Pianolab: Inner Time Spaces

Anatolian/Armenian roots and the music of Paul Motian, Komitas, a.o.
TUE 5 MAY 2015 20.00, LOFT, COLOGNE (NL)

Vahé Hovanesian (ARM) – duduk
Tom Arthurs (GB/D) – trumpet
Christian Thomé (D) – drums
Isambard Khroustaliov (GB) – electronics
Stevko Busch (D/NL) – piano
Interpretation of music by Paul Motian, Komitas Vardapet, own work

Dante Boon (NL) – solo piano
Komitas Vardapet – Six dances
Anastassis Philippakopoulos (geb. 1969) – 5 piano pieces 2005-2011

Concept: Henning Bolte, Stevko Busch

The current program of Gallery of Tones has as its starting point and orientation the unique way of playing and sound world of the American percussionist and jazz legend Paul Motian, who came into contact with music from this region through his Armenian parents. Motian, a phenomenal listener with a deep musical memory, created open spaces with his playing in a special way in which deeper layers of musical memory were addressed and unlocked. As a result, Western, African-American and Eastern sources came together in a unique way.

The composer Komitas Vardapet collected the traditional music of Armenia – thirty years before Béla Bartòk in Hungary – and put it to paper in compositions for piano, orchestra or choir. In his rendition of Komitas’s ‘Six Dances for Piano’, pianist Dante Boon brings back to life the traditional playing techniques the composer used in this piece.

The pianist Stevko Busch brings together Eastern and Western playing styles in his group of improvisers. From the point of reference and orientation, the musicians involved explore intersections of Eastern-Western sounds. They interpret and improvise with Eastern and Western colourings, phrasing and timing. Through the possibilities of liquefying, repeating, distorting and moving in space, the live electronics of Isambard Khroustaliov play a central role. The Dutch-Armenian Vahé Hovanesian represents the Eastern side of wind instruments with the Armenian oboe, the duduk with its penetratingly beautiful sound, and the rising British trumpeter from Berlin, Tom Arthurs, the Western side. And last but not least there is the well-known German percussionist Christian Thomé, who, like the electronic musician, plays a central role in connecting and igniting disparate sound worlds.