La Scala (album)

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La Scala
Template: Infobox music album / maintenance / type undetectedKeith Jarrett music album

Publication
(s)

1997

admission

1995-02-13

Label (s) Edition of Contemporary Music

Format (s)

CD

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

3

running time

78 minutes 37 seconds

occupation Keith Jarrett

production

Manfred Eicher

Studio (s)

Remixed in Rainbow Studio

Location (s)

Teatro alla Scala, Milan

chronology
Mozart - Piano Concertos / Masonic Funeral Music / Symphony In G Minor - Keith Jarrett / Stuttgarter Kammerorchester / Dennis Russell Davies La Scala Keith Jarrett / Gary Peacock / Jack DeJohnette - Tokyo '96

La Scala is a 1997 jazz album by ECM Records by the American pianist Keith Jarrett .

The album

The album contains recordings of a solo concert by the pianist, which were recorded on February 13, 1995 at the Milan Opera House, the Teatro alla Scala .

The concert was something special for the schedule of La Scala in Milan, because for the first time in its 197-year history, a recognized jazz musician was given the opportunity to give one of his solo concerts with improvised piano music in this opera house.

It was also an event for the fan base of the Keith Jarrett solo concerts, because it was the first concert of its kind in almost four years, since the “Vienna Concert” on July 13, 1991 at the Vienna State Opera .

After the “Vienna Concert”, Jarrett set other musical priorities in the early to mid-1990s:

The opera house “La Scala” in Milan

First, he continued the successful collaboration with Gary Peacock (bass) and Jack DeJohnette (drums), his "standard trio", including the albums "Bye Bye Blackbird" (1991, ECM) and "At The Blue Note - The Complete Recordings I-VI ”(1994, ECM) and the music video“ The Keith Jarrett Trio Concert: Live At Open Theater East 1993 ”(VideoArts Music, 1993) testify to the fact that in 1992 he played in a trio with Gary Peacock (bass) and Paul Motian (Drums) in Allentown , Pennsylvania , of which ECM released the album "At the Deer Head Inn" in 1994, and for the third time he brought his own contemporary works with Thomas Crawford and The Fairfield Orchestra - his "Elegy For Violin And String Orchestra" "Adagio For Oboe And String Orchestra" and his "Sonata For Violin And Piano" - for the performance (see the album "Bridge Of Light" (1993, ECM)) and last but not least, he developed a pronounced activity during this period Interpreter of classical or contemporary who ke for piano and other keyboard instruments. The albums “ Dimitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes And Fugues Op. 87 "(1991, ECM)," Johann Sebastian Bach : 3 Sonatas for Viola Da Gamba and Harpsichord "(1991, ECM)," Johann Sebastian Bach: The French Suites "(1991, ECM)," Peggy Glanville-Hicks : Etruscan Concerto ”(1992, Music Masters),“ Michala Petri / Keith Jarrett - JS Bach: Flute Sonatas ”(1992, RCA),“ Georg Friedrich Händel : Suites For Keyboard ”(1993, ECM) and“ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Piano Concertos "(1994, ECM).

And now shortly before his 50th birthday on April 8, 1995, the artist's solo concert at La Scala in Milan with “improvvizationi al pianoforte”. "Jarrett's enormously energy-sapping solo concerts - many of which are high offices of the purest, completely improvised music and at the same time documents of an ecstasy that recurs again and again in the game - are considered to be the heart of his work," judges the anthology of jazz classic Keith Jarrett's solo concerts. And Wolfgang Sandner - the artist's German biographer - says about the solo concerts: “Jarrett's concerts are visits to the workshop or the delivery room, open-heart music operations under the supervision of the public. ... The pianistic solo improvisations form a continuum in Jarrett's work, in which ... the stylistic features are always similar, the ideas and techniques are brilliantly mixed. But of course Jarrett has evolved pianistically and musically over the years. Compared to the early, let's say wildly determined recordings, the later recordings of the eighties and nineties seem structurally more contoured, even if he piles up the tonal masses with highly virtuoso dexterity and the tone consumption is enormous, as in 1995 in Part II of La Scala with its rhythmic twists and turns, ambush-like sound attacks and overturning runs in both hands. The impression is now much more that of ad hoc composing when Jarrett is improvising. That means, where in the past a piece got out of joint, seemed abruptly broken off or sound layers collided that absolutely did not want to be connected, here - despite the speed with which everything happens - a superordinate design becomes noticeable, the will, to put something together that belongs together. "

