Label: ACT music
Format: CD
Barcode: 0614427959829
Catalog number: ACT 95982
Releasedate: 28-08-15
Format: CD
Barcode: 0614427959829
Releasedate: 28-08-15
- Accordion and cello is a rare combination
- New compositions and classical oeuvres are developed and enriched with improvisation. Jazz and tango, waltzes and baroque music mingle as if they were always meant to be together.
- New compositions and classical oeuvres are developed and enriched with improvisation. Jazz and tango, waltzes and baroque music mingle as if they were always meant to be together.
Accordion and cello. A rare combination, but no less remarkable is the sound of the Klaus Paier and Asja Valcic duo. Is it jazz, classical or world music? Old, new or crossover? Whatever it is, the music is timeless, intense, always surprising, and transcends genre borders. The quest for the perfect sound of accordion and bandoneon led Klaus Paier to an entirely new, unique playing technique that allows his instrument to breathe and gives him the space for unrivalled stylistic and improvisational freedom, and in no way does Asja Valcic take a back seat. She plays her “cello, that can foot it like a double bass” with “an incredible wealth of variations” (KulturSPIEGEL). In combination, this dream team displays “an unconventional beauty for which we lack any comparison. Energetically-breathing chamber music, in which the composition and improvisation are fascinatingly linked” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). On “Timeless Suite”, Paier and Valcic accentuate their roots in occidental art music. A suite is a form of music that contains successive pieces, mostly dances, and here the two have brought together eleven dances and dance related themes for the album. New compositions and classical oeuvres are developed and enriched with improvisation. Jazz and tango, waltzes and baroque music mingle as if they were always meant to be together. For “Incontro Con Stravinsky”, for instance, Paier uses Igor Stravinsky’s ballet music “Pulcinella”, which harks back to the Italian baroque composers Pergolesi and Gallo. For Valcic, on the other hand, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is a decisive inspiration, especially in her interpretation of “Sarabande” from the Bach suite No. 5 in C Minor for cello. “Maestoso & Melodioso”, composed for bandoneon and cello, and the spirited “Saskia’s Dance”, in which part of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is invoked, are also inspired by the great German composer. “Inside A Flower” and “Amelie’s Fairy Tale” provide the balladesque moods between the dances of the suite. “Vocalmente” makes sure there is also a slow tango on “Timeless Suite”. “Green Rondo” is an original jazz piece based on the Dave Brubeck classic “Blue Rondo A La Turk”. “Timeless Suite” merges the past with the present in an unmistakable and unique way. Curiosity and courage are the outstanding virtues here that unite these two adventurous musicians in a congenial alliance. It is a scintillating dance that one hopes will never end.