WEDNESDAY 22nd July 2009
Times : 8pm
Tickets : £6
'FOR 1, 2 OR 3 PIANOS'
TANIA CHEN, PAT THOMAS, VERYAN WESTON, STEVE BERESFORD - PIANOS
UTE KANNGIESSER - 'CELLO
LOL COXHILL - SOPRANO SAXOPHONE
Taking advantage of the three pianos at Café Oto, Weston, Thomas and Beresford reconvene their trio, which previously only played in 2001 for the CD ‘3 Pianos’, Emanem 4064.
They will be joined by the brilliant Chen, and various combinations of the four pianists and three pianos will be explored.
In addition, the inimitable Coxhill will present a no-doubt stupendous solo set as will the truly excellent Kanngiesser.
Excerpts from sleeve notes to '3 Pianos' (Emanem 4064) :
“The combination of Pat, Steve and Veryan could not fail to result in the creation of an adventurous, genuinely interactive performance. Each of the players has an open approach to the music. Their collective concern, devoid of competition and conscious self promotion, has produced an exciting and rather special recorded example of individual and collective improvisation.”
Excerpts from reviews:
"Amazing trio of pianists and excellent improvisers. The music here is really melodic at times and really dissonant in certain passages. It is incredible how well this three piano masters interact." - FEDERICO MARONGIU - MUSIC EXTREME 2002
"The image of 3 improvising pianists playing 3 pianos at once is sludge. That's exactly what this record is not. Beresford, Thomas and Weston have succeeded in creating a recording that is dense and intriguing because it
does not thrash you about the room trying to keep up with all 264 piano keys. Instead, the interplay is graceful and precise, with each musician building layers into the overall sound, rather than filling in holes with frenetic finger flying. The basic sound of 3 pianos, as wielded by the 3 sensitive anddistinctive pianists heard here, becomes addictive. It sounds good, really good. Never muddied up, the keystrokes are clean and the result is more like
a mosaic than a painting, preserving all the parts while remaining true to a unified intention." - ANDREW CHOATE - CODA 2002
"This should be must listening for every piano student in the world! This is, without qualification, the best piano set I've ever heard - & I've heard a lot of them! Gets our MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED rating, as well as the 'PICK' of the year for 'best trio/duo piano'." - ROTCOD ZZAJ aka DICK METCALF - ZZAJ PRODUCTIONS 2002
“As the disc proceeds, the pianists get together within each possible duo configuration, and these pieces end up especially revealing about the contrasts in musical personality between the players. The three duo pieces
also provide some respite from the relative complexity of trio operations. But in the end, it's the trio pieces that make this disc special: becausethey work. And that's something special in the world of improvised piano
music." - NILS JACOBSON - ALL ABOUT JAZZ 2002
"…although all very distinctive personalities when playing with others, here (they) fuse together to form a six-armed piano playing machine of frightening empathy, and to some large extent they form a single musical voice which belongs to all and none of them…they seem to have an endless fountain of ideas at their disposal…there's little evidence of the kind of thrashing around and bulldozing of ideas which could come about when three such powerful instruments - and such powerful musical personalities - are brought together. The music is at all times organic, sensitive and dramatic. This isn't just one for piano fans; the storytelling at work here is impressive to say the least." - RICHARD COCHRANE- MUSINGS - 2002
LINKS
http://utekanngiesser.com/
http://www.greenplace.demon.co.uk/lol/
http://www.taniapiano.com/taniapiano/Home.html
http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/mweston.html
http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/mthomas.html
http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/mberes.html
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