May 2007 gig reviews by Chris Parker

[em], radio.string.quartet

Monday 21 May

A full, enthusiastic house was clearly entranced and exhilarated in equal measure by the double bill of ACT Records attractions on display to celebrate the label's 15th anniversary.

First up was a 75-minute set from [em], a piano trio comprising pianist Michael Wollny, bassist Eva Kruse and drummer Eric Schaefer. At first, they sound like a typical contemporary piano trio í E.S.T./Bad Plus rackety eclecticism, to use a somewhat inaccurate shorthand í but they are less overtly spontaneous than either of these bands, although their music does embrace aspects of free jazz, avant-rock and all points between in the now customary 21st-century manner.

Scrupulously rehearsed (unless the members are genuinely telepathic), the trio's music relies on sudden startling dynamic and textural contrasts for its considerable drama and energy, and the extraordinary technical prowess of the bandmembers is never allowed to draw attention away from the fierce interaction and mutual spark-striking that characterise the group sound.

Running the gamut from dreamy lyricism to full-out thrashing visceral energy (the quality of the club's piano again playing a vital part in the proceedings), [em] are a class act, their music as absorbing as it is exciting.

radio.string.quartet

All the adjectives describing [em] could equally apply to radio.string.quartet – two violinists (Bernie Mallinger and Johannes Dickbauer), a viola player (Cynthia Liao) and a cellist (Asja Valcic), who on this occasion aired their tribute to the music of John McLaughlin's early-1970s outfit, the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

On a personal note, I've always been grateful to McLaughlin's band for providing me with an excuse, over thirty years ago, to sneak 'jazz' on to the turntables of university colleagues, supposedly allergic to the form, but who knew a great guitar solo when they heard one; these days, such genre discrimination seems absurd, and the present open-mindedness about the suitability of McLaughlin's music to adaptation by a string quartet is one reason why this is so.

None of the original music's exhilarating, controlled freneticism was lost in translation, nor was its yearning, spiritual quality; the garrulous, breathless rush of the Mahavishnu Orchestra was one of the joys of the 1970s, and its revivification in novel forms (cf. Gary Husband's piano versions í see CD Reviews) is to be wholeheartedly welcomed.

May 2007
gig reviews

Gig reviews archive

[em], radio.string.quartet

Monday 21 May

radio.string.quartet

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May 2007 gig reviews

Gig reviews archive

[em], radio.string.quartet

Monday 21 May

radio.string.quartet

Join the Vortex email list

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May 2007
gig reviews

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