Mikhail (Misha) Alperin: At Home
At Home
CD
CD (Compact Disc)
Herkömmliche CD, die mit allen CD-Playern und Computerlaufwerken, aber auch mit den meisten SACD- oder Multiplayern abspielbar ist.
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EUR 18,99**
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- Label: ECM, 1998
- Bestellnummer: 9679104
- Erscheinungstermin: 1.10.2009
The title tells the story. This is the sound of a musician alone, at his home in Norway. Improvising, reflectively, upon his own piano. As Misha Alperin says, "The mind was inert, the ears alert, and the music born practically without revisions. Improvisation here is simply the paintbrush with the help of which you can be honest in the presence of the night." One night in February 1998, Alperin turned on his tape recorder. He remembered that this night marked the 21st anniversary of his father's death. And with this thought in mind he began to play; he had not set out to make an album, nor was there any thought of an audience in mind. The music that he plays on "At Home", therefore, is unfiltered. The listener can almost hear his thoughts, and the emotional depth of the music is unmistakable.
Is it "jazz"' There are perhaps oblique connections to the soliloquies of Paul Bley or Bill Evans, but there are also affinities with modern composition. Alperin dedicates one piece to Olivier Messiaen; points of comparison could also be found with Ferderico Mompou or Hans Otte. And in Norway, Alperin has also made contact to local folk traditions - the tune called "Halling" is based upon a Norwegian folk dance.
In between all these points - jazz, modern composition, folk, the old Jewish music of his former homeland - Alperin's playing on "At Home" makes of such influences a tender, improvised music with a character all its own. Its also a music that echoes the peripatetic biography its maker. Alperin has led a nomad's life far from the world's jazz metropolises.
He was born in the Ukraine in 1956 and grew up in rural Bessarabia in the eastern part of Moldavia. He played with folk musicians while also studying composition and piano, and was subsequently a member of the Moldavian Jazz Ensemble of saxophonist / violinist Semjon Shirman. Alperin came late to jazz. He did not even hear recordings of Charlie Parker and Coltrane until he was 24. Overwhelmed by the strength of the music, he transcribed solos by the great hornmen and endeavoured to adapt them for the keyboard. He had played the piano music of Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich extensively, but nonetheless found the transition to a predominantly improvised mode called for the development of a different skills. The first jazz pianists who caught his attention were Art Tatum, Red Garland, Thelonious Monk, Lennie Tristano and Keith Jarrett.
Alperin moved to Moscow in 1983 where he met the french horn and flugelhorn virtuoso Arkady Shilkloper - then working with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre and the Bolshoi Brass Quintet - and began, experimentally, to cross-reference elements of the Russian and Romanian folks musics of the Moldavian region with his subjective understanding of the jazz tradition. "All folk music belongs to the same family, and I wish to break down barriers and borders not only geographically, but also historically - the borders between epochs. If you listen closely to Moldavian folk music, you come across structures that are well-known all through the Eastern world, And, you know, sometimes when I listen to, say, Garbarek's music, even his joik, I could swear I recognize it as Moldavian."
The first European tour of the Alperin / Shilkloper duo brought the duo to Oslo, where they risked a visit to the Rainbow Studio and taped a demo with Jan Erik Kongshaug. Soon afterwards, Manfred Eicher tracked them down in Zürich and proposed the recording that became Wave Of Sorrow in 1989, attracting the interest of the European critics. "Alperin's compositions are impossible to classify in terms of genre,' Thomas Rothschild wrote in the Frankfurter Rundschau. "They are for the most part aphoristic pieces, indebted as much to Bartók, Schnittke or Kurtág as to Jarrett or Corea. They are unique indeed, and must be heard."
Misha Alperin now teaches at the Norwegian State Academy of Music, and has become a central figure in the new improvised music of the Far North. Many of the young Scandinavian players acknowledge his influence.
"At Home" is his fourth ECM recording. It follows Wave Of Sorrow 1989, North Story(1995, the first recording following his move to Norway) and First Impression (1997, with John Surman).
Alperin's touring activities in 2001 include solo performances in Germany, Russia, France, Israel and Switzerland and work with the Moscow Art Trio in Russia, Germany, Sardinia and Austria.