If you follow the description at allmusic.com, the live concert existed and the resulting album “La Scala” consists of three parts. At first Jarrett played “two longer improvisations, simply called“ La Scala, Part I and II ”. Most of this music is quite lyrical and romantic. The first part (which is almost 45 minutes long) starts like a ballad, turns into a passage with echoes of American Indian music before it dissolves again into a ballad. The second part (only 27½ minutes long) starts dissonant, gradually develops into a more peaceful mood and ends with the original dissonant sounds. As an encore, Jarrett plays a melodic and very beautiful six-minute interpretation of “Over the Rainbow” and at the end receives a well-deserved storm of applause. ”“ The Rough Guide to Jazz ”describes the improvisations“ La Scala, Part I and II ”in a similar way:“ La Scala Part I… begins devoutly with sonorous chords and slowly develops through a passage that looks like Far East to a jubilant gospel finale and a calm, hymn-like ending. Jarrett's courage to wait and let the music find its own length is noteworthy. In contrast, La Scala Part II is a turbulent masterpiece. Jarrett plays with astonishing speed and brilliant clarity of thought and execution ”. As with all improvised music, there is a multitude of other interpretations of what is heard, for example the representation on jazzreview.com, on musicophiles.blog.com or on classical-music.com, to name just a few. The English language Wikipedia even hears a quote from the famous aria Nessun Dorma from the opera Turandot by the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini from the climax of “La Scala Part I” .

After the concert at La Scala in Milan, “something happened that… brought a really serious turning point in Jarrett's life. In the spring of 1996, Jarrett gave ten concerts with his trio in Japan, then played at the jazz festival in Montreal and at some summer festivals in Europe, especially in Antibes at " Jazz à Juan ", where he has been a regular guest with the trio for years. This was followed by four solo appearances in Italy "and a Mozart concert in Stuttgart (see the albums" Tokyo '96 "(1998, ECM)," A Multitude of Angels "(published in 2016) and" Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concertos ") (1996, ECM) and the music video "Keith Jarrett Trio Concert 1996" (1996, Videoarts)). “After that, the public didn't hear from him for almost three years. Keith Jarrett fell silent, and it was only in 1999, after he had played a few trio appearances again, first in America and then reluctantly again in Europe, that it gradually became known that he had not only had to overcome a small creative crisis or disdainful financial problems. Keith Jarrett had been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome ( myalgic encephalomyelitis ), which not only forced him to quit his concert career, but also made him completely apathetic. "Keith Jarrett was" incapacitated "for two to three years. It was only with the solo album " The Melody at Night, with You " (1998, ECM), recorded in his private music studio, that he was back in top form.

The contributors

The musician and his instrument

  • Keith Jarrett - piano

The producers

  • Jan Erik Kongshaug - Remixing
  • Manfred Eicher - Remixing
  • Judith Joy Ross - Liner Photo
  • Mayo Bucher - cover art
  • Michael Hofstetter - cover design
  • Manfred Eicher - producer

The playlist

  • Keith Jarrett: La Scala (ECM 1640 (537 268-2))
    1. "La Scala, Part 1" (Keith Jarrett) - 44:54
    2. "La Scala, Part 2" (Keith Jarrett) - 27:42
    3. " Over the Rainbow " ( Harold Arlen , EY Harburg ) - 6:01

The reception

There were very many positive, sometimes even enthusiastic reviews of the solo concert “La Scala”. The Italian newspaper “ Il Messagero ” reported: “Keith Jarrett has all of his concerts recorded, the very best become records - this was the case with the ' Köln Concert ', the 'Paris Concert', the 'Vienna Concert'. The concert in La Scala undoubtedly deserves such a documentation, because the pianist was in impressive form. Jarrett was convincing in every way, his touch was precise, sure, tender, his famous harmonies present in abundance, his control of colors and sounds absolute. The rolling, flowing, extended piano improvisations are already a genre of their own, within which Jarrett can make music that goes to the heart of everyone. "The magazine Stereoplay commented:" It's the emotional force behind the 'tangible' chord sequences and rhythmic ones Variations that make Keith Jarrett's improvised solo piano concerts so unique. In February 1995, the piano magician sat down at the grand piano in the venerable La Scala in Milan - and offered everything that makes his followers heart open: courageous, sharply contoured, inspiration-led fantasies with a soft 'Over The Rainbow' as an encore . ”And the hi-fi magazine Audio wrote“ When Keith Jarrett sits at the grand piano for a solo concert, ideas flow without a thought to the standard jazz repertoire. On February 13, 1995, at La Scala in Milan, he initially dreamed as if lost in thought. He slowly played himself in a trance, found magical rhythms, and took them back towards the end of the first 44-minute improvisation. In the 27-minute 'Part II' the tones spray like spray from the instrument - a late, virtuoso reminder of the unrestrained times of free jazz. As an encore, 'Over The Rainbow' gently beguiles. ”A reviewer of the album on amazon.de even wrote:“ How do you describe music that is as perfect as Keith Jarrett's 'La Scala'. As if someone had reached into my soul with an open hand and set my feelings to music with 'La Scala - Part I'. La Scala is finely improvised, an ups and downs of emotions, a struggle with oneself, a dialogue. La Scala describes life. Words are superfluous. Keith Jarrett's Part I touched me deeply - and his music accompanied me in many situations. Highly recommended!"

