble, a project he calls `Hourglass` in which he contrives to seamlessly combine scored music with his soloist’s flights of improvisational virtuosity. The sources of his inspiration as a composer appear diverse and though he claims to think of himself firstly as a jazz musician it is clear from the rich eclecticism of the various pieces that he is well versed in classical and world music modes; indeed, much of the music has an epic, symphonic quality that often seems to exceed the sum of its instrumental parts.
Of these Thomas Gould’s sweet toned, high register violin is a dominant voice as it soars over the contrapuntal and ostinato fuelled momentum that is an abiding feature of Berauer’s writing, like a veritable `lark ascending`. It is the violin that appears carry the bulk of the thematic content with Simcock and Walker contributing the jazz substance in terms of spontaneous invention although, like Berauer, Simcock moves effortlessly between jazz and classical modes, his protean talent refusing to be constrained by facile categorisation.
The opening piece `In The Beginning` kicks off in a vigorous `Manouche` fashion but most of the other pieces emerge from rubato musings during which the germ of a theme evolves before being propelled forward on cascading rhythmic patterns sustained by the combined interplay of piano, bass and drums resolving into a climatic release with Walker’s guitar breaking free in one of his impassioned displays of bluesy shredding. The Iberian tinged `Nocturne` is typical of this process.
Other highlights – and there are many- include pieces in which the composer reveals his enthusiasm for Indian and Indonesian classical music employing tabla and gamelan style percussion and there are several exquisite miniatures for violin and piano alone like the closing `Spiral` which, with its descending, revolving measures, seeks to emulate the effect created by one of M.C Escher’s intriguing lithographs.
`Hourglass` represents sixty odd minutes of insight into a fertile musical mind that has created a fusion of stylistic influences bound together in a way that sounds completely integrated and holistic, realised by five most accomplished musicians wholly committed to the composer’s vision and if you decide to give this disc a spin you will certainly want to try and catch them on their forthcoming series of concerts which starts on September 1st at Sheffield’s in Ambleside.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Basho Records - SRCD-55-2
Thomas Gould (violin) Mike Walker (guitar) Gwilym Simcock (piano) Martin Berauer (electric bass) Bernhard Schimpelberger (drums, percussion) Johannes Berauer (composer). Recorded at Masterchord studio, date unspecified.
Like Maria Schneider and Darcy James Argue, Johannes Berauer, an Austrian composer active in various cross genre fields, was a pupil of Bob Brookmeyer and also, like them, has normally applied his talents to the composition of music for large ensembles.
This recording represents his first attempt at writing music for a small chamber jazz ensemble, a project he calls `Hourglass` in which he contrives to seamlessly combine scored music with his soloist’s flights of improvisational virtuosity. The sources of his inspiration as a composer appear diverse and though he claims to think of himself firstly as a jazz musician it is clear from the rich eclecticism of the various pieces that he is well versed in classical and world music modes; indeed, much of the music has an epic, symphonic quality that often seems to exceed the sum of its instrumental parts.
Of these Thomas Gould’s sweet toned, high register violin is a dominant voice as it soars over the contrapuntal and ostinato fuelled momentum that is an abiding feature of Berauer’s writing, like a veritable `lark ascending`. It is the violin that appears carry the bulk of the thematic content with Simcock and Walker contributing the jazz substance in terms of spontaneous invention although, like Berauer, Simcock moves effortlessly between jazz and classical modes, his protean talent refusing to be constrained by facile categorisation.
The opening piece `In The Beginning` kicks off in a vigorous `Manouche` fashion but most of the other pieces emerge from rubato musings during which the germ of a theme evolves before being propelled forward on cascading rhythmic patterns sustained by the combined interplay of piano, bass and drums resolving into a climatic release with Walker’s guitar breaking free in one of his impassioned displays of bluesy shredding. The Iberian tinged `Nocturne` is typical of this process.
Other highlights – and there are many- include pieces in which the composer reveals his enthusiasm for Indian and Indonesian classical music employing tabla and gamelan style percussion and there are several exquisite miniatures for violin and piano alone like the closing `Spiral` which, with its descending, revolving measures, seeks to emulate the effect created by one of M.C Escher’s intriguing lithographs.
`Hourglass` represents sixty odd minutes of insight into a fertile musical mind that has created a fusion of stylistic influences bound together in a way that sounds completely integrated and holistic, realised by five most accomplished musicians wholly committed to the composer’s vision and if you decide to give this disc a spin you will certainly want to try and catch them on their forthcoming series of concerts which starts on September 1st at Sheffield’s in Ambleside.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