Fono Forum, Stern des Monats
As instant composer Alperin has produced some graceful and melodic pieces, which, as performer, he realises with crystalline precision: his articulation is crisp but never lacks warmth of feeling ... this is simply beautiful music. Barry Witherden, Jazz Review
Mikhail Alperins radikalstes Werk! ... Die Kargheit der Stücke ist kaum zu steigern, und dass ihnen so viel Gesang innewohnt, das schöne Paradox! Alles, was Effekt ist, Ausschmückung, Triumph, ist aus den Tönen verschwunden. in ihrer Reduziertheit, ihren aus wenigen Klängen entwickelten Essenzen führt die Musik jazznahe und jazzferne Traditionen fort; man kann At Home in einem Atemzug nennen mit dem Sparsamsten von Paul Bley, dem Pausenreichsten von Erik Satie, dem Meditativsten von Olivier Messiaen. Man kann dieses Werk der Stille in seiner Rigorosität mit Thelonious Monks Alone In San Francisco vergleichen, dieser genialisch-introvertierten Träumerei in einem leeren Ballsaal, oder auch mit Keith Jarretts The Melody At Night With You, diesen Destillaten von Melodie und Atem. Michael Engelbrecht, Jazzthetik
Um es gleich vorweg zu nehmen: Dies ist nicht nur eine der schönsten Klaviersolo-Einspielungen überhaupt, sondern auch eine der wichtigsten. ... Aber was macht diese kleine, vignettenhafte Musik so gross' Erst einmal, dass sie ganz eigenständig ist - und doch offensichtliche Vorbilder hat. Die Vorbilder aber erscheinen hier eher als Bezugsrahmen, deren Inhalt und Gehalt transformiert wird in eine andere, funkelnd unprätentiöse Welt; es ist die Welt von Misha Alperin. Tilman Urbach, Fono Forum
Spielt es eine Rolle, ob man den zwölf Miniaturen dieser kostbaren Klaviermusik die ukrainisch-moldavische Herkunft Misha Alperins oder die Einflüsse seiner neuen Heimat Norwegen anhört oder nicht' Wohl kaum. Mit stupender Leichtigkeit, dabei hochkonzentriert reiht der 45-jährige Pianist Ton an Ton und lässt den Flügel leise uralt anmutende Melodien singen. Nahezu völlig auf rhythmische Figuren verzichtend, entwickelt Alperin - überwiegend mit der rechten Hand - emotional bewegende Impressionen von so unaufdringlicher wie herzergreifender Intensität. Poesie pur. Sven Thielmann, Stereoplay
Alperin spielt spontane Kompositionen, die zuvor in stillen Nächten entstanden - kleine, mitunter sangbare Piecen ohne Schnörkel oder Verzierung. Ihre karge Schönheit lebt von klaren Melodien, sparsamer Begleitung, eng gelegten Harmonien und nachdenklichen Pausen, in denen die Musik innehält. Eine Meditation über Akkorde (Emptiness) ist Olivier Messiaen gewidmet, ein tänzerisches Stück (Halling) basiert auf norwegischer Folklore. Ein kleines Meisterwerk in der Kunst der Reduktion. Berthold Klostermann, Stereo
Is it "jazz"' There are perhaps oblique connections to the soliloquies of Paul Bley or Bill Evans, but there are also affinities with modern composition. Alperin dedicates one piece to Olivier Messiaen; points of comparison could also be found with Ferderico Mompou or Hans Otte. And in Norway, Alperin has also made contact to local folk traditions - the tune called "Halling" is based upon a Norwegian folk dance.
In between all these points - jazz, modern composition, folk, the old Jewish music of his former homeland - Alperin's playing on "At Home" makes of such influences a tender, improvised music with a character all its own. Its also a music that echoes the peripatetic biography its maker. Alperin has led a nomad's life far from the world's jazz metropolises.
He was born in the Ukraine in 1956 and grew up in rural Bessarabia in the eastern part of Moldavia. He played with folk musicians while also studying composition and piano, and was subsequently a member of the Moldavian Jazz Ensemble of saxophonist / violinist Semjon Shirman. Alperin came late to jazz. He did not even hear recordings of Charlie Parker and Coltrane until he was 24. Overwhelmed by the strength of the music, he transcribed solos by the great hornmen and endeavoured to adapt them for the keyboard. He had played the piano music of Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich extensively, but nonetheless found the transition to a predominantly improvised mode called for the development of a different skills. The first jazz pianists who caught his attention were Art Tatum, Red Garland, Thelonious Monk, Lennie Tristano and Keith Jarrett.
Alperin moved to Moscow in 1983 where he met the french horn and flugelhorn virtuoso Arkady Shilkloper - then working with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre and the Bolshoi Brass Quintet - and began, experimentally, to cross-reference elements of the Russian and Romanian folks musics of the Moldavian region with his subjective understanding of the jazz tradition. "All folk music belongs to the same family, and I wish to break down barriers and borders not only geographically, but also historically - the borders between epochs. If you listen closely to Moldavian folk music, you come across structures that are well-known all through the Eastern world, And, you know, sometimes when I listen to, say, Garbarek's music, even his joik, I could swear I recognize it as Moldavian."