Keith Jarrett

But there were also critical voices, such as the assessment on thecityreview.com: “His latest CD, 'La Scala' ... is not one of his best. It is one of his solo piano concerts, this time recorded in the famous Italian opera house. It's harsh, sometimes even dismissive, and it's not transcendent like his best solo concerts were. It should be avoided, but only in favor of Jarrett's many masterpieces. "

In the Allmusic.com rating by Scott Yanow , the album received four out of five stars with the following statement: “The music as a whole develops slowly, but always keeps the listener's attention. This reaffirms the view that Keith Jarrett was one of the best pianists of the 1980s and 1990s ”. “The Penguin Guide to Jazz” only awarded 3.5 out of 5 stars.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see album at ECM-Records. Retrieved January 10, 2017 .
  2. ↑ a b see the review at jazzecho.de. Retrieved January 10, 2017 .
  3. ↑ s. the album "Vienna Concert" on ECM Records. Retrieved January 10, 2017 .
  4. ↑ a b c see the "album index" and "session index" at jazzdisco.org. Retrieved January 10, 2017 .
  5. ↑ see the review at jazzecho.de. Retrieved January 10, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Peter Niklas Wilson (ed.): Jazz classics . Philipp Reclam Verlag, Stuttgart, p. 717 .
  7. ↑ a b c Wolfgang Sandner: Keith Jarrett. A biography . Rowohlt e-book.
  8. ↑ see the review at allmusic.com. Retrieved January 10, 2017 : “For this live solo concert (recorded at the Teatro alla Scala in Milano, Italy and released in 1997), pianist Keith Jarrett performs two lengthy improvisations simply titled 'La Scala, Parts I and II'. Most of the music is quite lyrical and romantic. The first part (which lasted nearly 45 minutes) does have a section using a droning rhythm reminiscent of American Indian music before resolving back into a ballad. The second section (a mere 27½ minutes) starts out dissonant, gradually evolves into a peaceful section, and then concludes with the original dissonant ideas. As an encore, Jarrett performs a melodic and very beautiful six-minute rendition of 'Over the Rainbow', receiving a well-deserved thunderous ovation at its conclusion. "
  9. ↑ see The Rough Guide to Jazz. Retrieved January 10, 2017 : “La Scala Part I… begins prayerfully with sonorous chords, slowly evolving through a log, Eastern-flavored episode, to a jubilant gospel finale and a quiet, hymn-like conclusion. Jarrett's courage to wait an let the music find its own length is remarkable. La Scala II is, by contrast, a riotous tour de force. Jarrett plays with amazing speed and brilliant clarity of thought and execution "
  10. ↑ see review at jazzreview.com. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 10, 2017 ; accessed on January 10, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jazzreview.com
  11. ↑ see review at musicophilesblog.com. Retrieved January 10, 2017 .
  12. ↑ see review at classical-music.com. Retrieved January 10, 2017 .
  13. ↑ stereoplay magazine quoted from amazon.de. Retrieved January 10, 2017 .
  14. ↑ Audio magazine quoted from amazon.de. Retrieved January 10, 2017 .
  15. ↑ see product reviews at amazon.de. Retrieved January 10, 2017 .
  16. ↑ see review in thecityreview.com. Accessed January 10, 2017 : “His newest CD, 'La Scala'… is not one of his best. It is one of his solo piano concerts, this time recorded at the famed Italian opera house. It is harsh, occasionally abrasive, and is not transcendent, as his best solo concerts have been. It should be avoided, but only in favor of Jarrett's many masterworks. "
  17. ↑ see review at allmusic.com. Retrieved January 10, 2017 : "The music overall develops slowly but always holds one's interest, reinforcing one's viewpoint of Keith Jarrett as one of the top pianists of the 1980s and '90s."
  18. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian: The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 9th edition. Penguin, ISBN 978-0-14-103401-0 , pp. 770 .