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Vassilis Tsabropoulos / Anja Lechner: Melos
ByTsabropoulos and Lechner are both classically trained musicians who have demonstrated no shortage of improvisational acumen on other ECM albums including the pianist's 2004 trio disc with bassist Arild Anderson and drummer John Marshall, The Triangle, and the cellist's incomparable 2007 duet with bandoneonist Dino Saluzzi, Ojos Negros. With Gurdjieff's writing based on improvisations given defined structure by his assistant, Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann, Chants provided Tsabropoulos and Lechner with an inherent interpretive liberty. Tsabropoulos' writing for Melos, while no less formally constructed, provides even greater freedom, albeit within a musical context that remains closer to the classical sphere, even as his harmonic emphasis lends a certain eastward-looking complexion to much of the material.
The addition of percussionist U.T. Gandhi, a member of Saluzzi's extended family on the bandoneonist's Juan Condori (ECM, 2006), gives Melos its own personality, although his playing here is considerably subtler, with delicate cymbal work providing gentle forward motion on Gurdjieff's Oriental-flavored "Tibetan Dance." Greater power drives Tsabropoulos' "Gift of Dreams," where Gandhi's intuitive interaction during the pianist's dramatic solo approaches the kind of nuanced intensity heard from another ECM artist whose approach is equally close to the classical world, Ketil Bjørnstad.
But while Melos possesses a certain majesty ("Song of Gratitude") and, at times, fervent energy (Gurdjieff's "Sayyid Dance" and Tsabropoulos' sharp, short "Reflections"), it also retains some of Chants' near-ambient beauty (the spare "Simplicity") and spirituality (the lingering dark of "Evocation," featuring Lechner's poignant call-and-response with Tsabropoulos).
As Lechner and Tsabropoulos approach improvisation from the simpatico position of similar musical backgrounds, their growth as a duo is palpable, not just in their increasing sense of freedom, bolstered by Gandhi's equally rarified approach, but in the reflective, pensive moments where they speak with a single voice. Both are virtuosic players, whose strong personalities are evident throughout Melos' hour-long program. But it's when, as on the poignant closer, "In Memory," their communication becomes so deep, so consummate, that Melos becomes a truly transcendent experience. The music itself becomes almost secondary to a shared intimacy captured so beautifully as to make each successive listen a new and more rewarding experience.
Track Listing
Melos; Song Of Prosperity I; Tibetan Dance; Gift of Dreams; Reflections; Simplicity; Song Of Gratitude; Song Of Prosperity II; Sayyid Dance; Promenade; Reflections And Shadows; Reading From A Sacred Book (fragment); Vocalise; Evocation; In Memory.
Personnel
Vassilis Tsabropoulos
pianoVassilis Tsabropoulos: piano; Anja Lechner: violoncello; U.T. Gandhi: percussion.
Album information
Title: Melos | Year Released: 2008 | Record Label: ECM Records
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About Vassilis Tsabropoulos
Instrument: Piano
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