The first European tour of the Alperin / Shilkloper duo brought the duo to Oslo, where they risked a visit to the Rainbow Studio and taped a demo with Jan Erik Kongshaug. Soon afterwards, Manfred Eicher tracked them down in Zürich and proposed the recording that became Wave Of Sorrow in 1989, attracting the interest of the European critics. "Alperin's compositions are impossible to classify in terms of genre,' Thomas Rothschild wrote in the Frankfurter Rundschau. "They are for the most part aphoristic pieces, indebted as much to Bartók, Schnittke or Kurtág as to Jarrett or Corea. They are unique indeed, and must be heard."
Misha Alperin now teaches at the Norwegian State Academy of Music, and has become a central figure in the new improvised music of the Far North. Many of the young Scandinavian players acknowledge his influence.
"At Home" is his fourth ECM recording. It follows Wave Of Sorrow 1989, North Story(1995, the first recording following his move to Norway) and First Impression (1997, with John Surman).
Alperin's touring activities in 2001 include solo performances in Germany, Russia, France, Israel and Switzerland and work with the Moscow Art Trio in Russia, Germany, Sardinia and Austria.
Pressestimmen:
Fono Forum, Stern des Monats
As instant composer Alperin has produced some graceful and melodic pieces, which, as performer, he realises with crystalline precision: his articulation is crisp but never lacks warmth of feeling ... this is simply beautiful music. Barry Witherden, Jazz Review
Mikhail Alperins radikalstes Werk! ... Die Kargheit der Stücke ist kaum zu steigern, und dass ihnen so viel Gesang innewohnt, das schöne Paradox! Alles, was Effekt ist, Ausschmückung, Triumph, ist aus den Tönen verschwunden. in ihrer Reduziertheit, ihren aus wenigen Klängen entwickelten Essenzen führt die Musik jazznahe und jazzferne Traditionen fort; man kann At Home in einem Atemzug nennen mit dem Sparsamsten von Paul Bley, dem Pausenreichsten von Erik Satie, dem Meditativsten von Olivier Messiaen. Man kann dieses Werk der Stille in seiner Rigorosität mit Thelonious Monks Alone In San Francisco vergleichen, dieser genialisch-introvertierten Träumerei in einem leeren Ballsaal, oder auch mit Keith Jarretts The Melody At Night With You, diesen Destillaten von Melodie und Atem. Michael Engelbrecht, Jazzthetik
Um es gleich vorweg zu nehmen: Dies ist nicht nur eine der schönsten Klaviersolo-Einspielungen überhaupt, sondern auch eine der wichtigsten. ... Aber was macht diese kleine, vignettenhafte Musik so gross' Erst einmal, dass sie ganz eigenständig ist - und doch offensichtliche Vorbilder hat. Die Vorbilder aber erscheinen hier eher als Bezugsrahmen, deren Inhalt und Gehalt transformiert wird in eine andere, funkelnd unprätentiöse Welt; es ist die Welt von Misha Alperin. Tilman Urbach, Fono Forum
Spielt es eine Rolle, ob man den zwölf Miniaturen dieser kostbaren Klaviermusik die ukrainisch-moldavische Herkunft Misha Alperins oder die Einflüsse seiner neuen Heimat Norwegen anhört oder nicht' Wohl kaum. Mit stupender Leichtigkeit, dabei hochkonzentriert reiht der 45-jährige Pianist Ton an Ton und lässt den Flügel leise uralt anmutende Melodien singen. Nahezu völlig auf rhythmische Figuren verzichtend, entwickelt Alperin - überwiegend mit der rechten Hand - emotional bewegende Impressionen von so unaufdringlicher wie herzergreifender Intensität. Poesie pur. Sven Thielmann, Stereoplay
Alperin spielt spontane Kompositionen, die zuvor in stillen Nächten entstanden - kleine, mitunter sangbare Piecen ohne Schnörkel oder Verzierung. Ihre karge Schönheit lebt von klaren Melodien, sparsamer Begleitung, eng gelegten Harmonien und nachdenklichen Pausen, in denen die Musik innehält. Eine Meditation über Akkorde (Emptiness) ist Olivier Messiaen gewidmet, ein tänzerisches Stück (Halling) basiert auf norwegischer Folklore. Ein kleines Meisterwerk in der Kunst der Reduktion. Berthold Klostermann, Stereo
- Tracklisting
Disk 1 von 1 (CD)
- 1 At home
- 2 Emptiness
- 3 Nostalgia
- 4 Seconds
- 5 Nightfall
- 6 Halling
- 7 Light
- 8 Game
- 9 Shadows
- 10 10th of february
- 11 The wind
- 12 Njet
