Dani and Sageev Oore, Radical Cycle

"What is an improvising duo doing on your classical blog?", someone may be asking. The answer is that Radical Cycle (Dani Oore, soprano saxophone, and Sageev Oore, piano) (self-released) are doing something most unusual. They have taken a diverse collection of art songs from the classical repertoire (by Puccini, Bartok, Ives, Berg, Brahms, Schumann, Schubert, Richard Strauss) and combined them (literally), reharmonized them or altered the melody lines and improvised around them for a rather stunning continuous re-composition/re-performance. They refer to it as a "remix" though there is no manipulation of the recorded sound. All is live.

It's a genuine revelation what they do here. The musicianship and invention that went into Radical Cycle are of a very high level and very gratifying to hear. A sense of "anything can happen" comes to the forefront as one listens. Strains of klezmer mingle readily with Schumann, all kinds of disparate blends are achieved in ways that sound totally right even if they at first startle one with their novelty. The improvisational element is masterful, not referring to swing or bop musical vocabulary but achieving flow, continuity and skillfully weaving harmonic and melodic elements with a sure ear and execution.

It's music that stays with you, rather unforgettable, especially if you already know the art songs in their original form. Excellent!

Ola Gjeilo, Piano Improvisations

When I read about this release, that a classically oriented pianist recorded a disk of improvisations, I said to myself, "I must hear this."

After five listens I must say I am very glad I did. Ola Gjeilo's Piano Improvisations (2L 82) comes in a set--a version on Blu-Ray disk and the recording as a high-quality audiophile CD. I don't have a Blu-Ray player so I cannot tell you how that sounds, but the CD sounds terrific.

And the music? A thing of pretty great beauty. It turns out that Ola has listened to Keith Jarrett's solo work and has taken something from the approaches that Keith favors--gospel-flavoring, singing right-hand lyricism, harmonically rich voicings, mesmerizing pulsations of a funky sort, though perhaps a little more classically primed in the musical undercoating here....and a tasteful classical-romantic rubato. No Liberace-itus, in other words. No relation to the "Warsaw Concerto," if anybody remembers that pseudo-Rachmaninovian vulgarization...

It is an extension, transformation and fresh start using these and other original elements to create a full program of inspired pianism.

There are a few composed pieces that sound well and then there are long passages of beautifully post-Lisztian, ecstatically sweet rhapsodizing.

Ola Gjeilo may well be a huge success with this recording. It's one of those recitals that should appeal to many: those who love beauty in music will gravitate toward it, so that would include the new-agers (though this is miles beyond a George Winston), the classical listeners, the ECM-Jarrett lovers, Brad Mehldau fans....

And it is very. very lovely to hear.