JON BALKE - Warp
ECM 476 6047
Jon Balke (piano, sound images)
Piano recorded September 2014
In a fascinating set, Jon Balke juxtaposes the sound of acoustic and enhanced piano and the subtle use of electronics, sound and field recordings that are carefully incorporated and sculptured to reveal the finished composition. I say composition as while many of the pieces would have begun as solo piano improvisations, the introduction of prerecorded and prepared sound images into the music must be regarded as composing, as the structure of the music has a form imposed upon it and the positioning of the additional sounds has been considered and predetermined.
Balke's playing on these pieces unfolds in an unhurried manner, and will often reveal a fragile beauty. This fragility at times will make the music initially easy to like but hard to warm to, as if an icy chill prevails over the music. Paradoxically, it is what could be perceived as the less flexible element of the music that brings some warmth to proceedings, as if the familiar sounds of human voices, noise from a school playground, or the airport announcement read in three variations by Balke's daughter Ellinor that brings a freshness and subtle depth to the sound of the lone pianist.
Recorded and produced in at least three distinct and separate parts, this is a new take on the process of improvisation and performance for the pianist. The initial piano pieces were recorded in September 2014, Balke then later brought to the studio hours of music and sound images that were produced using multiple keyboards, samplers and computer software which were then vigorously edited and processed with some additional recordings also made at this 'second session'. The results were then mixed a few months after to produce the final draft that were are presented with in Warp.
The sound images on first hearing are often so subtle as to be lost when following the intense and taut lyricism of the piano lines, however it is with repeated listening that the overall impact and effect of the electronic addition to the music is revealed, and the pieces can be heard as a single and total entity, one inextricably bound with the other.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
ECM 476 6047
Jon Balke (piano, sound images)
Piano recorded September 2014
In a fascinating set, Jon Balke juxtaposes the sound of acoustic and enhanced piano and the subtle use of electronics, sound and field recordings that are carefully incorporated and sculptured to reveal the finished composition. I say composition as while many of the pieces would have begun as solo piano improvisations, the introduction of prerecorded and prepared sound images into the music must be regarded as composing, as the structure of the music has a form imposed upon it and the positioning of the additional sounds has been considered and predetermined.
Balke's playing on these pieces unfolds in an unhurried manner, and will often reveal a fragile beauty. This fragility at times will make the music initially easy to like but hard to warm to, as if an icy chill prevails over the music. Paradoxically, it is what could be perceived as the less flexible element of the music that brings some warmth to proceedings, as if the familiar sounds of human voices, noise from a school playground, or the airport announcement read in three variations by Balke's daughter Ellinor that brings a freshness and subtle depth to the sound of the lone pianist.
Recorded and produced in at least three distinct and separate parts, this is a new take on the process of improvisation and performance for the pianist. The initial piano pieces were recorded in September 2014, Balke then later brought to the studio hours of music and sound images that were produced using multiple keyboards, samplers and computer software which were then vigorously edited and processed with some additional recordings also made at this 'second session'. The results were then mixed a few months after to produce the final draft that were are presented with in Warp.
The sound images on first hearing are often so subtle as to be lost when following the intense and taut lyricism of the piano lines, however it is with repeated listening that the overall impact and effect of the electronic addition to the music is revealed, and the pieces can be heard as a single and total entity, one inextricably bound with the other.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
