Jürgen Friedrich: Monosuite

Jürgen Friedrich composer, conductor; Hayden Chisholm, alto saxophone; Achim Kaufmann piano John Hébert, bass; John Hollenbeck, drums; Sequenza String Orchestra

Jürgen Friedrich: Monosuite - for String Orchestra and Improvisers 1. Waves 2 :02 2. Breaks 2:16 3. Fiddlesticks 2:31 4. Blossom 3:55 5. Low Tide 2:03 6. Loops 12:13 7. Ritual 7:02 8. Chacaglia 9:53 9. Weave 7:11

Mastermind Jürgen Friedrich has something new up his sleeve: the MONOSUITE, a nine-part cycle for string orchestra and improvisers. The goal is nothing less than to combine the best of world composition and improvisation. And it might just work. Three fantastic internationally renowned soloists meet up with the specially assembled 22-piece Sequenza String Orchestra. The strings have a challenging, completely composed piece of music in their hands – one with complex textures, subtly woven carpets of sound, and polyphonic patterns – orchestral soundscapes as a springboard for the marvelous soloists. These soloists move like flying fish when it comes to jazz, improvised music, and so much more. They are acknowledged masters of spontaneous input, fresh approaches, untraveled paths, new grooves, and unusual sounds. The person who conceived the whole thing names his influences as minimal music composer John Adams, painter Mark Rothko, M-Base musician Steve Coleman, the songs of the Aka Pygmies, composer Bela Bartok, and big wave surfer Laird Hamilton. That sounds colorful, but that doesn’t quite hit the nail on the head. After everything has gone through his personal filter-gage, which had swiveled to a level five on “the need for simplicity” parameter, we have then to deal with a land-scape of nine monochromatic monoliths. In the art of reduction, only Japanese cuisine has topped this.

Price: $22.98

In stock
ships in 24 hours