Live! - a great album
Hans Koert
The Swiss composer and piano player Christoph Stiefel released last year his album Live! - live recordings, as the title suggests, with his so-called Inner Language Trio, featuring Thomas Lähnson bass and Lionel Friedl or Kevin Chesham ( two tracks) on drums.
The Inner Language Trio …… Isorhythm …… that needs some explanation ….. Isorhythm (from the Greek for "the same rhythm") is a musical technique that arranges a fixed pattern of pitches with a repeating rhythmic pattern, Wikipedia reads …… .. it later became more widely applied, especially to periodic repetition or rhythmic recurrence in tenors and other parts of 14th- and early 15th-century compositions, motets in particular (Bent, Margaret (2001) "Isorhythm". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition). Five of the nine composition were based on this, as the tracklist reads …… but …. before you give up to read this review, it's great … You’ll recognize this kind of music if you like the music of E.S.T., Brad Mehldau or Avishai Cohen ….. It sounds great, almost hypnotic.
Christoph Stiefel was born in Zürich, July 1961, and started to play the piano as a kid (classical music) and developed into Rhythm and Blues, funk, fushion and Jazz. If you remember the music of Andreas Vollenweider from the 1980s, know that Christoph Stiefel was a member of his band for five years. His first recordings must have been with Max Lasser’s Ark and the Intergalactic Maiden Ballet, before he started to record in Andreas Vollenweider’s Friends …… Since his first own album ( Ancient Longing), twenty years ago, he released ca. seven more and played with his trio all over Europe.
As I told you before ………. Don’t bother about Isorhythm and that kind of stuff. Christoph warns in the liner notes, that he is aware of the fact, that ….. there is a danger that concepts can become more important than the music ….. Just listen to this great album. Nine compositions, all recorded live in Saalfelden, Amburg and Munchen, April 2011 …… The live environment can inspire … to an even higher level of intensity and expression ….It can be really hard to let you go when the red light in de studio is on .. he says. I think it gives the album an extra dimension …… Personally I was fascinated by Pensar Positivo with its groovy rhythm and the opening track … Isorhythm #4.
If you like the music of great names like Brad Mehldau or the late Esbjörn Svensson Trio, don’t hesitate to listen to this great album. You will like it.
The album Christoph Stiefel Inner Language Trio: Live! can be ordered directly at Stiefel website.
Hans Koert
keepswinging@live.nl
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