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John O'Gallagher The Anton Webern Project

Of all the discs I've bought recently, this one is among the heaviest in rotation. I've bought more discs on the Whirlwind Recordings label than any other recently. Having released a large number of excellent very creative albums, WR is quickly becoming one of my favorite active labels. Several other of their titles are on my wish list. They press a significant number of titles on vinyl too.

This particular release is noteworthy for several reasons. Here, O'Gallagher pulls off what would sound to most like a suicide mission: to release an album of jazz arrangements of music written by serialist composer Anton Webern. This is not done for humor or novelty affect, the altoman clearly has a lot of affection for Webern's music and its knotty lyricism. The arrangements stay true to the core concepts and values of Webern's music, while managing to allow for some riveting solo excursions at the same time--no small feat. And he does this with a band of musicians I have never heard of, save the leader and drummer Tyshawn Sorey. Russ Lossing on Hammond, Rhodes, and piano is real standout, but the others--Matt Moran on vibes, Pete McCann on guitar, and Johannes Weidenmuller on bass are uniformly solid in their contributions. Most will find the vocals of Margret Grebowicz to be, much like Webern's music, more of an acquired taste and they serve mostly to keep the music grounded in its original conception as there is no vocal improvisation present at all. This is perhaps most successful on the track Seventh Ring (after Op.3) which is quite lyrical in the traditional sense--the atonality could well get by many listeners unnoticed as such. Elsewhere, on Schnell (after Op.27) and The Secret Code (after Op.28) for example, the band create colors and grooves of blistering intensity. The disc bears lots of repeated listening well. Highly recommended.


dh


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Topic - John O'Gallagher The Anton Webern Project - D Harvey 20:29:10 07/28/20 (2)

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